Street Food in Metro Manila

Street food snacks are bountiful in almost every corner of the commercial districts in Manila and other populated cities and municipality in the Metropolis.

Aside from those who have their carts stationed permanently at fixed hours in assigned places of the local government, we also have our ambulant vendors.

They have different ways to peddle their products.

Some carry on their shoulder a wooden stick with attached stainless containers on each end for their hot products, use a bicycle with built-in wooden or metal carts, or simply use a kariton (cart made of scrap wood) or well-adorned stainless carts to carry their products.

Some carry on their shoulder a wooden stick with attached stainless containers on each end for their hot products, use a bicycle with built-in wooden or metal carts, or simply use a kariton (cart made of scrap wood) or well-adorned stainless carts to carry their products.

Old folks would usually carry their bilao on top of their heads to sell native kakanin and delicacies. 😋

From dawn until sunset, various street foods can be seen in populous places.

Childhood Memories Of Taho

My childhood memories included having taho for breakfast in the mornings of Saturdays and almost every day during vacation time if we are at home.

Our suki would always stop in front of our house our house and yell louder, “TAHO, suki, bili na kayo ng taho. His announcement didn’t need a megaphone, it was loud and clear for the rest of our barangay to hear.

He would also click his coins on our metal gate multiple times after and end it with a long TAHOOOOOOO.

He would also click his coins on our metal gate multiple times after and end it with a long TAHOOOOOOO.

When my eldest was born, we had our manong suki to bring us taho during weekends but with my other children, their taho experience became limited to their school fair, Linggo ng Wika celebrations, and the chilled taho with flavors sold in the mall.

Recently, my youngest began his first day of online school, and among the many things, he missed although perhaps the most trivial was the free taho given to all the students in their school gate.

So I thought that it may be days late but I just didn’t want him to miss that tradition in his first week of school. Well, aside from the fact that I have been missing taho terribly too.

I remembered seeing from one of my high school friends a taho IG story and another friend told me someone gave her taho with the stainless steel scoop. So I searched and I found AVENIDA. Then I saw their other DIY streetfood kits which led me to this awesome experience I would like to share with you.

Orders From Avenida Pedestrian Delights

Upon checking their IG account, my orders included almost all their available DIY kits (classic taho, squid ball, fish ball, kekiam, and a Big Sago Gulaman).

My orders came in the morning and they were carefully packed. I was happy to receive my orders in superb condition: the classic taho were intact in the 2 microwaveable containers and all syrups were kept tightly sealed in their containers (what a relief!)

The sago and gulaman were machine-sealed in small cups just like milk teas. Their gulaman concentrate syrup was contained in a small plastic jar with a sealed cap and all 3 types of sauces (brown — sweet, spicy; and spiced vinegar) were contained in sealed plastic bottles just like those mineral water served in amusement parks and gaming centers.

Awesome Taste With “Real Feels” Of Eating From a Street Vendor

It was fun serving the taho to my family as I used the thin yet functional taho scoop and they put in as much sago and syrup (ordered extra of those too) to their tall drinking glasses.

That filled our tummies until we had lunch midday. My eldest chilled his share of taho inside the refrigerator for his dessert.

At 4 pm, we started frying the kekiam, then the fishballs and finally the squidballs.

All types of sauces were placed on the table for everyone’s preference. We used the wooden small sticks that come with the packs and just made tusok-tusok the balls we liked.

We dipped those in our desired sauce…mine was a combination of the brown spicy sauce with the spiced vinegar. My husband even opted for freshly chopped onions to go with his combination sauce too.

What could be best paired with this street food merienda? An ice-filled glass of sago gulaman. The sweet drink tapered the spice of the sauce and the slimy bright-colored gulaman added a fun texture to the drink. After finishing off the drink, the leftover sago at the bottom of the glass was scooped and those chewy pearls did not get unnoticed. Turn to the next page to learn more about Avenida. ☺️

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