Malabon Tour, Food Trip and Old, Heritage Houses

Malabon, a former visita of Tondo and called Tambobong before it was changed to Malabon, (in)famous for the floods and the high stainless steel padyak (pedicabs) was the recent conquest of Tutubi, where he joined an event aptly called "Halina Lusungin Natin ang Malabon" organized by people with pride of place in their hometown

The tour's designated meeting place was Pescadores Restaurant (pescadores means fishermen in Spanish) at the corner of Letre Road and Dagat-dagatan Avenue, where a hearty lunch was served gratis to all guests. Notable of the food served were the unique patis-flavored adobo (usual adobo recipes use toyo (soy sauce) and not patis (fish sauce)) and Pancit Malabon, the eponymous comfort food of the city closely related to pancit luglug and pancit palabok.

After a brief introduction, the group was arranged into more manageable groupings and proceeded in convoy to our destination.

On passing the bridge, Tutubi was able to snap a photo of Asilo de Huérfanos (Asylum of Orphans) made of adobe. It was at Asilo de Huerfanos where the newspaper of the Philippine Revolution and subsequently of the Philippine-American War, the Antonio Luna-guided La Independencia, was said to be first printed as displayed on the newspaper's masthead. (In reality, this was just to mislead the Spanish authorities, the printing press was located in a clandestine location in Manila, the same printing press of the earlier La Libertad (Kalayaan) paper ordered closed by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo).

Picture of Asilo de Huérfanos taken through the tinted window of the van

The group first visited the San Bartolome church with its Greek-style columns and saw the ghastly renovations being done that practically erased the original features of the heritage church.

Across the street is Betsy's Cake House to have a taste of their broas, soft and delicious unique to malabon though quite pricey (for the penny-pinching Tutubi) at P17.50 a piece. The works of a contemporary of Fernando Amorsolo (a Philippine National Artist in painting), silent artist Serafin Serna, were on display with his conservative style of painting.

Betsy's Broas

Concepcion Church

After a short pilgrimage to Concepcion Church, with it's large ceiling paintings, a tour of old heritage houses ensued, first with the Dionisio house (still beautiful but unoccupied), the beautifully preserved Borja House, the sinking Gonzales House that features adaptive re-use of floodwater turned into a lagoon teeming with fish, and three Luna houses, one of which has a ceiling painting by Fernando Amorsolo. (The group weren't able to enter the house where Amorsolo's painting is present due to the owner's request not to be disturbed owing to a recent stroke). Nearby is also Dolor's Kakanin famous for their sapin-sapin.

Dionisio House

Borja House in front of Concepcion Church

Luna House, with a ceiling painting of Fernando Amorsolo

Gonzales House dated 1877, notice the half-submerged window and the 1877 date prominently displayed



Old Spanish heritage houses of Malabon, like typical bahay na bato (stone houses) architecture, are usually two-storey structures. The ground floor is made up of brick stones or adobe while the second floor made of wood. Use of capiz (a kind of mother of pearl) on large windows to allow light to enter the room (Capiz is to the Philippines; Paper is to the Japanese) aided by high ceilings, ventanillas (small windows) or wood balusters permit efficient air circulation and ventilation suited for the tropical climate of the Philippines. The floorings on the first floor are usually made of piedra china (Chinese granite) and the wooden, balustered stairs usually narra or mulawin. Walls and ceilings are mostly made of wood adorned with highly detailed designs reminiscent of a genteel bygone era.

A detour at Angel Cacnio house and gallery, housing various works of art by Angel Cacnio and his son Ferdie Cacnio, later spiced by an inside look at the famous Rufina Patis Factory introduced the guests to the hidden gems of the city.

A visit to the Martinez house, a short walk from Rufina Patis Factory where the guests were treated to a feast of Malabon specialties: pancit malabon, sumpia (how people of Malabon call their fried lumpia), puto sulot (a uniquely Malabon dessert made of glutinous rice), bibingka (rice cake that Tutubi found to taste better than Ferino's bibingka), puto bumbong (violet-colored glutinous rice steam-cooked in bamboo tubes served with grated coconuts and margarine), pichi-pichi (yellow, translucent, steamed grated cassava (or cassava flour) served with grated coconuts), kikiam (que-kiam), and tamarind-looking camachile biscuits.

After the Patis saga, an encounter with the oldest existing house in Malabon, the 1861 semi-submerged Raymundo house on the banks of Malabon River, which in reality used to be a strait separating the islands of Malabon and Navotas before a man-made activity that changed the geomorphology of the place, called reclamation, took place.

Raymundo House 1861

the Raymundo house from outside
The original Raymundo house original shown in the picture with a grand staircase. the first floor of the house is now submerged

The last stop of the tour was at Bahay Parokyano an art gallery catering to Malabon's grassroots artists.

Malabon has indeed many heritage houses needed to be preserved for posterity, various food unique to the city and historical sites that need to be promoted. It's such a shame the local government hasn't been promoting their city to the full potential and do away with the "mala-venice sa baha" image.

Tutubi and his friends extend their gratitude to the organizers of this event: Richard, Monchet et al.

For more pictures of Malabon, you may visit Richard's Multiply site.

How to get to Malabon:

Commute: In Monumento, accessible to buses on EDSA, or LRT Monumento station, there are jeepneys plying Malabon via Letre road to take you to the city proper and also pass by Pescadores Restaurant.

driving directions by car from EDSA going to Monumento, take Samson Road and go straight until you see the fork on the road (Letre Road), you'll see Pescadores Restaurant on the left.