by Lori Baltazar
The man who sells taho in my neighborhood to my daughter is the son of the man who used to sell taho to me growing up. I never knew what his dad’s name was, but Manong Fernando is known to everyone in the neighborhood as Manong Taho.
Every afternoon from 3-5pm except on Sundays and rainy days, Manong Taho plies his trade through our streets echoing the familiar call which starts on a high note and ends low: “Tahoooooohhhhh! Tahoooooohhhhh!” His two aluminum containers – one, long and narrow – the other, short and squat, each carry components of a traditional and treasured Filipino snack.
The long and narrow container that Manong holds is for the taho, unpressed soybean curd mixed with a coagulant. The resulting texture is like that of quivery crème brulee. The short and squat container on the other hand, holds two compartments; one for the sago or tapioca balls; the other for the brown syrup called arnibal. Viscous and shiny, it’s similar to molasses and has a deep almost burnt taste.
I’ve always been fascinated by how supple and soft the texture of taho is, quivering slightly with every stroke of the metal scooper, like ripples being carved out of a wave, if you can imagine that. Once the taho has almost filled the cup, Manong lifts the lid of the other container. Using a narrow aluminum spoon which looks like a long, slim ladle, he carefully spoons out some syrup and drizzles it on top of the taho. He always gives in to our cries of “More syrup pa po, Manong!” But when the cries start up again for “more sago, pa po!” Manong gently tells us in Tagalog that there might not be enough for the others. For most people, it’s either the sago or the syrup that makes a taho.
Manong Taho makes the best taho I’ve ever had, supple and soft like the softest custard, its surface stained by syrup and sago. A motley of white and brown gleaming with the translucence of pearls. Every spoonful is hot and sweet, syrup and heat, the comfort and taste of a thousand happy memories.
Now your turn to tell me: What is your favorite street food?
Note: M.I.Y.O. Monday stands for Make It Your Own Monday, a question thrown out to DCF readers every Monday to jumpstart the week with lively interaction. I also welcome questions and suggestions for future MIYO Mondays. Email me.
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Taho, fishball, kikiam, barbecue, kwek kwek. These 5 rank the highest. I am not a litid and innards person so I miss out on the joys of “internal” eating. In my defense, I love durian. I’m invoking that as my credential for my “kaunti lang ang kumakain nyan” Badge.
fishball (RP). stinky tofu (HK). frozen haw fruit (China). green mangoes with fish sauce + chilli sauce (Thailand).
Dirty ice cream. Back in the day in STC there was Mang Cirilo’s dirty ice cream with the best avocado ice cream and even atis ice cream.
Dirty ice cream. Back in the day in school at STC there was a cart by Mang Cirilo. I love the sugar cones (apas) filled with the best avocado ice cream and even atis flavor with real atis bits with seeds!
Sweet street food for me– dirty ice cream (queso’s my fave flavor) and taho! I’d always ask taho vendors to be extra generous with that gorgeous, dangerously dark brown syrup. 😀
In order of preference:
Savory Street Food:
-Kikiam with sweet and spicy sauce
-Kikiam with regular fishball sauce
-Fishballs with Sweet and Spicy Sauce
-Isaw manok with vinegar and labuyo
-Kwek kwek with vinegar and labuyo
Sweet Street Food:
-Taho
-scramble
-Samalamig with lots of gulaman!
It’s pink shaved ice topped with powdered milk and chocolate syrup, Lori. I think ALL Catholic schools have this outside campus parameters. 😀
They can now be found in malls too. 🙂
Hi Lori!
Paolo is correct. Scramble is usually pink shaved ice with powdered milk and that yummy choco syrup. When I was younger, it was always Brown Cow that Manong used or Ricoa.
It can usually be bought at the fish ball vendors. It’s placed in those styro boxes. But be warned! Gastro enteritis might follow suit since you’re not sure of the ice used if the water was filtered. Better buy at the scramble stalls iniside the malls or stick with your fish ball suki.
Thanks Lori!
