Have at you!

I’ve been to the Mercato Centrale and Midnight Mercato several times before, and although they’re nice places to visit, I seldom find myself there since they’re so far from home. You can just imagine how excited I was when I learned that they opened Mezza Norte within the Trinoma area! There’s now no need for me to travel more than 30 minutes in order to reach one of the food and lifestyle night markets in Manila! 🙂

I arrived at the opening of Mezza Norte a little before 6 P.M. and was able to take a look at most of the stalls prior to the opening ceremony. There were a lot of vendors that night and I had trouble deciding where to start. The place was clearly packed, but it still looked like everyone was enjoying themselves despite the atrocious Manila heat.

I, along with some of the other bloggers invited to the event, had the opportunity to speak with some of the entrepreneurs behind certain brands. One of them was Kelvin Ngo, owner of one of my favorite independent ice cream brands: Merry Moo. I was first able to try their Earl Grey Tea ice cream when I visited the Legaspi Sunday Market in Makati and immediately fell in love with the flavor.

Kelvin was nice enough to let us sample a flavor of our choice from his selection at Mezza Norte. Being the coffee person that I am, I didn’t let the chance to try their Coffee Kahlua slip by. Let me just say that it was awesome! 🙂 I really loved it; by far my favorite from this brand.

Two of the other business owners we had the opportunity of meeting was Ean Cuenco of Big Bob’s Charcoal Grilled Burgers and Nowie Potenciano of Mochiko:

It’s a shame that I didn’t get to try the charcoal burgers from Big Bob’s because I don’t eat beef. 😦 Believe me, it was one of those moments when I wished I still did. The burgers looked really delish!

Luckily, I didn’t have any dietary restrictions when it comes to desserts! I was able to try the Potato Chip-Chocolate from Mochiko. I’ve tried other ice cream mochi balls before, but this has got to be my No. 1 flavor as of now. Sweet, salty, crunchy – it was really neat! 🙂 I think my brother will like this one as well.

There were still loads of other interesting stalls found at Mezza Norte. Here’s a glimpse of some of the ones which caught my eye:

Cakes by K, which I will definitely try one of these days. All of their cakes looked so nice and their booth seemed to always have customers around. 🙂

I first learned about The Cheesesteak Shop from my brother and wasn’t surprised to find them at the event. The Boyfriend was able to sample their Philly Cheesesteak and thought that it was pretty good. I’m looking forward to trying their Chicken Classic Philly Cheese Steak next time I spot their mobile van again (or I could always just drop by one of their branches in Makati or Bonifacio Global City). 🙂

Hey! Fishy Fishy sold yummy looking fish and chips. The Boyfriend and his sister bought some to bring home. 🙂

Chicken Chop is owned by Jessicca Wong and her friends. What initially caught my attention were the girls’ matching Simpsons tops, which I found cute. I was able to speak with them and learned that they were all Graceans too. Their stall sold different varieties of fried chicken chops. 🙂

I was still with my parents when we spotted Schmidt’s Gourmet Hotdogs. My Mom was clearly thrilled about it and so we decided we’d get The Julius for her to enjoy (photo above). 🙂

Little Donkey is said to be one of the newest teams to join the night market scene. They serve chicken burritos, tacos, chips and salads. We were able to try their chips with jalapeños and it was pretty good! The photo above shows one of their other products: the Fried Burrito. 🙂

There were still loads of other vendors selling yummy stuff at the Mezza Norte and it’s highly recommended that you check it out. The night market is held every weekend (Fridays to Sundays) from 4 P.M. until 3 A.M., so there’s really no excuse for you not to drop by if you’re within the area. I hope that a lot of the QC residents could visit the place and discover something new and something that they really, really like. 🙂

**Visit the official Mezza Norte Facebook page here.