Backpacking Philippines: Rufina Patis (Nuoc Mam/Nam Pla/Fish Sauce)

Rufina Patis (Nuoc Mam/Nam Pla/Fish Sauce)

Malabon's famous Rufina Patis factory was also visited during the "Halina, Lusungin Natin ang Malabon" tour where one of the organizers was the affable COO (child of the owner) of Rufina Patis Factory.

Patis, called Nuoc Nam in Vietnam and Nam Pla in Thailand, is a pungent condiment made from fish in brine solution left to ferment outdoors. Patis is a major ingredient in Filipino cuisine though westerners sometimes call it "stinking" fish sauce.

At the Rufina Factory Patis factory, it was pointed out that the green colored bottles are dipping fish sauce while the orange bottles contain Rufina seasoning for cooking.

For those adventurous enough to invade Malabon, they may find patis manufacturers and vendors selling home-brewed patis at the city market while a recommended short visit to Pescadores Restaurant (at the corner of Letre Road and Dagat-Dagatan Avenue) for the patis-flavored beef adobo.

several bottles of Rufina Patis at the end of the bottling plant. Didn't get to see the bottling operation since it was already shut down for that day

"Know Thy Enemy and Know Thyself," a collection of fish sauce samples and bottles of of Rufina's competitors on display

The heir apparent to the patis "Empire" holding a photo of Aling Rufina in traditional Filipino dress (picture blurred to protect identity of the "heir" since Tutubi doesn't have permission to post his picture

Labels: Filipino Food, Malabon, Philippines

posted by GingGoy @ 9:22 PM,

23 Comments:

At Nov 5, 2007, 5:34:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Patis; usually what do they dip with this sause?
At Nov 5, 2007, 5:42:00 PM, Anonymous said...: kyels,
almost everything particularly dishes with broth/soup e.g. sinigang, nilaga, tinola, pinangat (sorry, can't translate them). some prefer bagoong though or soy sauce with calamansi (philippine lemon) and chili.
At Nov 5, 2007, 6:43:00 PM, pusa said...: meron pa palang ganun - i mean for cooking and pang sawsawan lang! kala ko pare pareho lang basta patis sawsawan :)
At Nov 5, 2007, 6:54:00 PM, Anonymous said...: pusa, ako nga rin dun ko lang nalaman sa owner mismo. I'll try to compare the two variants since i have samples of both :P
At Nov 5, 2007, 7:43:00 PM, Gita Asuncion said...: ang favorite kong patis is the unlabelled one sold originally sa navotas, yung nasa long neck. original navotas/malabon yun. sarap yun and di mashado fishy ang amoy. i have a friend from navotas who used to give me noon. pero now, sa mga tiangge na lang ako bumibili. bahala na kung orig. masarap pa din.

i think ill try this red and orange color-coding ng rufina's. nakaka intrigue. ;-)
At Nov 5, 2007, 9:46:00 PM, Anonymous said...: ui, ayos yan ah, patis factory... :)
At Nov 6, 2007, 12:20:00 AM, -= dave =- said...: and when i was a kid, sent to the sari-sari store to buy patis for the very first time, i couldn't differentiate it from suka, hahaha!!
At Nov 6, 2007, 4:57:00 AM, Photo Cache said...: rufina patis comes in smaller bottle pala. i have only seen the bigger bottle, yung long neck ba.
At Nov 6, 2007, 5:36:00 AM, Anonymous said...: kulang ata nilaga kung alang patis! salamat na lang kay rufina:)
At Nov 6, 2007, 10:12:00 AM, Anonymous said...: gita, that's also the tip i got from some of my friends. the navotas/malabon bagoong and patis. i've yet to set foot on Navotas soil, the only city of metro i have yet to visit :(

lino, di namin nakita mismo yung bottling process. late na kasi

dave, suka at patis. when i was taking the entrance exams in college, the proctor told me i just look like a boy buying suka sa tindahan

photo cache, maybe because you're abroad. Rufina Patis still use the Ginebra San Miguel "stainless" gin bottles

cheh, kulang nga. pag linggo ng tanghali yan ang ulam namin.
At Nov 6, 2007, 1:25:00 PM, Anonymous said...: have never imagined visiting a patis factory. it must be interesting. so nabisita mo na rin pala ang siquijor. :)
At Nov 6, 2007, 6:33:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Interesting post again T2. Although di ako mahilig sa patis (Soy Sauce person ako) it's interesting to know more about that famous brand of patis.
At Nov 6, 2007, 6:39:00 PM, Anonymous said...: biyahengpinoy, didn't actually see the stinking rotten fish in brine mentioned, only the bottling plant.

