It bodes extremely well for a short trip to an unknown region, when your first meal after stepping out of a jeep covered head to toe in dust, is an utter slam dunk! A bit peaked after an early morning alarm clock wake up, a 7 am flight from Manila to Busuanga, followed by a dust filled 45 minute ride into the town of Coron, we settled into our “hotel†and decided to get some breakfast/brunch before heading out to do some sightseeing. We perused a rather prosaic looking menu that had a list of pinoy favorites like tocino, tapa and danggit and I decided to order fried danggit, but at the last minute asked the cook what he had just purchased in the market that morning. I think I took him off guard, but he quickly responded that he found fantastic shrimps/prawns still alive and we agreed he could just sauté them with garlic and some chilli for a substantial brunch with rice. What a smart stroke of luck that was!!! The medium sized prawns were sea caught (as opposed to farm raised) and their differing sizes also showed that they weren’t raised in a pond…a good sign for flavor and freshness…
The cook sliced the prawns down the middle lengthwise and sautéed them in a little vegetable oil with thin slices of garlic and chopped siling mahaba. The juices from 
the heads created a tasty and thickened “heady†sauce, and along with some seasoning, this dish did wonders to restore our sagging blood sugar levels. The combination of hunger, excitement and a spectacular dish meant that I would eat an entire serving (normally good for two) by myself! At an extremely reasonably priced PHP250 per order, I knew I was going to love Coron’s food… As we were consuming the prawns, we also ordered a take-away picnic lunch of adobo and rice as we were heading to the port to meet up with our hired banca that would take us sightseeing at the nearby Coron (locally called Higantes, or Giants, island). Just to avoid confusion, the large island is actually named Busuanga, though the airport is sometimes referred to as Busuanga Airport, or by some airlines as Coron Airport… then you travel by jeep to the coastal town of Coron, on the island of Busuanga, but you take a banca to the island of Coron, also referred to as Higantes island locally…got it?
13 Responses
ahhhh….this got me drooling now, lunchtime in 30mins, but it seems forever now with this photo!…really looking forward to your posts re this adventure, checking every so often now (not that it isn’t a habit anyway)….heheheheheh :)
My husband’s stayed at club paradise several years back, part of the package was getting to visit a safari. Is this part of your trip and if so how’s the resort and the safari?
oooohhh..busuanga.coron..visited there about eight years ago, had the best seafood ever, and the sights are out of this world. wait till you see the lakes, the rock formations in the islands, and the clearest seas…it feels like you’re inside an aquarium. way to go, MM!
i love prawns! and this one looks totally delicious! yum yum!!!!
will definitely buy some later!!! i like it boiled for a few minutes in sprite and then sautéed in butter with some garlic! sarap!
Marketman, you do not disappoint! Truly, this blog deserves the top prize in the blog awards! ;-)
Yuuuuummmmmmyyyyuuuummmm.
That looks delicious! I can just imagine how wonderful it tasted…especially since they were so fresh!
Wasn’t landing in Busuanga an adventure? :)
ohmigaaad! wish i could pluck them out of the screen now. they look so delicious…yuuummm!
those prawns look juicy and tasty and a wonderful way to start a trip! Good choice to ask the cook about fresh catch. Looking forward to more juicy pictures of the northern Palawan landscape (I want to go back!!!!)
and all this time i thought my mom was one of a kind because she’d actually serve halabos na prawns for breakfast…well, left overs from dinner, usually. yum, with garlic rice and vinegar that they get from batangas/tagaytay, the siling labuyo. i always say that practically everything is here in new york, which is true, but the seafood back home is so fresh it tastes sweet! kaka-home sick!!!
i really love shrimps, i love eating shrimp, teach me more please thanks
Hi Marketman, what an absolutely terrific post! my idea of near-heaven is waking up to a breakfast of fresh prawns sauteed just sauteed in garlic and some oil (extra virgin kung pwede) and steaming hot rice. and to have that in coron, gads, heaven! i’ve been to coron once and around the calamian group of islands and this place (along with club noah, lagen, el nido and before it burned down, pangalusian) just is too awesome for words. also im not an agent for asian spirit but i’ve been using that airline ever since i was told lance gokongwei flies asian spirit to caticlan. i mean, if mr. john can trust the airline to fly his only son and male heir to the empire, why can’t an ordinary mortal like me, haha! seriously, i flew asian spirit twice na to palau, micronesia (they fly there regularly) and just recently to boracay (30 BEAUTIFUL minutes only!!) on board its spanking new British Aerospace (BAe) 146 60-seater jetcraft (same plane the UK’s Royal Family uses) and well, there’s nothing really that beats flying around on a jet! i mean, everything else pales by comparison!
I can’t wait to go to coron! Yummy food! you’ve given us a wealth of info about coron! Good thing i chanced upon your site. been looking for info about coron for days. I love prawns! I’ll definitely order this when i get there. I’m so excited! Can’t wait!