Filipino dishes are tangy but tasty
Howard Seftel
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 3, 2007 12:00 AM
With their exotic Malay, Chinese and Spanish melting-pot roots, Filipino dishes can seem dauntingly inaccessible, even to ethnic-food adventurers.
Eggroll Lumpia Factory doesn't make many allowances for non-Filipinos. It's a low-charm joint with seven small tables.
Behind the counter sit eight steaming chafing trays (the lineup changes daily), the contents of which get spooned into three sizes of plastic foam cups ($3.95, $4.95 and $6.95). This is hard-core ethnic fare. But different can be fun and tasty, and with the $3.95 containers experimentation won't bust any budgets.
Proprietor Gene Avendanio steered me to sinigang. There's a lot going on here: tender chunks of pork (and an occasional fatty one) are stewed with turnips, green beans and tomato in a terrific tangy sauce.
That tanginess - sour, and a bit sharp - is a Filipino hallmark. You'll taste it again in a lip-smackingly tart shrimp soup, stocked with squash and noodles.
I adored giniling, which reminds me of a Cuban dish called picadillo: ground beef tossed with peas, carrots, potatoes, green peppers, raisins and quail eggs. Pork mechado showcases pork riblets in a wondrously flavorful tomato sauce with real spicy bite.
Ginataang langka is certainly different, but it grew on me. The featured ingredient is unripe jackfruit - imagine a starchy artichoke - teamed with a bit of pork and smothered in coconut sauce.
With other dishes, well, perhaps you have to be Filipino.
Embotido are deep-fried pork disks, whose depths you'll plumb after one bite. The fish cake is an acquired taste I haven't acquired. Upo, a Filipino winter melon cooked with ground beef, is surprisingly bland.
Details: 2986 N. Alma School Road (southwestern corner at Elliot Road), Chandler. (480) 855-6756.
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