First Bite: Pista Food Hall

As much as I love exploring Manila, I never had the chance to visit Baclaran. I know that’s where the famous Baclaran Church is located but I also know that the place is chaotic, crowded and not really a good place to be roaming around without a reason. But I finally got a reason to visit the area a few months ago.

Hello, Pista Food Hall.

Located on the 5th floor of Victory Food Mall across the busy Baclaran Church, Pista Food Hall’s ambiance is a refuge from the chaos of the streets below it. In fact, it may seem like it’s a bit out of place considering its location. But not quite. Especially when you hear what Chef JV Mangibin has to say about his vision for Pista.

Pista Food Hall has been designed to prove that good food need not be expensive. It was established to give the people who do not frequent areas such as Ortigas, Makati and BGC a place to get quality food. This food hall opened its doors in order to give locals in this area a break from fast food. But Pista did not stop there. It also offered a beautiful ambiance to match its mouthwatering food.

We were greeted by several stalls offering Filipino favorites such as barbecue, isaw, sisig and kare-kare. And since there are just too many to mention, let me share the crowd favorites during my visit:

This green dish is absolutely divine. It reminds me of laksa with its coconut broth. It was also mildly spiced making it addicting. I wasn’t able to take note of its name but other foodies mentioned that it’s tinola. Another mentioned that it’s sambal. Well, one thing’s for sure, it was good!

Another hit was this litson manok with its juicy and flavorful meat. It’s best enjoyed with rice.

 

Most Filipino dishes are known to be packed with flavor and sinful so it is not a surprise to have Slow Cooked Litson Belly with Atcharang Papaya and Labanos in the list of offerings. And this one was a hit given its crunchy skin and juicy meat.

Chef JV also treated us to some succulent beef cubes covered in thick mildly spiced sauce and it was amazing! Quite oily and too flavorful to be enjoyed alone but pair it with rice and you have a superb meal!

To cap our meal, I indulged in a glass of Halo-Halo. Though not as sweet as the ones I'm used to, it was good in cleansing the palate. 

But what makes this place even more special is its crazy rates. You could get a scrumptious meal for just PHP99 and that includes unlimited rice. For PHP599, you get a salo-salo meal with unlimited rice and that’s good for 3 to 4 pax. Feeling a bit too hungry? Grab Pista Food Hall’s Eat-All-You-Can deal for only PHP280 every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday!

 Here are some of the other dishes we enjoyed during our visit:

 

I hope that Pista Food Hall will open more branches soon! 

Pista Food Hall is located at 5th Floor, Victory Food Mall, Redemptorist Road, Baclaran, Parañaque City. 

 

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