It was a busy first weekend for Sugbo Mercado SRP as people from the southern part of Metro Cebu gathered at the food market. (FRAULINE SINSON)
DRIVING home towards Talisay City from SM Seaside, I was surprised to see bright lights and white event tents clustered at City di Mare at the South Road Properties. I slowed down out of curiosity and found out that it was Sugbo Mercado, the weekend food market.
Excited, I immediately signaled to turn right and found a parking space at the vast grounds.
Who hasn’t heard of Sugbo Mercado? Just a little over a year in operations, it has quickly rose to food stardom due to its eclectic collection of food stalls serving Filipino favorites, international cuisine and unique fusion dishes and drinks.
But as a resident of Talisay City who works from home, visiting Sugbo Mercado at the I.T. Park or Cebu Business Park is not easy. Too many challenges to overcome—distance, traffic, hours. Sugbo Mercado SRP solved all that.
Situated at the City di Mare grounds, Sugbo Mercado SRP is a few minutes from Talisay City, cutting down the distance, the annoying traffic and allowing us to get home at a reasonable time.
What’s more, Sugbo Mercado offers very affordable food choices. A stick of pork barbecue sells for P8 while one small puso (rice wrapped in coconut leaves) can be bought at P4 or three for P10. My seven-year-old daughter certainly enjoyed these as well as the grilled hotdog sold at P20 per stick.
Unlike other sidewalk hotdogs with dubious origins, we were happy to find out that they sell hotdogs from a brand we like.
Weekends are getting livelier at the South Road Properties with the recent opening of Sugbo Mercado. (FRAULINE SINSON)
For drinks, we tried one at Piña Coolada, which boasts of freshly squeezed pineapple juice. One can choose pure pineapple or pineapple paired with another fruit. We tried pineapple tamarind. My daughter, who can’t finish an artificial juice in a 200ml tetra pack, turned to me and grinned, “It’s good!” I was happy I parted ways with my P60 to buy the drink.
Although there are not quite as many concessionaires at Sugbo Mercado SRP compared with the one at the I.T. Park, I think it is a good start. There are about 20 or so food stalls open when we visited on Saturday. A combination of comfort food and new eats was just right for newbies like me.
I have only been to Sugbo Mercado at the I.T. Park once and I confess I was intimidated because there were so many great dishes to choose from. I circled it thrice and I still could not decide what food or drink to buy. I cried a little inside after I was forced to choose one dish over another. If only my stomach can handle 10 dishes but then again my wallet would probably file criminal charges against me.
Northerners shouldn’t despair though. I hear Sugbo Mercado will be opening in Mandaue soon.
In the meantime, foodie lovers in the south are embracing Sugbo Mercado with open arms.