Malabon Food

(Part 1of 2)

I grew up in a small fishing town made popular by a noodle dish called “Pancit Malabon”. It is also a town made popular by “patis” or fish sauce. But lately, my hometown, now a city, has become popular because of floods, even when there are no rains, just high tide.

It has been a while since I got to eat our favorite hometown noodles. The most popular among those who prepare it is Rosie’s Pancit Malabon. The noodles used for Pancit Malabon is called “pancit luglog”. Its sauce is like that of “pancit palabok”, but the noodles are bigger. The special Pancit Malabon has oysters, squids, shrimps, pork, chopped chicharon, pechay Baguio and smoked fish flakes or “tinapa”. Pancit Malabon is eaten with patis, calamansi and ground pepper as condiments, and goes well with rice cake or “puto” with salted eggs or cheese on it.

Another popular food from Malabon is the “sapin sapin”, which literally means “one on top of the other” as in layers. Dolor’s Kakanin and Sapin-Sapin is the more popular one. “Sapin sapin” is a tri-colored and tri-layered “kakanin” (a variety of rice cake) that is sweet. It is colored white, violet and red. It is eaten with “budbod” over it, shaved coconut meat that was fried in oil. Served in a “bilao” or bamboo plate, in contains a variety of rice cake delicacies, including “kutsinta” and “kakanin bibingka”.

Judy Ann’s Restaurant is a small place in Malabon which serves “Crispy Pata” like no other. Their “pata” seems to be marinated and boiled in pineapple juice until tender. When cooked, the pork skin is very thin and crunchy and not thick and hard. It is best eaten with their sauce – a mixture of vinegar, soy sauce, chopped onions, garlic, chili pepper, ground black pepper and a little sugar. One has to taste it to be able to describe its unique flavor and texture.