Paolo is correct. For me, the choco syrup used back when I was a kid must be Brown Cow. I will complain to Manong Fish Ball Vendor if he used a different brand. Lol.
Try them out while you’re in a mall or food court. I won’t recommend buying from the fish ball vendors, unless you’re suki-status already and know their food prep practices. You might get tummy aches if the water used for the ice is not filtered.
I’m gonna have to go with taho! I have a lot of fond memories of waking up on weekends to some warm taho at the breakfast table 😀
Dirty ice cream for me. I always buy a cone or two every after church service where manong sorberto is already positioned right outside our church’s gate as if he knows the time when our services would end. And also nilupak, smeared with margarine and topped with cheese 🙂
Our church is just in our subdivision in Pasig. A small full-gospel Christian church. However, the nilupak that I’ve tried was on a bisekleta w/ side car that roams around our neighborhood. And it has been a while since I’ve last seen manong on his bisikleta with his nilupak 🙁
FISHBALL! To date, I have yet to find a recipe that matches the sweet sauce they sell on the street with it. Sad.
And then, a far second would be scramble. 🙂
Mam Lori,
Scramble is very much the same as the ice cones only it is done manually shaving the ice then putting powdered milk and sugar on a round ice box and beating it on a big manual egg beater until it forms like ice cones then for decoration adding some coloring and red tapioca balls. I usually pair this with the carioca, fried malagkit with molasses coverings..yummy!
Hi Lori,
Sad to hear about your fishball sauce experience. Nothing beats the Manong Fishball sauce! Maybe they should come together and bottle their sauce, and sell them in groceries? That’d be awesome! (Although our alternative was to buy lots of fishball from them and bring out a bowl for the sauce — which we would then boil back home, just to be safe, hehe.)
As for the scramble, I think this link might help: http://thewanderingboots.wordpress.com/2010/07/23/scramble-licious-school-street-food-goes-to-the-mall/
The toppings are new additions. Hershey’s Brown Cow + powdered milk (Birch Tree kaya yun?) were the only toppings I knew of, back in the day. Some vendors even added those pink-red sago balls too. 😀 Aaaah, childhood memories!
It’s almost like an industry secret, that fishball sauce.it tastes almost the same ANYWHERE you go in the Philippines, doesn’t it?
Hello, Lori! I am no stranger to street food, as it was a staple during my college years in Diliman. Of course, I will always be partial to isaw available around campus, especially the ones near Kalayaan and Ilang-Ilang dorms. Having isaw with your friends and org mates is such a perfect way to end the busy school day.
The isaw around campus was one of the best, I think! The isaw on sticks were so cheap! And people watching us from afar would think that we were holding our drinks in those plastic cups, when in fact we were holding the vinegar in those cups!
me too, i love taho! an old man selling taho on the bridge across sm north edsa, full of pride says that his arnibal is made with langka. i appreciate vendors who really make an effort to make their products special.
Kwek-kwek, tokneneng and taho. I loooooove taho.
Hi Lori,
I like kamote que now upgraded to kamote fries =), buchi for meryenda. sapin sapin and kuchinta in the morning.
local halo-halo before san dosenang sarap and razon was around.
Its Puto bumbong for me and dirty ice cream please. Can’t you tell I have a sweet tooth? 😉
hi Lori. Scramble ( Ice Scramble ) is shaved/crushed ice combine sugar, evaporated milk, artificial banana flavoring and pink food coloring topped with chocolate syrup and powdered milk. Nowadays, I see cart offering with variations of toppings. 🙂
1.) isaw from, the sadly now-MIA, Brader at the corner of N.Domingo and Blumentritt in San Juan. you know that guy makes a damn good isaw if, one night, after one of our bar-hopping sprees, we pass by Brader’s and see some members of the Eraserheads quietly and joyously partaking of this juicy, fat-bursting-in-your-mouth masterpiece.
