Within the compounds of HMR lies Pioneer St. Market, an indoor food bazaar with a total of 24 stalls offering various dishes from different cuisines (Filipino, Indonesian, Western, etc), as well as general merchandise including wine, nuts, coffee, vegetables, and plants.
Unlike other food parks, this one has air-conditioning and lots of parking spaces available. That's already a huge plus for me since most if not all food parks have neither.
Since I arrived early, I took the opportunity to walk around the market and check out the stalls!
I made sure to snap a few shots so you have an idea of how it all looks like.
I especially love the seating areas! They're just so cozy! :)
The event was entitled A Night at Pioneer St. Market and as you can see, everyone really prepared for it.
The styling and decorations they used just brought everything together!
Karl from Zomato was our host that evening and from experience, there is NEVER a dull moment when Karl is around.
The night started off with some wine from Tasty Tucker Cafe. They were so generous to offer free-flowing (hint: UNLIMITED) wine for the entire event. It was crazyyyy! I just had a glass of their red wine though since I still had to drive home afterwards.
We were also served drinks from Thirsty Turtle. I got the Mango Banana, and what's great about it is they offer their fruit shakes with aloe vera, tapioca, gelatin, nata de coco, and/or coconut cream depending on your preference. So it's not like the usual fruit shakes you get from the malls.
Blended offered us one of their specialties - the Shawarma Pizza.
Unlike other shawarma places, Blended doesn't have a shawarma spit. They believe in searing it on a grill rather than having an entire chunk of meat rotating on a spit the entire day (for them, it's the cleaner, more hygienic option). They served this with their homemade hot sauce and garlic sauce. I mixed in a lot of both into my pizza slice and it tasted oh so good! I wanted to eat more, but we still had a whole lot of dishes to consume, so in the end, I decided not to. How delicious does this look though??
From Sonsi, we got to try their various longganisa offerings from different regions of the Philippines like Lucban, Alaminos, Vigan, Tuguegarao, Cebu, Bacolod, and Bulacan.
You can also purchase frozen longganisa and cook them from the comforts of your home!
Aside from the wines, Tasty Tucker also gave us mini pies to try.
They're about half the size of their normal serving, which I greatly appreciated since having an entire pie (on top of all the other dishes we're trying) would just be too much. I especially enjoyed their Chicken Curry and Pepper Steak Pies.
Tramezzino is all about the paninis.
Their Steak, Bacon, and Bleu Cheese Panini is filled with sirloin steak, stripes of bacon, slices of tomatoes and red onions, smothered in their own BBQ sauce, topped with crumbled bleu cheese. This is easily one of my favorites that night.
Another dish I loved is Monster Burger's Sinigang Burger. Yes, I said Sinigang Burger. Have you ever heard of such a thing? I love sinigang, and with the added flavor of their smoky grilled patty, it just takes it to a whole new level. They make use of 100% Australian beef with no extenders or binders of any sort. The only thing they add to the patties is salt and pepper. Wow. I can't even.
In 2015, Auntie May's Angus Beef Salpicao was hailed as the best homemade salpicao in Manila at the Ultimate Taste Test. They actually started at Mercato Centrale, but now, you can find them daily at Pioneer Street Market! The beef is so tender and flavorful; I don't think I've ever had salpicao this good before. It definitely a winner in my book!
Aside from the salpicao, Auntie May's also offers freshly squeezed lemonade. It's refreshing and serves as the perfect thirst quencher on hot days.
Current Swell gave us a taste of not only their coffee (from Mt. Apo) but also their Shakshouka and Seoul Bowl!
The Shakshouka is a Middle Eastern egg dish with their very own tomato and onion jam, served with pita bread. It's often served for breakfast, but you can pretty much have it any time of the day.
The Seoul Bowl, on the other hand, is kimchi rice with braised pork, egg, and pickled cucumbers. I loved the kimchi rice, and can probably eat it even without all the other ingredients present. That's how much I liked it.
