Every so often, Team Hurry up the Cakes ventures off to the mostly-first-class land of Fort Bonifacio, Taguig, our old  stomping grounds in Alabang, Muntinlupa, to partake in the weekly celebration of gluttony, revelry, and sheer hedonism that is the Midnight Mercato Soderno food fair.

Last night was the last time Daryl, Charisse, and I would meet before our trip to Singapore this coming Tuesday. We decided to have a late dinner at Soderno–Daryl had a meeting early in the evening, and Char and I had a heavy lunch at Hurry up the Cakes favorite 2nd’s late in the afternoon. I was happy, excited, and starved.

First off I had……Bistrology‘s immensely indulgent Risotto Balls–balls of risotto and cheese deep fried and smothered with aligue (crab fat) sauce.

After crunching through the crust , the rice  served well as a creamy, starchy backdrop to the umami of the aligue sauce. The cheese was a light and melty , serving as a perfect balance between the contrasting flavors. It was delicious.

Along with the risotto, I had the crispy pork belly from Carlo’s Kitchen. 

Tasty, but not overwhelmingly so, the pork belly was a wonderful chicharonnes-like counterpart to the risotto. It may be served with the cane vinegar or a lard-like, fake-buttery, gravy. Stick with the vinegar.

Finally, I ordered a Panzerotti, from Mama Lou’s kitchen, which is run and managed by my friend, the beautiful Crystal Tremblay.

Mama Lou’s panzerotti is a pizza-like filled pastry, similar to a calzone, but smaller. It is served with alfalfa sprouts, arugula, and chili oil, which can’t help but remind me of Yellow Cab’s Dear Darla Pizza.

The last time I ordered this, I had the more popular version filled with sausage, pepperoni, bell peppers, and the like. This time, in attempt to stay healthy*, I ordered the margherita–panzerotti filled with mozzarella, basil, tomatoes, and I believed, some garlic.

The taste of the bite was what I wanted after the two heavy dishes i had previously eaten. I only had half a portion because I was already kind of full…which, I suppose, was a good thing, for the panzerotti. I realized that, had I ordered it first, or had it been my main dish of the evening, it wouldn’t have satisfied my hunger or my palate–the light margherita flavors was almost overwhelmed by the surrounding crust. It was like biting through a thick crust pizza topped with nothing but mozzarella, basil, tomatoes, and garlic.

That said, it wasn’t bad, but if you are to order a panzerotti, I would suggest you have the meatier, heavier flavors. And you should, next time you head to Soderno.

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So that’s it for this week’s Soderno report–and this week at Hurry up the Cakes. Be sure to visit us next week, as it’s a big week, with WWE’s Elimination Chamber PPV, and the long-awaited Singapore trip, which, to me, will mostly be about the food, food, food. I will update when I get the chance (I do want to take full advantage of my first vacation since last summer), but you can get bite-sized Hurry up the Cakes updates via @mikeyllorin.

Until then, go find some cakes, and hurry them!