Pasalubong

Pasalubong is a Filipino tradition of bringing home items after a vacation or a journey from faraway places. An example is whenever I travel to various places; I made it a habit to bring home some pasalubong. For instance, when I visited Mactan Island and Cebu City, I brought home broas, dried mangoes and danggit. Also, when I visited Davao, I brought home the local delicacies there like durian and durian candy.

Bringing pasalubong for your family and love ones is a good tradition because people who came from far places are bringing tokens or items that will also make the people back home experience a little bit about the place that you visited. Like many traditions, pasalubong is also abused and there are people who care more about the pasalubong than the person bringing the pasalubong.

If you are a Filipino, then I am sure that you either brought home pasalubong or received pasalubong from your family and friends.

Foods, especially sweets, are the usual pasalubong items. Other pasalubong items are key chains and other small souvenir items that are not heavy on the pocket. I have a friend who buys key chains as his pasalubong for his office mates.

What if you are in Metro Manila and you want to bring home pasalubong when you go home. Where can you find great pasalubong? Here are few of the shops that I can recommend.

1. Dolor's Kakanin - this is the shop famous for its sapin sapin, which is a kind of kakanin that is a mixture of various kakanin. Dolor's sapin sapin has ube halaya, malagkit, and other kakanin that are suitable pasalubong. Aside from sapin-sapin, Dolor's sells other kakanin like puto, kutsinta and ube halaya. Dolor’s sapin-sapin is in demand during holiday seasons like Christmas and New Year. During the holiday seasons, I suggest that you call Mommy’s Pride first to reserve a sapin-sapin. See Dolor's Kakanin website for more info about their available pasalubong.
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Dolor's sapin sapin

2. SM Hypermarkets – if you want a convenient place to buy your sweet pasalubongs, then I suggest that you visit SM Malls that have SM Hypermarkets. SM Hypermarket is the supermarket of SM Malls and they have booths there that sell kakanin and other food pasalubong.

3. Local markets – puto, kutsinta, and other kakanin can also be bought from local palengke (supermarkets) around Metro Manila. Most of the kakanin in the local markets are home-made but cheaper as compared to the ones in Mommy’s Pride and SM Hypermarkets. If you are in a tight budget, I suggest that you buy your pasalubong in the local markets.

4. Goldilocks – this is a cake shop that expanded their offerings. Now, Goldilocks also sell the usual pasalubong items like puto and kutsinta. They also have pulburon (polvoron) which is a kind of candy made from powdered milk. There are many Goldilocks shop around Metro Manila so it is convenient to buy your pasalubong there. Visit Goldilocks' website for more info.

5. House of Polvoron – if you are wishing to make pulburon (polvoron) as your pasalubong when you leave Manila, then I suggest that you buy your pasalubong in House of Polvoron. This shop sells the best polvoron in Metro Manila. The problem is that there is not much booth of House of Polvoron because they can only be found in selected malls around Metro Manila. However, I like their polvoron and their polvoron is better than the one I tasted in Goldilocks. Visit House of Polvoron website for more info.

So there! Those are some of the shops around Metro Manila where you can buy pasalubong. If you are a foreigner visiting Manila, then I suggest that you bring home our best pasalubong items, especially the kakanin. Let you family and friends have a taste of Filipino sweets.

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Visit Before the Eastern Sunset and read about the obvious bias of the Philippine media.
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Dolor’s Sapin Sapin

For my father’s 50th birthday, I decided not to buy the usual cake from Red Ribbon or Goldilocks and I chose another food that is unique and never had been eaten by my family. Thus I chose to buy Dolor’s sapin  sapin.

I first tasted Dolor’s sapin sapin in an office event. Actually, someone always buy a Dolor’s sapin sapin whenever there are celebrations in our office. Dolor’s sapin sapin is delicious and I always come back to the table for more. The sad thing is that my officemates also like the sapin sapin, making second helpings impossible.

What is Sapin – Sapin?
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Sapin sapin is a Philippine dessert that is usually placed on a “bilao” (circular bamboo tray) and consists of different kinds of kakanin (rice cakes) and other Philippine native desserts. Dolor’s sapin sapin is arranged like a large dartboard and composed of ube halaya, malagkit, a chewy part (the red portion of the sapin sapin) that is like kutsinta, and many more. The parts of Dolor’s sapin sapin that I liked the most is the part on the edge of the sapin sapin (the white portion) and the ube halaya (the violet colored part).

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Many bloggers are all thumbs up for this delicacy and they are not wrong. Dolor’s sapin sapin is the best sapin sapin that I ever tasted. Some even said that the demand for Dolor’s sapin sapin is very high during the Christmas Season that many people did not get the chance to have on “bilao” of sapin sapin for the Noche Buena and Media Noche. During the non-holiday season, people buy Dolor’s sapin sapin as pasalubong for their loved ones.

The delicious sapin sapin is made by Dolor’s Kakanin in Malabon City. The food shop also sells other kakanin like puto and kutsinta. Dolor’s sapin sapin were already famous for years, especially in Malabon, that’s why it is not surprising that many shops offer this yummy treat.

Where and to Buy Dolor’s Sapin Sapin?

There are many shops that sell Dolor’s sapin sapin. The main branch and the original shop of Dolor’s are located in Malabon.

The main distributor of Dolor’s delicacies is “Mommy’s Malabon Pride,” which have various branches in Metro Manila. Mommy’s is owned by the daughter of the owner of Dolor’s. Their branches are located near Monument, along Congressional Avenue in Quezon City, and Sucat near Bicutan Exit.

Dolor’s Main Branch’s address is: 19 Governor Pascual Avenue, Concepcion , Malabon City with telephone number: 282-0071.

Another branch is at 79 Mc-Arthur Hi-way, Barangay 078, Caloocan City with telephone number 332-0227 or 332-0228.

Another shop that sells Dolor’s products is the Sapin Sapin sa Banawe that is owned by a relative of the owner of Dolor’s. If you decided to look for this shop to buy Dolor’s product, I suggest that you go before 5:00 PM because this shop closes early. Never go to this shop during the night. The address of Sapin Sapin sa Banawe is: 575 Banawe Ave., Corner N.S. Amoranto St., Quezon City, with telephone number: 743-7947.

SM Hypermart is another distributor of Dolor’s. Dolor’s sapin sapin and other kakanin could be brought from SM Hypermarkets, specifically at SM Santa Mesa in Manila.

How to Buy Dolor’s Sapin Sapin?

I suggest that you call first the shop where you will but the sapin sapin before actually going to the shop. You could inquire if the sapin sapin is available and you could also place a reservation for the sapin sapin that you will buy. Only Mommy’s Malabon Pride has reservation and I do not know about other distributors. There is no reservation fee so that placing a reservation will not hurt your pocket. Be reminded that you should be at shop by 6:00 PM or your reservation will be waived. Reservation is recommended, especially during Christmas Season.

The Verdict

Dolor’s sapin sapin is truly delicious and the reviews of other bloggers are right. The tag price of this delicacy is not bad, compared with the cakes of Red Ribbon and Goldilocks, because the sapin sapin is not only delicious but also heavy in the stomach. In our home, it took about two days before we eaten all of the 17-inch sapin – sapin.

For the taste and affordability, I give Dolor’s sapin sapin two thumbs up.

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