I’ve never been to the Philippines, but I have been to Island Pacific Seafood Market in Cerritos. Which brings me, at least, reasonably close to the food of Manila — if not to the joyous chaos of the streets, with lanes of vendors cooking aromatic joys in the open air, which I’m told can be pretty warm and wet.
That side of the Pacific is, ahem, a world away from this side of the ocean, with streets packed with the sort of life you won’t find in the Cerritos Promenade Mall, with its branches of Baja Fresh, California Fish Grill, Elbows Mac ‘n Cheese, The Halal Guys, Panda Express, Wingstop and Starbucks — among others. The Promenade is organized in ways that street life never is.
For those who are unsure of the pleasures of Filipino food, a good place to begin is with the takeout option that’s found near the entrance — a ready-to-go shop called PhilHouse (Sarang ng Lutong Bahay), with its numerous combos of “Guaranteed Quality Tasty Food” — dishes like grilled pork and chicken barbecue skewers, tilapia, milkfish (“boneless bangus”), jumbo squid, pompano and liempo (pork belly). There’s goat and pancit bihon noodles. There’s the ubiquitous crispy pata (deep-fried pig trotters or knuckles with a soy-vinegar sauce). And there’s a menu section headed “Fried Crispy Favorites” — smelt, chicken skin, chicharron and more.
Fried and crispy are dominant words in Filipino cooking — this is not a cuisine for those with a taste for mushy and bland. There’s spice here, along with lots of sweetness — just take a look at the entire aisle of juices, including the most delicious calamansi mango juice imaginable, and coconut water that makes me wonder what I’ve been drinking all these years. Bottles of Thai iced tea? Sure, why not? And very good it is too.
And subtle, actually, compared to the sweetness of another aisle, filled with bottles of preserved fruits in what the label describes as “heavy syrup” — though one look says this stuff is the very essence of sugar, cooked down to its most basic elements.
What are macapuno coconut strings? I don’t know — a bottle of them went into the shopping cart for tasting later. You never know what you’ll find.
There’s a sprawling fish section — of course! — with bins filled with numerous types of crabs scuttling over one another, and fresh fish over ice (whole catfish recently going for $3.99 a pound, elegantly designed striped bass for $4.99 a pound…and “true” red snapper for $7.99 a pound).
The freezers are packed with bags of lumpia filled with everything imaginable, the vegetables are beautifully arranged. And there are Island Pacific house brand products — including bottles of chocolate-flavored glazed banana thins. Which may be even better than the chocolate-covered frozen banana slices at Trader Joe’s. Rare praise from a committed Trader Joe’s-oholic!
Island Pacific Seafood Market
- Rating: 3 stars
- Address: Cerritos Promenade, 11481 South St., Cerritos (other locations include Long Beach, Temecula and West Covina)
- Information: 562-403-0496, www.islandpacificmarket.com
- Cuisine: Filipino
- When: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily
- Atmosphere: There are so many cultural influences in the cooking of the Philippines, most of which are found on the shelves of this branch of the Island Pacific chain, with plenty of seafood (as the name tells us), but also aisles of snacks and sweets, items both Asian and Spanish. There’s so much to browse, so much to taste — in a shopping mall filled with SoCal fast-food options, where you can mix and match as you wish.
- Cards: MC, V
Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Email mreats@aol.com.
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January 07, 2021 at 02:31AM
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Tasty Filipino seafood is in the bag at Island Pacific marketplace in Cerritos - Long Beach Press Telegram
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