Since my weight’s been dropping drastically, I allowed myself a special drink. He had mango juice – on the left – and said it was just like canned, but I had canteloupe juice, which was light and refreshing, but best of all, contained long strips of fresh canteloupe that I enjoyed slurping up through my straw and then eating with my spoon. So good.

To be healthy, we ordered a mixed veggie plate… unfortunately neither of us liked this. I’d expected more interesting vegetables in a more pungent sauce, but instead found green beans – properly cooked though – along with eggplant and pumpkin, which surprised me. It was a big meh for me.

Crispy pata, with my hand for scale. Huge leg of pork that was deep fried… I thought I’d like this more but I found it just a mess of fried taste. It was… okay.

Lumpia! or fried egg roll type things – which I love love love – and these were no exception. Fried properly to a crisp exterior revealing a hot interior, a swipe in the orange tangy sweet sauce, and just great. TC and I took turns “fighting” over the last few, haha.

And because I always wanted to try it, kare kare – oxtail stew of sots. I loved the veggies used – kale? – but I found the flavor was a little bland. Nothing the addition of liver sauce didn’t cure, though, so I ate this up happily with…

fluffy white rice. I enjoyed parts of our meal more than others, but I think that’s to be expected – some dishes just weren’t to my liking. I’m sure as I explore the cuisine, I’ll find more dishes that I like and some that I don’t.

For now, I can’t give any sort of recommendation for or against, as I’ve little to no experience with this cuisine – and maybe some dishes were great examples of the dish, just not something I like. What are your Filipino dishes you like and want to recommend I try next time?

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: crispy pata, lumpia, Woodside

It ended up being a small group of just four of us. Unfortunately, CT was held up at work, so she’ll just have to drool over what she missed, but I made it up to her with a treat I got that night.

Beer Boor and I both decided to drink Calamansi Iced Tea ($2.50). Calamansi is a type of Asian citrus, almost a cross between lemon and lime. It made for quite a refreshing tart drink (perfect for salty meals).

Filipinos love their pork, so we pretty much stuck to that for our meal and got a couple different preparations.

We started with the sizzling Sisig ($9) for comparison purposes. It was a very good preparation, but I believe it was mostly pork belly rather than an even mix with pig ears and snout. Any dish that involves a fried egg and pork is fine in my book regardless of the amount of different kinds of offal. Sa Aming wins on this dish, although it was $3 more there.

We were given two small bottles of hot sauce and calamansi soy sauce for us to use as we pleased. I really liked the calamansi soy sauce with its tangy saltiness, but make sure to use it sparingly.

Next was the Chicharon Bulaklak ($7). Usually when I see chicharon, I think of fried pork skin as is the case with Latin cuisine, but here it was deep-fried crispy ruffle fat. I think it was sliced pig intenstines? Regardless, they were nice chunks of super crispy meat. A little greasy, but some of the accompanying vinegar mixture helped with that. These would make a great, but dangerous, bar snack.

TC insisted on ordering the Lumpiang Shanghai ($7) and I for one was not going to disagree. This was shrimp and pork spring rolls and ended up being quite a large portion for that price. Nice and crispy on the outside with sweet pork and shrimp on the side. They were made even better with some of the sweet & sour sauce pictured above.

We also got some plain rice for the table, so we weren’t eating all porky fried foods ($1 per ball).

MadJac picked out the Grilled Pork Belly ($9) from the menu for us. I forget what the actual name was, but it was quite simple and good. Although it was a little underseasoned, so some of that calamansi soy sauce quickly fixed that.

The main event, Crispy Pata ($9). This was also $3 cheaper than at Sa Aming. The Chef chopped it a little, so it wasn’t as intact as the preparation I previously had. Less scary looking, haha. This was actually much better than the one I had back in December because it was seasoned more, but on the other hand it had a little less crispy skin. Regardless, I think the whole table enjoyed the lip smacking goodness from all the connective tissue and hunks of meat.

TC also suggested we get another very traditional dish, Chicken Adobo ($7). Eventhough it wasn’t pork, it was also very good. Super tender chicken in a tasty, complex sauce. I am glad we got this in order to try something new.

