Midnight Mercato: The Highs and The Lows

Two entries in one day is unusual for me, but hey, there's always a first time for everything right? :D

So last Saturday, after officially becoming a godparent to this unknowing child, Mariko, Hazel and I drove from Paseo de Magallanes to The Fort in Taguig. Our agenda: to hit Midnight Mercato, the brainchild of foodie Anton Diaz of Our Awesome Planet.

We had a bitch of a time looking for it, I didn't know they transferred spots. So now, they're located behind the Starbucks with the drive-thru right beside MC Home Depot. Cars were lined up just to get to the parking lot. It was THAT BUSY! Plus some people cut the line, so it took us more than 15 minutes to actually get in!

But when we finally got in, we thought we were all going to go crazy! THE FOOD WAS ABUNDANT!! There were so much food choices, we had to go around the place 5 times before we got decide.





Since we came from Racks that afternoon, we were still sort of stuffed. So we only got to eat Nachos with Cheese and Beef from Mexicanto and the Hungarian Sausage. Both were really good! Nice and light..perfect for a close-to-midnight snack.


Mariko also decided to buy cakes from one of the stalls. They were a disappointment. This first one was a Chocolate-caramel cake. Although not too sweet, it's not your typical moist chocolate cake. It was dry and had a rough texture to it.

The really sad attempt at a Red Velvet Cake. Again, it was dry and the cream cheese was HARD.

This was much better, cake with walnuts on top. I liked it because it wasn't too sweet, plus there were nuts all over the cake.

Lastly, this was a strawberry cake. Again, not too sweet, but it was better than the chocolate and the red velvet cakes.

You really have to look around first before buying your food. There's so many stalls, but only a handful of them really serve good food. It's best to get the food that gets cooked right in front of you, at least you're assured of the quality once it's served! :)

Anton, if you get to read this, as a fan of yours, please:
1. FIX THE BATHROOM SITUATON! 2 portalets is not enough. Plus make sure nobody drops a bomb in there. It sucks that there are only 2 cubicles (one for the men and the other for the female) and one of them can't be used because of some inconsiderate dumbie! It's a bit of a hassle to go all the way to Starbucks or to MC Home Depot just to take a leak.
2. PARKING. Maybe you could just organize one entry point for the entrance and exit. It took us 15 minutes to get inside the parking lot because some moronic drivers cut the line.
3. FOOD SITUATION. As a foodie, maybe you should also get to screen the quality of the food being sold. We bought Sago't Gulaman that tasted like water, cakes that were dry and tasteless. And also the hygiene of the sellers were a bit questionable. We saw this stall with a "chef" preparing food with his bare hands. Come on, it's supposed to cater to the conyo crowd, how do you expect people to buy food when they see someone using their hands while preparing their food.
4. SITTING SITUATION. Hope you guys can get to add more seats, a lot of people had been scouring the entire area for seats. Plus most of the people there go by barkadas or one entire family. So most of them take up an entire table.
5. Getting to draw in hoards of people is really key, but as a foodie, you also know what gets you to come back to a certain restaurant. Most of the time it's quality and the cleanliness. Seriously Anton, cleanliness is a bit of an issue here. The food is not really exceptional, so maybe you can make the place spic and span, starting with the RESTROOMS. That part was really frustrating.

These are just some friendly suggestions to help improve the place. I think some aspects of the food market was neglected because it already had a NAME. In all fairness to the weekend markets at Salcedo and Legaspi Villages, they've been really successful because they took note of the minute things that people who come to them really need.

But don't get me wrong, before you throw and hurl boulders of hate at me, we really loved the place ok! Mariko, Hazel, and I had to make like 5 rounds just to decide on what to eat hahaha it really is a foodie heaven. But all things need improvement, and I guess Midnight Mercato isn't exempted from it! :)

Midnight Mercato
34th Street and 8th Avenue (across MC Home Depot), The Fort, Taguig
Operating Hours: Friday and Saturday, 10PM to 3AM
Website: http://www.midnightmercato.com