i was able to visit siquijor in 2004. s hort ferry ride from Dumaguete

ferdz, ako depends. basta i want both with red hot chili! :P
At Nov 6, 2007, 7:20:00 PM, pieterbie said...: Love the bottles.
At Mar 9, 2008, 12:49:00 PM, Anonymous said...: I was born in Luzon so I put patis on almost anything, even dip lakatan bananas in it :)

The strange thing these days is I no longer see Rufina patis on supermarket shelves. I see other brands, Tentay, Lorins, Datu Puti, even SM Bonus, but no more Rufina.

The alarming thing is I now see IMPORTED patis on supermarket shelves! The philippines is supposed to be the number 1 manufacturer of patis, but now we import it?!

Thank you for your post, at least kahit sa pictures nakita ko ulit ang Rufina.

Btw, did you know that in Cebu and the Visayas in general, the word "patis" is actually "toyo" or soy sauce? If you wanted to buy patis in cebu you need to say "Rufina" otherwise they'll give you toyo! :)
At Mar 11, 2008, 7:18:00 PM, GingGoy said...: bambit, i still see rufina but at sari-sari stores only.

i know about the patis in the visayas. can understand and speak a little cebuano myself. thanks for the visit
At Mar 31, 2008, 1:56:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Rufina patis is the only patis I knew ever since, no other brand but only Rufina. I have a 3 bottles stocked all the time in my pantry, mahirap hanapin dito sa amin sa Toronto pag naubusan. Walang kapantay ang lasa!
At Aug 9, 2009, 7:52:00 PM, Anonymous said...: does rufina patis factory allow plant tour for students?
At Aug 9, 2009, 7:57:00 PM, GingGoy said...: anonymous, i think so. i joined a malabon tour that includes the visit to the factory and the owners were accommodating. try to get in touch with them or i may refer you to a friend who knew the owners (same owners of Pescadores Restaurant on Letre road corner dagat-dagatan)
At May 1, 2010, 1:14:00 PM, Anonymous said...: MY MOTHER USED TO TELL ME."WHATEVER YOU DO , DO YOUR
BEST. LOOK AT MY KUMARENG PINANG, (THEY WERE FRIENDS AND CONTEMPORARIES IN THE 30'S & 40'S) SHE LIVED UP TO
HER NAME, DID HER BEST, HONEST, MADE THE BEST PATIS.NOW SHE IS RICH." THAT WAS IN THE 50'S.
IT DAWNED ON ME THAT HER NAME "SALAO" MEANS SALTY IN SPANISH.
JUST SURFING THE NET, BE BACK TO PINAS IN THE FALL.
At Jul 24, 2011, 7:46:00 AM, Anonymous said...: keln po ba natatag o nadiskubre and rufina patis?
At Sep 29, 2011, 3:55:00 PM, Anonymous said...: One of the Fish Sauce manufacturer in the Philippines that passed the 3-MCPD laboratory test on their Soy Sauce was Delicious Kitchen Sauces.

You can visit thier homepage at;
http://deliciouskitchensauce.tripod.com/
At Jan 15, 2013, 8:22:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Hi There! Just want to know kung meron bang mga fake RUFINA PATIS? kc ung nabili ko dito sa ABU DHABI eh hindi sya maalat para syang tubig lang na nilagyan ng konting asin at pampakulay na brown.
THANK YOU po sa MAGREREPLY.

Rufina Patis (Nuoc Mam/Nam Pla/Fish Sauce)

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