Although Engeline’s doubles as a bakery, we decided to pass on getting dessert there. I actually suggested getting dessert, which was very unlike me, but needed something sweet to counteract all of that fried salty food. I also had to get CT a treat to make up for her not making it out.

On our way to another bakery, we stopped in Jollibee, which was basically a Filipino version of KFC. They have warm pies for dessert that are very similar to the classic McDonald’s apple pie. Instead of apple though, they have more “unique” fillings; peach mango or banana jackfruit. They were $2 each. Beer Boor seemed to like his banana jackfruit pie. Although my peach mango pie was quite hot, I liked it too.

Mmmm, peach mango (and I’m sure plenty of added sugar.)

TC got a Ube (purple yam) smoothie. I believe he liked it a lot.

We continued on to another bakery, where I got CT a slice of ube layer cake(not pictured). I learned that Filipinos like to use purple yams in a lot of their desserts. I shared it with her the next day and enjoyed it a lot (don’t worry she sneaked a taste the night I got it.) The cake wasn’t especially sweet which is how I prefer my desserts.

All in all, I enjoyed my trip out to Woodside for some more Filipino food. While the quality was pretty much the same as what I had in Manhattan, the prices were a lot cheaper, as expected. Unfortunately, I think I need to limit myself to one (or two) of these feasts a year. Definitely not recommended by the American Heart Association. Thanks TC for organizing!

© TT for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: crispy pata, Jollibee, Woodside

There has been a proliferation of Filipino restaurants in Manhattan over the past year of so, which I heartily welcome since our fantastic brunch at Maharlika. One restaurant, Sa Aming Nayon has been on our radar since it has opened a few months back. We knew we had to go once I read our friend Tia from Bionic Bites’ review that featured the Crispy Pata. This is a whole, fried pig’s foot. How could we not try that? For the icing on the cake, we bought a $25 gift certificate for ONE DOLLAR from Restaurant.com. Thanks Mom for telling me about that website.

After arriving, we knew this place was the real deal since many of the other customers appeared to be Filipino. Always a good sign when an ethnic restaurant has people of that ethnicity eating there. To drink we both had San Miguel beer. It was a nice, light pilsner that ended up pairing well with the food(as expected). When traveling I almost always try the local beer and usually do the same at restaurants.

I decided we should order the Sizzling Sisig ($12) to compare to the version I previously had at Maharlika for brunch. Here it was listed as an appetizer. It had three kinds of pig parts (ears, belly and snout). It came out steaming on the plate which made for a bad picture. Our friendly waitress offered to mix up the egg for us. The first thing I noticed was that the pork pieces weren’t as finely chopped as the Maharlika version, which gave it a better texture and less corned beef hash-like. I would definitely order this again.

All mixed together!

To counteract all of the pork, we also ordered one of the salads, Ensaladang Pipino ($5). This was simply sliced cucumber served with a special vinaigrette. Clean and refreshing, exactly what we wanted.

We also ordered one of the noodle dishes, Bihon Rice Noodle with Chicken & Shrimp. They offer a regular ($7) or large ($9), I think we ordered the regular. Since we weren’t very familar with Filipino food, we were a little surprised the noodles were served with some white bread. We didn’t end up eating the bread as we had too much food to eat already. The noodles were light and not very greasy, almost like lo mein. There wasn’t that much chicken or shrimp, but we didn’t need any more proteins. The veggies were good and plentiful.

The MAIN EVENT: Crispy Pata ($12). A whole pig’s foot deep fried. It was quite the sight to behold. I was happy to see so much crispy skin! Although the meat was only lightly seasoned, if at all, the accompanying chili vinegar gave it some great flavor. The meat was nice and juicy and pretty much all of the fat was rendered out. The rendered fat and cartilage had that lip sticking aspect to it that you get from eating connective tissue. I couldn’t believe how cheap this dish was, so I didn’t feel bad about leaving some leftover. I would also order this again, but my cardiologist said I can only have it once, maybe twice a year.

Almost like roast beef!

Crispy skin FTW!

It was served with some rice.

All in all, Sa Aming Nayon knows their pork! We were quite happy with all of the dishes, so much so that we inevitably overate and put ourselves in a pork-coma. It was also nice to have the gift certificate to save a few bucks. You should definitely check out the sisig and pata for yourself!

