Island Pacific Supermarket in Sta. Clarita – Tips on buying fresh fish and seafood for this Lenten Season!

By Oliver Carnay

During this Lenten season, tradisyonal na umiiwas tayong mga Pinoy sa mga meat.  Dumalaw kami ni Bunny sa Island Pacific Supermarket sa Sta. Clarita.  Marami kaming nalaman na tips na binigay sa amin ni Anthony, ang Manager ng Fish & Seafoods section.  Inasistihan din kami ni Anne (one of the Managers of Island Pacific Supermarket from their 18 locations in California). Libre ang fish cleaning and they also fry for free, so the first thing you should do as soon as you arrive is go to the Fish section first para habang hinihintay nyo ang pina-prito nyo ay nakakapag-shopping kayo ng iba pang kailangan nyo. There are a lot of packed fresh cleaned fish like pampano that you can also just pick up and ready to purchase if you don’t want to wait for your fish to be cleaned.
 
At the fish section, Anthony told us the two types of Tilapia (the ones coming from Taiwan and the other one that comes from Brazil). He also told us some tips on how to check if the fish are still fresh by looking at their gills and eyes, and pressing the top side.  We saw some live crabs and I showed them how to pick a male from a female.  But she can’t believe I can also figure out which ones are “gay” (joke)!  I was actually amazed by how big the Argentine Red Shrimps (bigger than the Tiger Shrimps) are when Anthony showed us some!
 
At the Frozen Food section, we found some fish balls, shrimp balls, big squids, etc.  We also saw Ms. Ai-Ai de las Alas’ favorite brand, Sarangani Bay frozen fish items (which are only available at Island Pacific Supermarket).  I also liked the packed big Tiger Shrimps, which is good for “Sinigang”. My favorite is the boxed frozen baby crabs where you can fry in three minutes and you’ll have the crispy crabs na ang sarap isawsaw sa suka at bawang!  (I think this is the one also available inside the Island Pacific Supermarket’s “Philhouse” cook foods section!).  
 
Other incredible items at the dry fish section are the dried tuyo, dried salted shrimp (which I always put on my “ginisang munggo”), different kinds of tinapa and smoked milkfish.  Watch the video below and find out how you can enjoy shopping at the Fish and Seafoods section inside the Island Pacific Supermarket .. gotta drop by again this weekend during this Lenten Season!