The cousin and his family (wife and two daughters) had been to all of the tourist spots in San Diego (the Zoo, the SD Fair, Torrey Pines Glider Port, Seaport Village, and La Jolla Coves. Earlier that day, he spent time with Bert's brothers and sister at Cabrillo Monument and La Jolla.
For our "turn", his wife mentioned that she was missing Filipino food, so I thought we would try Villa Manila...
Although we are Filipino, we normally don't eat out at Filipino restaurants. I can make this food myself as well as my mom and sister. However, this was a different occasion and also one in which we wouldn't need to cook it ourselves.
If it was Thursday, it would have been Kamayan Night ("eating with your hands"). Turns out that for an extra fee, you could have your meal "kamayan style". But no, this will have to wait and TC and Bert have already tried a Kamayan Style feast...Sorry for the craptastic glare. This was a poster outside.
Villa Manila used to be Max's Fried Chicken back in the day. I remember eating there with my club students for a banquet waaay back when (1999).
I loved the decor in here, painted forks and spoons and paintings of the Philippine countryside (not shown).
We decided to order a bunch of things and share them family style. It turned out to be quite a bit of food.
Just a glimpse of the menu...I have to admit, we didn't get the healthiest items on the menu here.
The VM Sampler (description above) - As you can see, all FRIED!
Lechon Kawali served with Mang Tomas sauce (the only condiment you should be eating on lechon kawali). The fried skin bits were so good. Mmm, crunchy skin, fat, and meat. Yes. This was a splurge kind of food.
Fried chicken with Jufran banana ketchup. I didn't like the way they cut up their chicken here. The fried skin wasn't that crispy either. Did not like this.
Bert's cousin's wife wanted to try the Sariwang lumpia (fresh lumpia) which is not fried. It's filled with fresh vegetables in a crepe and covered with a garlic sauce and chopped peanuts. This was not the prettiest version I've ever seen and the crepe itself was too thick. It's supposed to be light and fresh and not heavy and pasty like this was. There is usually fresh lettuce leaves sticking out at the ends too. Not here. It was encased inside.
TC broke out of her vegetarian mode and wanted the Kare Kare (braised oxtail in peanut soup). The vegetables are traditionally bok choy and eggplant. This wasn't as good as my brother's girlfriend's rendition but everyone seemed to like it.
This was the Pancit Bihon - the meats were chicken and shrimp. When I make mine, I add Chinese sausage and fish cake. This was "okay" but not as good as mine (or my mom's). This is the kind of place you'd take someone who doesn't know about Filipino food if you're too lazy to cook it yourself.
Lastly, we also had dinuguan (pork in pork blood stew), seen below (it's the bowl with the dark stuff in it)...I hadn't had that in awhile and enjoyed tasting it again.
It was definitely a big feast with leftovers for everyone. It was nice to meet Bert's cousin and his family. They were certainly enjoying their vacation in San Diego.
Who else went to Villa Manila?
Darlene wrote about their Kamayan Night in Zagat SD:
"9 Things to know about Villa Manila's Kamayan Night", Sept. 2014.
Reviews from yelp and trip advisor
Villa Manila
500 East 8th St.
National City, CA 91950
(619) 477-8512
www.villamanila.com + their fb page
The service was quite good here although they almost forgot our kare kare order. The guy working the front desk and seating everyone was very friendly. The servers were also quite nice and very efficient. I'm not sure if I would go here again, but it would be a place I would take out of town guests who are craving Filipino food.
2 comments:
Any other recommendations if you want to try good Filipino food around SD? (And presumably don't know any Filipinos that would cook for you haha)
Wow, that's a good question.
For lumpia, at least down south, if my mom doesn't make it, we order it from JNC Pinoy Food Mart. I'm sure there are some places in Mira Mesa (if that is closer to you) that offer party plates for lumpia. There is also Leocynn's Lumpia in Spring Valley (which is next to Kababayan, which offers Fried Chicken Skin!) that's pretty good.
For lechon, we liked Porky's in National City. You can also get decent takeout food at Filipino Bakery (near the Naval base). They do point point (steam table trays) there as well.
Unfortunately there aren't a lot of sit down Filipino places that aren't steam table type places. I am not a fan of Tita's Kitchenette or Point Point Joint (both in National City but on opposite sides).
My Filipino favorites aren't the party foods though (lumpia, pancit). I like the stews, like menudo, mechado, and pinakbet, plus fried fish.
I'm sure there are some good places out there. You may want to check Kirk or Kirbie's blog for their Filipino food favorites around San Diego.
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