© TT for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: restaurant.com

Pop-up restaurants are the latest trend here in NYC. Move over cupcakes, artisanal pizza, and food trucks. These temporary establishments allow chefs to get super creative with their menu. Since the startup costs are relatively small compared to opening a full on restaurant, the savings usually result in a more reasonably priced menu. The downside is that if you had a really great meal, the restaurant may be gone before you have a chance to go back.

Maharlika was opened by the General Manager of Resto Leon’s sister restaurant, Juliette. I think it was fantastic for the owner to allow the GM to do this. The place was packed the entire time we were there, so hopefully that translated into a healthy profit.

Even with reservations, there was a wait due to the incredibly small size of the restaurant. I believe the term used is “cozy” for most East Village restaurants. Once we wedged into our seats, we were given a couple snacks while we looked over the menu. I was liking this place a lot already!

A couple coffee cups filled with garlic cracker nuts. These were a super traditional Filipino snack. Very similar to American beer nuts. They were super salty and crunchy, but in a good way. It was a nice touch that they gave the table a whole bottle of tap water so we could refill our glasses ourselves to stave off dehydration from these nuts and the previous night’s escapades.

CT says: After gulping down the whole first bottle of water myself (yes, that “previous night’s escapades” may have been referring to me), these crunchy snacks were a great delight! I’m not a big fan of nuts, but I couldn’t stop snacking on these as we waited, and not just because I was starving.

We were also given a couple plates of chicharróns except it was chicken skin instead of pork. At first I thought this name was wrong because I though chicharrón meant exclusively pork, also I was incorrect. For those familiar with Jewish cuisine, these can be called gribenes. I learned about gribenes only a couple years ago, so I feel totally robbed that these were not part of my childhood. To accompany the chicharrón, the waitress poured some house-infused vinegar with chilies and garlic. This vinegar really elevated the flavor of the crunchy skin by adding some salt and sour. It is a little hard to see in the picture, but the freshness of these was confirmed in the couple of small feathers remaining in the skin. I never plucked a chicken, but can’t imagine it being that easy.

CT says: I always enjoy a crunchy bite of chicharrón, but I’ve never had the chicken version before. Even more, I’ve never had it served with a side of vinegar for dipping. However, this was a great way to enjoy the dish!! The acidity cut through the grease perfectly, without making it soggy because it was just a quick dip and bite!

For her main, CT order the tribute dish to Imelda Marcos, the infamous wife of the former Philippine President. Eggs Imelda($16): Lola Mahal’s home-style pandesal, laing (taro root leaves, coconut milk, shrimp paste, and chilies), grilled prawns, kalamansi hollandaise, kamote home fries and maliit salad. Yes, there were a lot of components in the dish. Basically, it was a Filipino version of eggs benedict with huge prawns. CT was especially elated that the eggs were perfectly poached. The last couple of brunches we had(i.e. Back Forty), the eggs were overcooked. This time the yolks were nice and runny!

CT says: To say I enjoyed the dish would be an understatement. As you can see, it was quite a large portion – and I ate every bite (plus some of TT’s). The eggs were poaches so perfectly… oozing yolk, coating everything on the plate in a rich, creamy deliciousness. The grilled prawns were succulently sweet, also cooked perfectly. The kamote fries were slightly crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. The texture was similar to potatoes, but slightly creamier. On their own their wasn’t much flavor to them – but dipped in the hot sauce and banana ketchup (yup – banana-flavored ketchup, weird but delicious), they added nicely to the overall dish.

The GM also made some hot sauce tableside with more of the same infused vinegar except this time with a lot more chilies.

CT says: Not too hot, but added a nice little spice to the meal.

I chose a more traditional Filipino dish. Pampangan-style sizzling Sisig($13) with egg and garlic rice. Sisig is made of pig ears, snout, belly cooked 3x (boiled, grilled, sauteed) with onions, garlic, lemon and kalamansi. Served in a sizzling cast iron pan, it was basically an awesome corned beef hash. Except various pig parts substituted for corned beef and no pesky potatoes getting in the way. It came with a pretty big portion of garlic rice. I enjoyed taking a bit of the sisig and putting it in the rice to soak up some of the grease. I would have preferred a little more chili to amp up the spice but still enjoyed it for what it was especially since it was my first time eating it. Whenever eating new foods, I always try it unadorned first so none of the flavors get masked. Then I will decide if it needs a little something more.

