The coastal road seafood market

January 7, 2004
Filed under Food trips & events

dampa seafood market We went on a little weekend escape. Just an overnight stay at a local hotel with friends. The original plan was to go to the Enchanted Kingdom but the thought of the traffic at the South Superhighway was enough to make us think twice. So, the kids were happy with the alternative plan of spending a night at the hotel including going to Star City after dinner.

Dinner was going to be at Dampa, a roadside and seaside seafood market complex along the Coastal Road in Para–aque. The Dampa restaurants were full and we had to settle for the adjacent Borakay Seafood Market. The main difference was the price of the seafood. Dampa was cheaper by about ten per cent. The complex consists of a seafood market and several small restaurants. One buys the seafood from the market, bring them to the restaurant and have them cooked any which way–grilled, with soup, broiled. They are cooked according to the customerÕs specifications.

The seafood market sells a variety of fish and shellfish. Below is a photo of the tilapia and shrimps in various colors and sizes.

We bought a kilo and a half of tuna belly, a kilo of squids, a kilo of tuna head and a kilo and a half of oysters (in shells). We had the tuna belly and squids grilled (below); the tuna head cooked as sinigang (my own sinigang recipe is here) and the oysters blanched.