Lung Center Sunday Market: Tiangge in Quezon City

A favorite haunt of Tutubi on Sunday mornings being just a fifteen-minute drive away or two short jeepney rides from home, the grounds of the Lung Center of the Philippines, with it's shady trees, come alive bustling with activity with food stalls, tiangge and dry goods for sale with regional specialties and products from almost every corner of the Philippines.

Shopping at the sunday market has become a routine for people near the area to shop for their food supplies for a week to cook at home. Various fish, seafood, meats, organic produce, vegetables, herbs and spices (e.g wheat grass, basil, thyme,) , regional specialties and exotic stuff can be found here at a cost lower than Manila's gigantic malls.

Many people asked Tutubi (a wannabe history buff) why the sunday market is called Sidcor, well, it's called Sidcor since in the 90's it used to be located at Sidcor Plaza, where the no-longer-extant Sidcor Resort also used to be, at the corner of EDSA and Main Avenue, the present site of Makro Cubao.

Sidcor Organic Market finds and more:


Kalamay and sinukmani, both rice-based desserts (kakanin)

an assortment of kakanin for sale

For lovers of organic stuff, lettuce packs at 3 for P100. For comparison, similar items at SM malls cost P60/each making these organic greens about 50% cheaper.

Tamales P5/each (small)
or the complete tamales meal at P50 but turned out much of the volume you see were just banana leaves

Live Frogs P250/kilo, people of Paete call them palakang kabakab, cooked by Kapampangans into betute. The French also eat frog legs or what they call "les cuisses de grenouilles."

eggs of Bayawak (water monitor lizard) P130 each (this is not recommended as the bayawak is an endangered species, therefore protected...there are live bayawak on display at the Protected Animals and Wildlife Rescue Center (PAWB Mini-Zoo) inside the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife just across the Lung Center)


Live Dalag (Mudfish) P200/kilo. This specimen weighs 1.5 kgs and is about 30 centimeters long

sinukmani and kalamay (rice cake) P10/slice

Yacon (great for diabetics): P40/kilo (if you want cheaper at P20/kilo or less at wholesale price, look for them on the highway of Nueva Vizcaya particularly Bambang and the cold, upland town of Kasibu)

lato/arosep (seaweed): P120/kilogram

Vigan Empanada: P60/pc, not worth it though, still recommend the authentic ones at Vigan's plaza

Fresh curacha flown from Zamboanga City

Curacha, (sea crabs) endemic to the waters of Zamboanga, Basilan and Tawi-tawi at PhP550.00/kilo (about $11/kg), expensive, yes, but it's the only place Tutubi has seen the sinfully delicious crustaceans outside Zamboanga City. It's already a steal in these low cost of living Philippine islands.

With various food finds and delicacies present, the Lung Center Sunday Market easily answers the question on where to find hard-to-find items, long before the Salcedo Weekend Market and the Legaspi Sunday Market came to be. The latter two were said to be inspired by the original Sidcor Organic Market in Cubao. The three weekend markets, plus Market! Market in Taguig City and Tiendesitas in Pasig City recommended stops for tourists, locals and foreigners, wishing to sample Philippine cuisine and food specialties without actually going to the actual places.

Lastly, should you happen to get there, note that Lung Center's specialty dish is the exotic BOPIS!

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Lung Center Sunday Market (Sidcor)
Lung Center Compound, Quezon Avenue, Quezon City
Open from 6am up to 1pm, Sunday
Parking Fee of P20 for first 8 hours, P5 every hour thereafter

Tip: Use the second gate when parking to avoid the long queue of vehicles entering the first gate. More spacious parking at the left side than those on the right side though farther from the flea market and tiangge stalls.

How to get to Lung Center of the Philippines:

Commute: From MRT Quezon Avenue station, best to hire a cab or if you feel like really commuting, board a bus or jeepney bound for Fairview/Lagro/Philcoa or UP and drop off in front of the Lung Center of the Philippines. (this is opposite the pedestrian entrance of the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center) also on Quezon Avenue. From Manila, jeepneys and buses with signboard Fairview, Lagro and Philcoa all pass by the place. From LRT Monumento station (good for those coming from Cavite), you need to board buses going to Baclaran or Cubao then alight on Quezon Avenue before transferring to a Fairview-bound jeep or bus.

Driving Directions to Lung Center:

1. if you have a car, from Makati or SLEX, take EDSA going to Quezon City, right turn on Quezon Avenue (ilalim) then enter the hospital entrance gate about 300 meters from the corner of Agham road (the first traffic lights after EDSA). You need to pay a minimal parking fee.

2. From NLEX, it's best to take EDSA then North Avenue, passing by SM North EDSA and Trinoma Mall, right turn on Agham Road (pass by the neo-classical building Office of the Ombudsman, Philippine Science High School (PSHS or pisay) and Manila Seedling Bank) then left turn again on Quezon Avenue to reach the center.

3. From Manila, it's just a "straight" drive from Quiapo's Quezon Boulevard, Lerma, Espana, pass by Welcome Rotonda, to reach Quezon Avenue where the center is just near Elliptical Road and Quezon Memorial Circle.

4. From SLEX or Rizal province via C5, drive straight on C5 then Katipunan Avenue to pass by Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU) campus, turn left on C.P. Garcia (the University of the Philippines campus), right on Commonwealth avenue to make a U-turn going to Elliptical Road (Quezon Circle) then Quezon Avenue where you need to take a U-turn again to get to the other side.

For a vicinity and road map of Lung Center, click here. Beside the Lung Center of the Philippines is the National Kidney Institute of the Philippines (NKI).

Other notable landmarks and interesting places nearby are the Quezon Memorial Circle (Quezon City Circle), Quezon City Hall, Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center, Office of the Ombudsman (yeah, that dysfunctional government agency who can't seem to go after allies of the administration...ranting :P), Philippine Science High School, Bantayog ng mga Bayani, Philcoa (Philippine Coconut Authority), Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, Astronomical and Space Administration or PAGASA Science Garden (with its Planetarium), Veterans Memorial Medical Center, East Avenue Medical Center, University of the Philippines (UP), Philippine Heart Center, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Philippine Childrens Medical Center (PCMC), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Social Security System (SSS), LTFRB, NIA, NPO, Manila Seedling Bank, Trinoma Mall, and SM City North EDSA.

Related Posts:
Manila Shopping Guide
Tiendesitas
Salcedo Weekend Market
Manila Seedling Bank,
SM City North EDSA and Trinoma Mall
Quezon Memorial Circle