Done with Cebu City’s historical tour, the next and final destination on our list was the Taboan Public Market. We prepared to don our snorkels, we were about to dive with the fishes, dried danggit fishes that is.

It’s quite tricky locating the place via jeepney, but we managed to find it in one go. But for the not-so-adventurous ones out there, I recommend taking a cab instead as we have to walk, ask and literally use our nose to locate the famous danggit market.

You can tell you’re near the area once your nose starts wrinkling left and right; the odor of dried fishes is so strong you can smell it a block away. Now here’s where your snorkel would come in handy harharhar.

Cebu City’s Taboan Market is considered the central hub of dried fish trading in the island. Even, danggits made all the way from the northbound Bantayan Islands eventually make its way here, albeit at an understandably higher prices.

Even with the terrible fish smell, the market is a staple destination for tourists looking to bring home a bit of Cebu with them. Taboan has all the dried fish you can imagine and more. It has barrels and barrels of the usual Cebu danggits, dried pusits, espadas, fish bones (yup bones), dried shrimps, dilis, dried mussels and basically everything else that you think can be dried.

But besides that, they also have some pretty strange variation of fishes that would befit a typical Filipino breakfast. Have you tried dried fish tocino with your eggs? Or perhaps dried fish tapa with your sinangag? The variations of dried fishes at Taboan seemed endless.

We bought a few kilos of the traditional Cebu danggit at Php490.00 per kilo and have it airport-wrapped by the vendor. A note of warning, when purchasing danggits for pasalubong, make sure that the wrapping is airport-proof, lest you risk leaving your prized pasalubong on the airport terminal because of the stink it would make inside the plane cabin.

But enough of dried fishes. Besides danggits, one can also get some local delicacies in the market, like my favorite longganisa. Cebu’s version of my fave breakfast (and err, lunch and dinner) is somewhat similar to Vigan City’s in the sense that the portions are small and circular. The similarities however end there as it tastes totally different from its Luzon counterpart. While Vigan’s is garlicky, Cebu’s version is on the sweet side.

Before taking off our snorkels, we also checked Taboan Market for other typical touristy pasalubongs for home; ref magnets, key chains, shirts and cute mini-guitars. We also got a few bags of dried mangos, rosquillos, piayas and otaps. We we were almost done with our shopping, the only thing left unticked on our list were the I ❤Cebu shirts. The same ones we would be changing into to dispose of our danggit-smelling clothes before heading to airport!

Taboan Public Market
Address: T. Abella st. cor. B. Aranas st., Brgy. San Nicolas Proper, Cebu City
Open Hours: 8AM to 5PM with some stores extend up to 7PM

GPS Coordinates: 10.295412,123.891089
View Location on Google Maps: Click Here