Buhi Wet Market: Tilapia, Tabios and Rock & Roll

Buhi Wet Market 
Tilapia, Tabios and Rock & Roll

We drove all the way from Naga City
to St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Buhi,
Camarines Sur on a Holy Thursday,

 

…to visit the Perpetual Succor Shrine,

…but to our disappointment, and for some unknown

reasons, the shrine was closed for the Holy Week.

 

Since we are already in Buhi, we decided

to visit the town’s lakeside wet market.

 

The decrepit, trash strewn market 
is in a sad state of disrepair,

 

…and the dilapidated structure seem to be screaming 
for a much needed clean- up and  renovation.

 

 

 Buhi market is the best place to buy the freshest 
Tilapia in Bicol, as being a lakeside market,

 

 

... the fish is sold right after being caught from what is 
considered as one of the cleanest lake in the Philippines. 

 

The popularity of Buhi Lake caught tilapia came

about due to its mild, sweetish taste as compared

 to those caught in the nearby Lake Bato, which

apparently had a rancid and mucky aftertaste.

 

The Buhi Lake Tilapia is  sold at 90 to 100 pesos 
per kilo and still negotiable among the fish vendors.

Sinarapan, considered the smallest edible commercial
 fish  in the world is  found only in this rustic town. Also 
locally  known as Tabios, it has an average length of
 twelve millimeters, and belongs to the Goby family,

 

Tabios or sinarpan is endemic in Lake Bato, but

can also be found in two smaller lakes Manapao

and Katugday located at the foothills of Mt. Asog.

 

We cooked the fresh sinarpan

as Guisadong Tabios for dinner.

 

We also incidentally discovered

a multi- colored cassava chips which

the locals call ‘Rock and Roll’.

 

I’m not aware on how this indigenous chips made from 
a native root crop got its name, even the vendors did not
 know why it was named after a wild and outrageous music 
genre- but it was crunchy and tasted so good after frying.

 

We also chanced upon a stall selling the iconic “Pancit Bato” 
made in the nearby Rinconada town of Bato in Camarines Sur.

 

It is native sun dried noodles made primarily from wheat flour and
 lye  known that gives off a unique characteristic gritty  texture and
 naturally mild briny taste not found in regular Canton or Miki noodles.

We also shopped for the needed ingredients

in cooking the pancit bato like fresh pechay,

 

…and dried shrimps.

 

Flavored with a little soy sauce we served it

as a classic Guisadong Pancit Bato at home.

The idyllic town of Buhi is a little

over an hour drive from Naga City,

 

…and an ideal place to escape for a moment of peace

and quiet, away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Read the link below for related post:

The Other Woman in Buhi