2.) kwek kwek at the corner of Hidalgo and Gomez in Quiapo. right in front of SM. i’ve watched countless of times, how they made the orange kwek-kwek batter in a large timba. they would then drop in the hard-boiled quail eggs while a man wearing just shorts would vigorously stir the whole concoction. his sweat dripping profusely on the batter. i think that was the secret ingredient of that kwek-kwek.
3.) carioca, banana-cue, and kamote-cue from the carpark behind Manila Doctor’s Hospital along Kalaw St.
4.) balot, penoy, and those round airy pork chicharon in plastics from Mang Roger in front of San Beda College along Mendiola. ask any Bedista and for sure they know Mang Roger. it’s his own vinegar concoction that makes his balot, penoy, and chicharon sing. 😀
5.) and of course, the strawberry flavor dirty ice cream in Wright Park or Burnham Park in Baguio. 😀
During my childhood days our basketball team always feasted on Aling Toyang’s palabok and sumpia(pritong lumpia) and sarsi after a game and then the one with the longest and biggest burp wins another round…
I love isaw 😛 recipe for tummy disaster, i know! but i only buy it from trusted sources.
i also love the childhood ice cream sandwich: dirty ice cream + burger buns. it’s weird but it works! 😀
For breakfast or am snack: Cold taho.
Pm snack: mais na malagkit (never cared much for sweet corn) and turon made of purple camote.
Dinner: Isaw.
Midnight snack: Balut with spicy vinegar for the sawsawan.
I am a self confessed street food addict. I eat pretty much anything, except for betamax and chicken head. I love taking the jeep from Cubao to San Juan because that takes me pass a *long* row of street food.
Squid/Fishballs, then balut with spicy vinegar, then fried isaw, tokneneng, fried balot, green mangoes and bagoong, and then just before boarding the jeep to San Juan, lugaw with either “puso” or “empilla(sp?)”
What I really miss though is this thing called “Sebo” maybe it is also chicharon bituka? But this one is just really deep fried fat with bits of meat clinging to it. Drenched in loads of vinegar. Followed by Ice Scramble. (…and chicken skin, kwek-kwek, isaw, and maybe a buko juice, to make everything healthier.)
1. Isaw Manok and Fishballs — particularly the ones from UP Diliman (They used to sell these in our university, Lori, in the afternoon, but double the price. Hahaha! I think it was for one of those Management-setting-up-a-business requirements.).
2. “Dirty” Ice Cream — the one in front of ICA’s gate 2, beside Mary The Queen.
3. Chicharon Bulaklak and Bituka.
4. piping hot Pinatog — Next to sweet corn, this is how I’d like to snack on my corn.
5. Very hot balut and penoy with sabaw.
My other definition for street food — food that my dad forbade us to eat. Hahaha!
Sigh. You are so blessed with relatives who can really cook!!! Ah yes. I think the real name is binatog. Pinatog is how the Chinese side of our family would call it. Hahaha! Gasp. Oh yes you were a newscaster! I wonder if they have those on youtube!
I love ‘bowling’ growing up when we’d spend summer in Cavite. Usually sold in a big basket covered in cloth to keep them warm late in the afternoon right before sunset, it’s similar to brioche in shape but just a bit heavier, with a thin coating of butter or maybe margarine on top, handed to you in a bag made of newspaper.
I might add, best when spread with guava jelly/jam.
Nothing beats hot binatog with evaporated milk and grated cheese, especially the one sold at the end of Session Road in Baguio. 🙂
Wow. I never thought binatog would have so many variations! Our street vendor mixed it with grated coconut and salt.
1. Penoy in the kwek kwek batter – this is where it all started in my high school days around 92-93.
2. Chicken skin BBQ – Anyone ever go to Nepa Q-Mart back in the 90s would know this. Sweet and dunked in the tangy vinegar loaded with sibuyas.
3. Lumpiang gulay, just as long as your finger and drizzled with suka. Also at Nepa Q-mart in the 90s.
4. Palamig na buko, to this day I still have this ever since I was a young kid.
5. Ice Buko – before there was Magnum, Twin Popsies and Pinipig Crunch there was this with Mongo, buko strips or fruit salad on top.
