Street culture: Asia’s best street food in one bangin’ new hotspot

Enter Street Market!, Market! Market!’s latest exercise in the art of food courts, and you will find that it’s true what they say of inexpensive yet tasty food: Serve it and people will come. This small stretch of mall property, just a few meters adjacent to the sprawling expanse of Fiesta Market! populated with Filipino booths serving local staples like barbecue, grilled seafood, and stews like caldereta and sinigang, is something new for locals. Instead of the typical fast-food joints that serve the same burgers and nondescript rice meals, Street Market is the shopping plaza’s homage to Asian food centers. "Being an Ayala development," says Market! Market! deputy center manager Charmaine Bauzon, "we didn’t want more of the same."

And that’s exactly what they provided: a clean, safe block where street food from all over Asia is available to the public. Where before food like japchae (Korean glass potato noodles with vegetables and pork) and Thai noodle dishes were available only to the curious gourmand or well-to-do traveler, anyone from your mom to your cousin Lito can try out the exotic delicacies of the East. Not to worry though, franchises like Hap Chan and Sushi-ya are there for the more conventional diner, offering comfort food like Hap Chan’s dumplings and soy chicken and Sushi-ya’s California maki.

Like the hawker centers that pepper Singapore’s ordered, tree-lined streets, where you can find anyone from rich, suited businessmen to blue-collar fishmongers dining on local specials like congee or flat noodles in a steaming bowl of fresh broth, or the smoky, food squares in Morocco that come alive during nightfall when tourists and locals congregate to enjoy the nation’s spicy Mediterranean cuisine, this food court serves a smattering of Asia’s finest foods. Though Filipino cuisine isn’t on the menu (the Fiesta Market! serves that function well enough), the jaunty mix of merchants combines fare from the East with homegrown versions drawn squarely for the local palate.

As every documented traveler and Discovery Channel trekker have proven once and again, the best way to get to know a country is to meet her people and sample her food, and Street Market! is a wonderful introduction to places many have never even come close to.

Takoyaki, a small kiosk known for its signature item, sells Japanese dumplings cooked on a steel plate with dozens of concave slots. The vendor fills these spaces in one efficient move with batter, and then proceeds to poke meat (usually squid or octopus) in the middle. In a few minutes, the takoyaki balls are cooked through, then scooped onto paper plates, and drizzled with sauce. Some takoyaki vendors choose some sort of sweet and sour sauce, but in Street Market!’s version, a creamy mayo-like dressing is spread artfully over the balls, followed by crunchy nori bits. Another Japanese offering is yakitori. Just like in its home country, where many small yakitori stands offer sustenance to workers out for a quick bite on the way home or a place for tourists to gather for a taste of this delicious grilled meat with a cup or two of sake, the Street Market! stand offers food economically-priced for the interested foodie. Meat, ranging from pork to chicken, is marinated in a sweet soy-based sauce then grilled till tender. Flavorful and dauntingly delicious, it’s unbelievable that such goodness rolls in at only P29 a stick. Impecunious epicures will find that dining on the same amount as a movie ticket price is more than possible here. Pick three, among a selection of chicken lollipop, pork belly, chicken wings and pork with leeks, for P97 and you’ve got a meal complete with rice. It’s difficult to imagine a good meal under P100, but Yakitori does Japan proud with wonderfully succulent barbecue.

Soo Ra Sang, an authentic Korean joint, also has its own version of barbecue. Tables are equipped with burners, one for a crock pot filled with broth for diners to dip all sorts of vegetables and meat (otherwise known as shabu-shabu), while the other holds up a large concave pan. Meant for grilling pork, it’s used for sangyupsal, a Korean barbecue dish served raw, along with a side of sauces.

Simply pat the pork with some olive oil, place on the grill and, once cooked, dunk it in a mildly spicy chili paste (a spicier version is also available) and then place on top of a fresh lettuce leaf, and dress with some onions and bell peppers. Roll and bite for a refreshing taste of Korea.

Other great stops are Korokke, a kiosk selling variations of the potato cake you can find in Singapore; Koay Teow, purveyor of a dish of the same name made of flat noodles mixed with meat, beans sprouts, and green onions; and Lord Stow’s Bakery, a shop that originated in Macau that sells decadent Portuguese-style egg tarts.

There are numerous other shops that sell amazing food that aren’t familiar to local palates. The great thing about Street Market! is that you can spend the whole day sampling food from every part of Asia without setting foot outside the mall.

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Street Market! offers live entertainment during summer. Rivermaya performs on March 31, True Faith on April 1, Stonefree on April 7, and Kjwan on April 8.