Kusina Filipina

Beacon Hill in Seattle does have a little Filipino influence, with a couple of restaurants and markets/stores. One of the restaurants that I do frequent once in a while is Kusina Filipina.

The restaurant has a medium-sized occupancy for its patrons. Once you walk through the entrance, you're greeted with the server and the food laid out behind a case, cafeteria-style. The food here is pretty authentic. They have a lot of the "normal" Filipino dishes like pancit (noodles) and adobo (marinated beef, chicken, or pork), as well as other specialties. One of my favorites is the caldereta (a hearty marinated beef stew). However, I wanted to try some other dishes.


The friendly server asked me what I wanted as I pulled up a tray. I took a moment to peruse the selections and ordered up the pancit, pork adobo, and longanisa (sweet sausage). The pancit was just like any other pancit, nothing special but still good. The pork adobo was tasty with a nice marinade and very tender. The longanisa is one of my all-time Filipino favorites. It's a reddish, sweet, pork sausage. Delicious! All of these sides came with two heaping scoops of white rice (a staple in most Filipino restaurants).

My order is shown in the first pic below. My parents met up with me for lunch and their orders are pictured right next to mine. Great food!



And now for my 5-doughnut rating system:

• Service, n/a= I can't really rate them on this since everything is pretty much self-serve, from ordering the food cafeteria-style, to getting your own utensils at the "silverware station", to getting your own drinks even. The server was nice and friendly though.


• Atmosphere/Location; 2.5 doughnuts= It's a pretty nice, clean, and colorful establishment. There is really nice artwork and even an espresso bar in the eating area. It's kind of like a laid-back cafe with really good authentic Filipino food, and it's very clean. It's located on Beacon Hill Ave, a couple of blocks from the Red Apple Market. I guess the only downer would be if it was busy and you would have to contend with on-street parking.


• Food Presentation; 3 doughnuts= Everything looks very fresh and nice behind the viewing case. They serve each dish in those white, ceramic boat-like dishes.


• Taste; 3.5 doughnuts= The food is really good. I think it comes pretty close to authentic Filipino food.


• Cost/Value; 2 doughnuts= I think one combination comes out to about $7 which isn't too bad. I think when you start to order side dishes individually, then it starts to add up. For some reason, I end up spending more than I'd like whenever I come here. The food is really good though, so maybe it is worth it. The portions are just right, and even I was full without finishing all my food.


• Originality; 2 doughnuts= Nothing too original here. I guess the addition of an espresso bar in the eating area is a little different.


• Overall; 2.5 doughnuts= I think this is a great place to check out some really good Filipino dishes. You should check it out and also try their desserts.

Find out more info at: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Location?location=26434. Enjoy!

-NMOS

Click on the Foodista button below to learn more about Philippine Pork Adobo

Kawali Grill

Kamusta! That's "Hello"/"How are you?" in Tagalog, one of the Filipino dialects. Sorry, but I'm not fluent in the language, nor do I understand it, so that's the extent of my Tagalog (well, I know a couple of other words too). My parents never really spoke it while growing up.
Anyway, I'd like to review a Filipino restaurant that I've been to on several occasions located on Rainier Avenue, called Kawali Grill. This restaurant serves up both American and Filipino dishes. So, here we go:

The building itself is a fairly small rectangle. The exterior is not really uniform in the sense that the decorations and fonts don't really flow that well. There are multi-colored pennants hanging over the top of the roof all along the building. But, who cares about what the building looks like, right? It's all about the food. Let's go inside.

When you first enter, you see a "bar" at the front counter. However, if you look closely, it's not really a bar, but more like a place to store excess dishes and kitchen supplies. The service, initially, was very attentive and promptly greeted and seated us (I picked up my mom and took her out to lunch) at a table of our choice. The interior wasn't anything out of the ordinary. The ceiling had inlets that resembled the sky (see pic) and there was a flat screen TV at the far end that only showed The Filipino Channel which happens to always show a Filipino game show called "Wow Wow Wee!" It's supposed to be a family show but, well...you'll have to check it out for yourself. I mean, I liked it! =)

The menu has many basic Filipino dishes, like pancit and lechon, along with some specialty ones like kare kare. On another page you'll also find American food like burgers and such. We decided to go with pancit (a favorite of many) and lechon (roasted pork; also another favorite of many).

After ordering, I should have taken a look at my watch because it seemed like an eternity before we were revisted by the waitress for our water and our food. But finally, our food arrived and it was time to get to eating. The pancit was pretty good. It was made just like all other pancits with mixed chopped vegetables and small pieces of chinese sausage. The lechon was what I was waiting for because that's usually one of my favorites. The lechon there was chopped up nicely and was very fresh. They served it along with a small bowl of rice, a little side of green beans, and a sweet liver/brown sugar dipping sauce that normally accompanies this dish. It was definitely the highlight of the lunch.

As you can see from the dessert menu, there were a couple of really tasty choices. I've actually tried the halo-halo and leche flan on past visits, but no dessert this time. I'm sure the bibingka (which is another one of my favorites) is also pretty tasty.

Anyway, on to the review using my 5-doughnut rating system:

• Service, 1.5 doughnuts= Sorry, but other than the prompt seating at the very beginning, I'm going to have to score low in this category. After they took our order, they forgot my drink (I got a Filipino lemon drink called calamansi.....which I never got) and our water. We had to flag them down to get their attention and they just brought water and not my calmansi, so I just said....forget it. Plus, we must have waited for close to half an hour before getting our food. It always sucks when you see the waitress come out with a tray and it goes to another table. :(
  
• Atmosphere/Location, 2.5 doughnuts= Nothing spectacular here. Our table kept rocking back and forth because it was uneven, and the chairs were simple vinyl chairs. It was located in a normal place right off of Rainier Ave. It's very easy to find.
  
• Food Presentation, 3 doughnuts= The lechon dish was very well presented, I thought. The lechon was sitting on a bed of lettuce and the beans, white rice, and brown sauce all added a nice contrast and overall presentation. There's not much you can do with the pancit dish but to add slices of lemon and maybe garnish with scallions, which they did.
  
• Taste, 3.5 doughnuts= Again, I'm going to play up the lechon dish because I love that dish. Like I said, it was pretty fresh and meaty. The skin was just the way I like it....nice and crunchy. The sauce was a great compliment to the dish as well. The pancit was just like any other pancit dish really. It was still good though.
  
• Cost/Value, 2 doughnuts= I think they could definitely knock off a few bucks from each dish. Each dish on the menu nears $10 a pop, so I think besides the lechon dish, it's not a very good value.
  
• Originality, 2 doughnuts= I can't really think of anything too original in this restaurant. There are actually a couple of Filipino joints in the city, so I can't really play that card. I guess I can give them some originality with decorating the building's exterior. I do like being able to check out The Filipino Channel in restaurants like this, since it's not a common thing to watch here.
  
• Overall, 2.5 doughnuts= I love Filipino food (I'd better....I'm Filipino!), and this was not too bad. I'll eventually get to reviewing my favorite Filipino restaurant, but that's outside the city all the way down south in Lakewood. Anyway, I think if the service was a bit more attentive/expedient, it would have made the experience a little more enjoyable. I think the price of the dishes also hurt their chances for a slightly higher score. Overall, I still give it a thumbs up. So, go grab a bite over there.
  

If you'd like to check out their online menus, their website is: http://www.kawaligrill.com/. I'm looking forward to trying their Filipino breakfast and dinner dishes. Enjoy!

-NMOS