The day after our hotel cook, Henry, agreed to cook our talakitok, we decided to hit the market early to buy more seafood for lunch. Like the afternoon before, we hit the bounty of the sea 
jackpot! The selection was quite broad and the quality superb, and as usual, I bought with my eyes and stomach, not with my wallet in mind. I figured we could feed most of the hotel staff as well so I didn’t hold back much. The first thrilling find? Superb and utterly fresh spiny lobsters at ½ kilo size each for just PHP300 a kilo. I was so stunned by the price that I didn’t even bother to bargain! We got just under two kilos of lobster which were simply steamed and served with melted butter and a side dish of vinegar as well. I felt a little guilty about purchasing one of the lobsters when it turned out to be filled with aligue or eggs but they all tasted delicious. This is a treat we don’t indulge in too often in Manila or Batangas as the prices can be exhorbitant…
I couldn’t resist a spectacular silver talakitok or jack at 3.2 kilos in weight! It just looked so fresh and visions of sinigang with the fish head said “Buy, buy, buy,!!!†so I did! 
The best part was it cost just PHP240 for the whole fish (about the same price as 1 kilo of talakitok in Manila!). We did, in fact make the head into a great sinigang, soured with kamias fruit. The body was sliced and fried and served with a soy chili sauce. Throw in a platter of white rice and I can tell you this was one of the best and most economical seafood meals I have had this year! We just carried the talakitok home by its tail (got kinda heavy after a few hundred meters) and dropped it off in the hotel kitchen…
But we had a myriad of choices at the market, terrific looking squid, a fresh nearly 1 kilo red lapu-lapu and I took a photo of this utterly massive 9-10 kilo brown lapu-lapu. 
It was a bit old (say over 8 hours as best we could guess) and had been on ice but if I had a good excuse to cook up this behemoth, I would have purchased it as well! If I were swimming over a reef and this thing came at me I would definitely swallow sea water… a huge thank you goes out to our hotel cook, Dennis, who was so accommodating about our bringing home all this seafood and having him prepare it for us. We only managed to eat a fraction of the bounty and shared the rest of our meal with the staff of the hotel!
13 Responses
For us who haven’t been to Coron – or anywhere near it for that matter, you make our mouths water with the enjoyment you found in your stay there!
Thanks for sharing these moments with us.
Such glorious seafood at those prices ? WOW ! Northern Palawan may not need a tourism board after your series…I’d be suprised if the area doesn’t see a noticeable increase in tourist traffic after your postings.
Give me some of those lobsters!!!
The lobsters and fishes did not get my attention, its rather your slim/trim figure. You must have been succeeding with your diet?
You look good, MM! Now I really have to exercise… ;-o
where in Coron did you stay? my cousin’s family owns two facilities and a private island there. one is called Dive Link. i’ve stayed there and at Club Paradise. love Palawan!
Heaven! Fantastic seafood experience Marketman! All your photos caught my eye (gorgeous lobster!) but I must say my favorite is the one of the talakitok nuzzling its “babies”…aaaw!
WOW, WOW, WOW!
All I can is it’s your Day in Coron. Lobster with roe is a very rare find but utterly out of this world in taste and flavor. Everything was favorably leaning on your side – the market, the hotel staff and the locals as well that made your vacation truly enjoyable. The talakitok sinigang looks ultimately delicious!
Ooohlala…lobsters!
We stare at the pics with mouths watering …
You know that invention of Willy Wonka that lets him send food to your TV screen at home? How I wish that existed so that I can eat that picture of the luscious lobster overflowing with aligue!
The two times I’ve gone diving in Palawan, one of our favorite side trips is to go to the fresh seafood market and go crazy buying fish and lobster for meals on the boat. Lobsters are so inexpensive that you can’t resist buying more than one. Then there’s slabs of tuna and squid for sashimi or a quick grill. A quick squeeze of calamansi and life is oh so good. Eyeball in Palawan! :)