Manila Shopping: Legazpi Market

There are lots of open air market options in Manila. We live in Makati, and, thanks to copious traffic, we tend to stick to markets that are in our neighborhood. There are two main markets here: the Saturday Salcedo Market and the Legazpi Market, which happens on Sunday. The Salcedo Market is mainly food oriented but also has things like fresh flowers and some local non-edible goods. For today's post, we'll concentrate on the Legazpi Market mainly since I forgot my camera the last time we went to Salcedo.

The Legazpi Market has a wide variety of different items for sale, including all sorts of local-made goods like the cool salad bowl my husband got me for my recent b-day. There's also a variety of vendors with everything from toys and candy to jewelry to hand-crafted furniture. There are still a few fruit and vegetable stands, though not nearly as many as in Salcedo, and my favorite poultry people are there selling free-range chicken products (although you've got to get there on the early side if you want boneless, skinless breasts). I also like the honey people who sell three different varieties of locally produced honey based on the types of flowers the bees get their nectar from. I tend to get my eggs at Legazpi, too. There is a vendor there that sells free-range eggs in reusable crates, and if you bring your crates back they will take P15 off the price of another dozen. There's a lot of plant vendors, too, which Husband likes. Husband has bought a few small plants, and we've acquired two small fish* and two small turtles along the way.

Legazpi also offers a bit of pre-made food vendors, and we almost always buy some lunch on our way out. My favorite food vendor is the Indian lady who sells pre-made fresh or frozen samosas along with cumin scented veggies. Husband's favorite is the green smoothie place which sells smoothies to go in old water bottles for us to take home for the week.

Although Salcedo has the wider variety of food products, I tend to prefer Legazpi because there are less people. I can still get most of the produce I want and there's less hassle, which is a welcome change from daily elbow-to-elbow Manila life.

*and these fish are har-dee. These be Manila Bay fish!