We ordered a bunch of things to share; we started with the bangus ($9) and the lechon kawali ($12) and then split the chicken adobo ($16) and the puqui puqui ($7). Before we got our main food, they did give us 2 pieces of chicharon or deep fried chicken skin on the house. They gave us this vinegar like dipping sauce to go with it and well, what can I say? It's deep friend chicken skin and that's basically what it was. It was good but definitely a very deep fried dish that you felt was clogging your arteries as you ate it. Next came the bangus which was deep fried, crispy milkfish and it was a very typical fried Asian fish dish. I wasn't a huge fan of this dish because it was a pretty skinny fish fillet and all you could really taste was the fried part of the fish. I prefer my fish steamed and more meaty and this was the complete opposite. The lechon kawali consisted of cured, crispy pork belly with sautéed seasonal asian greens and of the two appetizers, this was my preferred dish. The skin of the pork belly was very very crispy and hard on the teeth...almost too dry and tough. But once you got to the meat of the dish it was pretty juicy and tender but it was some tough work to get to it. They gave us a liver dipping sauce and I know it sounds super gross but for some reason, it worked. They then brought out a bowl of steamed white rice (I usually eat brown rice now, so when white rice is available it's a special treat for me), the chicken adobo (chicken braised in adobo sauce with soy sauce, garlic, coconut vinegar) and the puqui puqui which was roasted, puréed eggplant, tomato -- it tasted like a babaghanoush. I really like the puqui puqui, it had a great smokey taste to it. The chicken came with 1 drumstick and 1 breast and they were both very juicy and the adobo sauce was thick and garlicky and was a great topping to the white rice.
While I did like all the food, it wasn't like it blew my mind. But what pushed this to a 3.5 forks was the great customer service. They had asked us if we would mind moving to the table next to us because they needed our current table to combine with the other 2 top to make a 4 seater. They said in exchange for moving, they would give us free dessert. Sweet! But instead of just 1 dessert they gave us 3 free desserts. That was beyond unnecessary but delicious. We got the 3 scoops of ice cream (avocaod, ube, and cheddar cheese), the coconut pudding with jack fruit and coconut flakes and the flan. I personally love the flat the most but the coconut pudding was quite refreshing and a great summer time dish. The three very off beat ice creams were definitely interesting. The avocado was a thick ice cream consistency and had a definite avocado taste to it. The ube was more like a ice than an ice cream and the cheddar cheese (I know, it sounds gross) didn't really taste like anything. But it was really nice of them to give us 3 free desserts for just moving over 5 inches.
Right as we were paying our bill Mission Chinese finally called me back, 3 hours after I gave them my name. It probably would have been a better meal but I am still glad that I tried out this place as it's not everyday that you eat at a Filipino restaurant. One small reason I did deduct a 1/4-1/2 fork was the fact that it was cash only. I don't mind really small restaurants where I will pay less than $20 for dinner as cash only but since it was $37/pp, that's enough for me to want to use my credit card.
Photo Credit: Yelp
No comments:
Post a Comment