6. Ice Candy – buko, melon or both.
Hands down to PROVEN and ISAW!:) Second will always be fishballs and anything fried by Manong Fishball 🙂 Third will always be KWEK-KWEK or TOKNENG in Manila.:)
There used to be this lady who sells Proven that is just so good in our hometown but sadly she and her husband just disappeared two years ago. It is, to date, the best proven I have ever eaten.
BTW, proven is coated chicken gizzard fried to crispiness and dipped in suka with lots of chilies and sibuyas. Just describing it makes my mouth water. It is more of a beer chow but for my brother and I, it is best paired with a bowl of piping hot ginisang munggo and some white rice. 😀
Being the pedantic person that I am, proven is made of gizzard. It’s is from the proventriculus, apparently part of the digestive system assisting the (equally delicious) gizzard. 🙂 Try it at UP Los Baños! It’s heavenly out there.
“…is not made of gizzard”
“It’s
isfrom the…”I should learn not to post comments while sleepy. 😛
In this weather, nothing beats Hilaw na Mangga, Singkamas at Bagoong!
In Manila: the isaw, squidball and fishball in UP, taho, boiled peanuts and grilled corn, lumpiang gulay that all Manangs sell in office buildings, banana q, pork bbq esp the one in front of Capitol Medical Center, cheese and ube dirty ice cream
In HK: egg waffle, fried squid tentacles, stinky tofu, cheap ass “fake” siomai and lomi, pure and freshly pressed fruit juices, soymilk, HK “kakanins”
If I had a big plot of land somewhere I would turn it into a tented street food heaven, invite all the manongs and manangs out there to hold court with their unique take on various street food, and charge a pittance for rent, just to give them a chance to ply their trade to a bigger audience and perhaps “expand” in future. 🙂 Similar to hawker courts in Singapore or dai pai dong streets in HK. A pipe dream, I know.
My dream bday party will be catered by street food vendors! 🙂
Wow, I have exactly the same idea! (the “hawker court”) 🙂
oh, i love street food! i can’t even begin. going to school near dapitan and katipunan, i could probably have a whole meal from street food alone! the best fishballs and chicken balls by della strada church along katipunan with sweet sauce and the best gulaman i’ve ever had, cool, sweet and fragrant with pandan. grilled isaw from up, both from near the printing press and mang larry’s! deep fried chicken isaw and chicken skin from dapitan. and my current favorite, botchicake – it’s a riff of those japanese cakes that sandwich some filling (usually cheese or chocolate) but the one near ust sandwiches oreo cookies and choco mallows between the fluffy pancakes (cooked in margarine!) instead. heaven for P10 a piece! of course, taho on sunday mornings before mass.
haha, you might be interested in these things called “dynamite” tho. they’re large whole green chilis wrapped in lumpia wrapper and then deep fried. there are also variations with pork and cheese.
Adobong mani, complete with skin, siling labuyo and crispy garlic slices!
Green mango and singkamas slices. Skewered with bamboo sticks. Topped with the most unnatural looking pinkish/red bagoong. Bananaque, turon (with langka) and maruya; I love my fried bananas. And okoy and lumpia (goes fabulous with a bowl of lugaw).
Growing up in Philam Homes, QC in the early 80s,, we all looked forward to the ice cream man who came every afternoon, preceded by the clanging of his bell. The Ic Cream Sandwich, Pinipig Crunch and Twin Popsies were favorites. The same ice cream manong sold balut at night and kakanin on weekends. Fond memories I have of that hard working man who kept a list of creditors written on banana leaves.
betamax – from the vendor by the corner of our barangay
turon
squidballs – any kiss stall
I love taho! It would have to be my fave street food 🙂
siomai, squid balls, lumpia..missing dormitory days=(
My favorite street foods are: grilled white corn with salt and butter (in Baguio), Taho (hot or cold), Binatog, Pork cheek (pisngi) barbecue with vinegar, ice scramble (when I was a kid) and of course dirty ice cream (queso, corn, mangga and avocado flavors). Yum!