Seafood Heaven

Our first meal in Manilla was a shopping adventure followed by a gastronomic treat. We went to the Seaside Seafood Market to begin our adventure. We were joined by friends of Rommel who were also visiting for the break from Viet Nam. Cuong, Tracy and Mickey were fun companions for all of our adventures and they began with this one as well.

Imagine a farmer's market where you walk long rows of fruits and vegetables overflowing the stands. Now change all of those fruits and vegetables to seafood and fish and you begin to get a feel for the market we were in.

Stop number one was to buy oysters, clams and mussels. To say they were fresh would be an understatement. While Rommel was making our selections, the clams were squirting water on him. Little sprays kept popping up from the trays filled with fresh clams.

Next on the list was crab. The seller helped us to get just the perfect ones.

Looking at the squid brought on dreams of calamari.

As we walked and shopped there were many interesting items to see.

At the end of the row there were even a few stalls selling meat and poultry and a very enterprising guest to the market.

The last stop added fruits and vegetables to the meal.

Once the shopping was finished, we walked a few meters to the left and entered Wok with Joe. This restaurant had a beautiful outdoor patio and indoor tables. 

They took all of our purchases and for a fee per kilo they cooked everything in the style requested and thus the feast began. First up were prawn and remember those spitting clams? Well they were in a light broth with the tender little mollusks still in their shells and I can say it was the best I have ever had.

Crab, calamari (which did not disappoint) and oyster cake followed along with barbecued pork and my personal favorite mussels with cheese.

And although there was way, way, way more food than we could possibly eat, we put a much bigger dent in it than I thought possible. And thus began my four day process of eating my weight in Filipino food.