Tradition here dies hard, and Aling Rosy Pacheco is still alive, kicking and cooking her famous Pancit Malabon.



We paid a surprise visit to her home which doubles as a favorite local eatery for many, including Imelda Marcos at a time when the former first lady could have flown to Paris just to have dinner. And there was Aling Rosy hunched over her vats of fat noodles, tubs of seafood tidbits, and bowls of pancit. She only serves pancit malabon here and some native biscuits. Yet after fifty plus years, her little eatery is still going strong. Her secret? She confided coyly, "Fresh seafood." As if that was such a big secret. Malabon used to be the fish gateway to Manila's markets, before that role was monopolized by nearby Navotas. These days, the oysters and shrimps on Aling Rosy's yellow-orange noodles are still fresh but they now come from Navotas across the Malabon River.

But complete with slices of hard-boiled duck egg, the pancit was still worth the cross-town trip, which used to be fast but has slowed to a crawl because of traffic. Not everything is getting faster.



Connoisseurs say the best pancit Malabon comes from this place.