Soul Potato served us their Shepherd's Pie with Southern Chicken Tenders. Personally, I enjoy eating all sorts of chicken tenders just because there's no bone in them. I don't have to worry about separating the meat from the bone, so it's pretty much hassle-free dining.
The Shepherd's Pie is the kind of dish you eat when you need some comforting. I don't know, there's just something about potatoes that give it that feel. What's in the Shepherd's Pie: sautéed ground beef with bell peppers, corn and mushrooms in tomatoes, covered in mashed potatoes and topped with toasted mozzarella and potato crisp.
Big Kahuna offers Hawaiian fast casual grub. Here we have a sample of their chicken plate with macaroni salad and some broccoli.
We also got to try their pork tonkatsu, though I'm not sure if that's what it's called since the word "tonkatsu" is not Hawaiian (duh haha). But yeah, if I'm not mistaken, both the chicken and pork make use of the same sauce. I like that it wasn't too sweet nor too thick like how other places make it.
And it came with a bowl of fried rice which I thought complemented the platter really well.
Though unfortunately, I'm not a huge fan of macaroni salads in general, so theirs was just okay for me.
From Bakmi Nyonya, we had the Mie Goreng. It's basically authentic Indonesian stir fry, in a way, a counterpart to the more popular yakisoba. I like that they don't scrimp out on the ingredients, plus, they make their own noodles! It's a mix of sweet, savory, and spicy, so it's definitely an interesting dish. I wish we could've tried their other offerings too though.
Fuego Amigo specializes in Latin American cuisine.
Their specialties are the Peri-Peri Chicken and Fuego Wings which we all got to try. As you can see from the photos, their dishes are mostly spicy, so it's perfect for those wanting a bit of a kick in their meal.
Pomodoro Pizza only opened at Pioneer Street Market last April, but they have been in Kapitolyo for two years already. This just shows how good their food is, right?
We got to try their newest offerings (so new that they aren't on the menu yet)! Here's their Bacon and Bleu Cheese Pizza with loads of toppings!
We also had the Chorizo Pesto Pasta that makes use of their homemade pomodoro sauce, pesto, and chorizo from Sonsi! I love how the stalls here help each other out by using each other's products as ingredients! :P
For dessert, we had apples, and not just any kind of apples. The Bad Apple takes one of nature's healthiest snacks and adds a touch of guilt to provide a unique and delicious experience for people of all ages. If you're having a hard time getting your child to eat apples, this is the answer!! Bad Apples are classic caramel apples with different coatings - it can be as simple as Original Caramel or as complicated as the Cookies and Cream.
We were served what I would say their most unique flavors - the Choco Pretzel, Apple Pie, and Nutty Cocoa. Among the three, I liked the Choco Pretzel the most since it combines sweet and salty in one.
Alejandro's served us the best Sansrival I have ever tried.
It's not overly sweet, with just the right amount of buttercream, meringue, and cashews. Its name comes from the French phrase meaning without rival, and you know what, I'd have to agree!
Jan's Kitchen specializes in "down-to-earth European cooking." They also have sea salts, sauerkraut and curry ketchup
Their Pannenkorken (Dutch pancakes) are huge! We had it with butter & brown sugar and salted caramel, but they also offer it with cheese, apple & cinnamon, bacon & cheese, nutella, stroopwafel, mighty meaty, and ham & gouda.
Last but definitely not the least, we had ice cream from Dairy Frost! They serve old-fashioned goodness of handcrafted frozen delights.
They offer many interesting flavors such as Turtle Macchiato, Crinkles and Cream, Salted Caramel, Strawberry Cream, and Double Dutch Duo.
Thank you to the folks over at Pioneer Street Market for the wonderful evening!!
Definitely a night to remember.
Pioneer Street Market is located at
Reliance St. corner Pioneer St. Behind HMR in front of TV5 (inside of parking lot HMR)
Operating hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10am-9pm
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