As if this wasn’t enough food, I also order a side of Longganisa ($5) to share. These were super traditional sausages that lean towards the sweet side. I enjoyed them even more when dipped in some of the vinegar hot sauce. A must order if you have never had.

CT says: On top of my huge meal, I also indulged in these and really enjoyed them! If you like dipping your morning sausage in syrup – then these are perfect! Sweet and meaty… I would love to have rolled one up in a pancake and chomp away!

All in all, Robi made a fantastic choice for some of us to reconnect. Although CT and I have been on quite the brunch kick recently, it was fun to try something totally new. Filipinos know how to do brunch right. Although it was tight quarters, the food and prices more than made up for it. I hope this pop-up sticks around for a long time to come. As evidenced by the line, there was definitely a big demand for Filipino food. NOTE: Maharlika is cash only and reservations are strongly recommend for groups larger than four.

© TT for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Brunch, east village, Pop-up

I recently had dinner with two of my favorite food bloggers, Esther & Ulla.  Since we three all live in Queens, we decided to explore a bit more of our borough and try a place that was new to two of us, and a cuisine that I think we’re all somewhat not that well-versed in: Filipino food!  (Well, I let them do the ordering, to be honest…)

I wanted to be adventurous, and so I chose a drink that the waiter explained had jello in it.  I guess I didn’t believe him, but when it came… the drink itself tasted like tamarind to me, but the jelly was actual jello, and not something I enjoyed very much.  However…

Esther and Ulla both wisely chose mango juice, and Esther, after seeing my less-than-happy expression with the drink, offered to trade.  In fact, she practically insisted (after trying it), so I felt better about it cuz otherwise, I’d feel really bad about giving her something I didn’t like.  The mango nectar was awesome – like eating a fresh mango in the off-season.  I stress here that the original drink I ordered wasn’t bad, per se, just something that isn’t to my tastes.  That happens…

Fried pork something arrived quickly and look at it… egg yolk just begging to be popped over the super hot sizzle plate.  We obliged. 

Lumpia, Filipino egg rolls, basically one of the very few Filipino foods I’ve ever eaten in my life.  At the beginning of the meal, Esther and Ulla asked me if I’d ever had Filipino food, and I admitted that I’d had it two or three times in my life; once at Elvie’s Turo Turo, and once or twice at the home of a Filipino friend.  This was something I’d had every single time I’ve had Filipino food, varying degrees of ‘good’ – this was definitely good. 

Dipping sauce for the lumpia; slightly sweet.  Reminds me of duck sauce to be honest, or McDonald’s sweet&sour sauce… 

Noodles. 

Chicken adobo.

My plate!

Chicken adobo over rice; I thought this was very mild and a little blah. 

Lumpia – one coated in the sauce.  Don’t let the picture fool you; I had probably half that plate.  I loved the crisp exterior…

And the meaty interior.  Nothing to dislike here. 

The fried noodle dish, which was boosted considerably with a squirt of lemon juice, but wasn’t all that interesting overall. 

Fried pork!  Crispy fatty bits of pork… but again, the flavor just was very muted and not much oomph.  I wanted something to pop.  Spicy or salty or sweet, but not one of those flavors stood out. 

When we were done eating, our server brought over slices of cake and told us it was free dessert.  It wasn’t too sweet, and actually wasn’t a bad end – mocha/java flavored, and tasty in its own right.  But if you compare… nothing really stood out, and this fell in line with that: not overly sweet, not overly anything. 

Yvo says: I don’t think Filipno cuisine tends towards the mild side, but this place leaned hard on that note.  Everything was pretty one-note, with no flavors popping or sticking out, nothing offensive but nothing amazing either.  I found the food tasty enough, but not amazing, definitely not a place I’ll crave or feel strongly about going again.  I’d go if someone asked me to, but I won’t insist on going, either…  The prices were super reasonable.  (Also, apologies that I don’t know the names of most of the dishes.  I spaced on taking a picture of the menu.) 
middle of the road…

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: lumpia