Philippines is undoubtedly a must visit country for its countless beautiful islands with white sand beaches, waterfalls and welcoming and hospitable people. Being an archipelago, Philippines is also rich in marine life. Thus, backpacking the Philippines will not be complete if you will not try to eat delicious seafood. Roxas City in Capiz province is the country’s seafood capital. (Related: Where to eat in Roxas City, Seafood Capital of the Philippines) If you are travelling to Manila, the country’s capital city, You need not to visit Roxas City to enjoy delicious seafood. There is Seaside Dampa Macapagal, a seafood haven right in Manila to fulfill your seafood gastronomic adventures.

Where to eat seafood in Manila?

Seaside Dampa Macapagal is probably the largest seafood place in Manila. It is perfectly situated as it is near to various hotels, shopping malls and casinos. Seafood Dampa Macapagal is also few minute taxi or uber ride away from the Manila Airport (Ninoy Aquino International Airpbalatort).  If you are bringing your car, there is a spacious parking area.  Parking fee is 20 Pesos.

TIP: If you don’t have a car, it is easier to go to Seaside Dampa Macapagal if you will take uber from any point in Manila. I’m giving you 200 Php off on your first two rides.  Just use promo code ‘edp1000ue‘ when you sign up HERE.

Seaside Dampa Macapagal Location Map

Shop for fresh seafood

A post shared by Ed Puno (@onearmedwanderer) on Mar 23, 2017 at 11:08am PDT

Interestingly enough, dining in Seaside Dampa Macapagal is more exciting as you get to shop and choose among the fresh seafood in the palengke or wet market. There is a number of stalls in the market selling fresh sea foods from small shells, shrimps, crabs, lobsters and many more. Just make sure to use your haggling skills as prices may be quite expensive compared to a typical wet market in the country. Nonetheless, you can get discounts from the sellers if you practice your haggling skills.

A post shared by Ed Puno (@onearmedwanderer) on Mar 23, 2017 at 11:06am PDT

Jen and I visited the place for the second time. I let Jen do the haggling and we were able to buy a kilo of shrimps for 550 Pesos and a kilo of crabs for 650 Pesos. Note that the price ranges based from the price of the seafood. The bigger the seafood, the more expensive.

Find a restaurant

Once done shopping for fresh sea foods in the wet market, the next step would be finding the restaurant to cook the seafood. There is a number of restaurants in Seaside Dampa Macapagal, all of which basically offer almost the same prices for the ‘paluto’ of sea foods. Paluto means to ask someone to cook for you. Basically, you shop for seafood and you go to a restaurant and ask them to cook the seafood depending on the dish you like based on their menu.

List of restaurants in Seaside Dampa Macapagal

There are various restaurants in Seaside Dampa Macapagal. Some even have karaoke which are perfect for family gatherings or birthday celebrations.

• Aling Marya
• Claire dela fuente
• Cyrill grilled restaurant
• Huey ying
• Super wok
• Papa dann’s grill
• Seazars seafood paluto
• Kayming
• Ocean bay
• Youjie restaurant
• Hongkong Mastercook
• Cuzina

Since it was our second time in Seaside Dampa Macapagal, after buying sea foods, we knew which restaurant to go – Hongkong Mastercook restaurant. We enjoyed our first experience of ‘paluto’ and dining in the restaurant.

The restaurant is spacious and probably the biggest in Seaside Dampa Macapagal. The service is good too! Their staff from the security guard to waiters are very courteous. Food is served fast and the dishes on their menu are very delicious. Patrons are mostly Chinese.

We checked the menu and instructed the restaurant’s staff of the dish we wanted for the seafood. We fell in love with shrimp and crab in red egg sauce the first time we dined in the restaurant. Jen and I asked the staff to cook 1/2 kilo of buttered shrimps, 1/2 kilo of tempura and a kilo of crabs in red salted egg sauce.

Menu of Hongkong Mastercook seafood paluto restaurant

Except for short order, note that the prices in the menu are only for the ‘paluto’ and are exclusive of seafood.

• soup, noodles, rice, beverages
• crab, lobster, pork, chicken
• fish, shrimp
• short order

Basically, you will just order rice and drinks after giving instructions on the dishes you want for the seafood you bought in the wet market. We ordered a platter of rice, bottomless blue lemonade and mango juice. After few minutes, the drinks and the shrimps and crab in red egg sauce were served. The tempura was served 15 minutes later. We had no issue with the delay in tempura as the cooks had to remove the shell of the shrimps.

Budget?

Dining in Seaside Dampa Macapagal can be a bit pricey if you’re a couple or if you’re dining alone. We spent 2,321 for a sumptuous seafood meal. For the price, the servings were actually good for 4 to 6 persons. We actually had to take-out the leftovers as we barely consumed half of seafood we ordered. Here’s the breakdown of our expenses when we visited Seaside Dampa Macapagal:

seafood (wet market)

• shrimps – 550 (1 kilo)
• crabs – 650 (1 kilo)

Paluto (in Hongkong mastercook restaurant)

• buttered shrimps – 175
• crabs in salted egg sauce – 328
• tempura – 198

Others (in Hongkong mastercook restaurant)

• rice platter – 250
• lemonade -75
• mango juice – 95

Total: 2,321 Pesos ($46)

Related read: Where to eat cheap seafood in Boracay

Overall, if you are a seafood lover travelling to Manila, I would highly recommend Seaside Dampa Macapagal. Being a local, I could not think of any place to fulfill my seafood gastronomic needs aside from Seaside Dampa Macapagal. The experience of shopping for seafood and having them cooked on the dish you prefer is something unique and memorable!

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