We’re still on our 1st day here in Pampanga for the VISIT PAMPANGA tour. We went here at the COMERCIO CENTRAL, it’s like a food park, lifestyle park and entertainment hub located in Clark CDC Parade Grounds.
Comercio Central was launched last March 2018, and it was a food and lifestyle hub for Pampanga residents and also for tourist. The food and products sold here are purely from Pampanga and nearby provinces.
So expect always a full house because many patrons here are from Pampanga and they love the products sold at Comcercio Central.
For us tourist, we can enjoy Comercio Centralby doing our DIY food tour or food crawl, no need to travel around just to taste the different Pampanga cuisine, by visiting Comercio Central you can now try all the food in just a few foot step.
Comcercio Central is open every weekend, that's Saturday and Sunday only from 5pm up to 12am. Its great to see that they only operate at night, that's why the foot traffic is good because people know that they are open til 12am only.
Comercio Central has a lot of food booths, lifestyle booths, they also have an entertainment center for on the spot singing, special performances and also singing contest -- this April, they are featuring the first ever Pampanga's Got Talent contest, they've invited the best amateur singers, performers and entertainers to join the grand talent contest organized by Comercio Central
Here are the food booths and lifestyle booth at Comercio Central.
Take note that they also provided dining area for visitors.
Yes, Aling Lucing Sisig is also present here!!!
I jumped for joy when I learned that they have a food booth here at Comcercio Central. I can now enjoy their special sisig while in Clark, and there's no longer need for me to travel to San Fernando, Pampanga just to taste their pioneering sisig flavor.
Exotic food are also a big hit here at Comercio Central. I spotted the Apag Marangle food booth selling some fried or adobong quail birds, fried frogs and okoy shrimps.
For food adventurers, tasting these exotic food is a must try!
Comercio central also features some food from the Ilocos region and also some foreign food. They have Filipino food, German food and also Japanese food.
The freshly squeeze lemon juice is a top seller here in Comercio Central.
Same goes to these grilled food on sticks. They are a crowd favorite
Mangan ta na!
We're here at the media booth enjoying some buffet food.
The Pampanga's Got Talent contest started at around 9pm, they are featuring the 1st batch to compete for the week. The 2nd batch will be for the next week and later on, Comercio Central will reveal who will be the 1st grand winner.
I heard that the winner will be a good pitch for the next talent contest on TV, and it might also represent Pampanga.
I took out my Nikon D5300 DSLR camera with 200mm lens to capture the best of the participant's performance. Although it rained a bit that night, but the contest resumes and everyone got a great night, we listened to their songs and also watch a dance group.
Here are the talent contest participants
Each participant gave all they got! all of them are good performers. There are amateur singers and also first timers.
I thought that everyone can join the contest, but we learned that participants should be a local resident of Pampanga.
So bawal ang import dito hahaha
Update:
here are the winners
April 06 (winners)
1. John Corpuz
2. Extreme Limit
3. Robert Santos
4. All is well
5. Ka tribu mag indi
April 07 (winners)
1. Mara Meneses
2. Ryan Estanislao
3. Mar Manguera
We have an OPM singer and artist who is part of the judging panel -- Claire Dela Fuente, also known as the Karen Carpenter of the Philippines, with voice that is similar to the blending of the vocalist of the Carpenters. Claire is also the singer behind the hit songs -- "Sayang", "Minsan-Minsan" and "Nakaw na Pag-ibig", Claire is a big deal during the 70's and 80's and she's here to judge the talent contest.
She went up on stage to sing some medley songs based from her hits.
Claire Dela Fuente's songs are a timeless classic, and we are surprised that her voice didnt change and still sounds like our very own version of Karen Carpenter.
Photo op with our travel operator friends
and photo op with Ms. Claire Dela Fuente
After the Comercio Central events, we went back to our hotel to rest and enjoy the relaxing hotel room of Royce Hotel and Casino.
Our tour is not yet over, we have one more place to visit, so stay tuned for my next blog post for the VISIT PAMPANGA blog series.
