Oi Asian Fusion

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting up with CAB.

We were originally going to do a South Bay taco truck crawl but...

Instead, we tried out the new Oi Asian Fusion place in Barrio Logan. It replaced the old Mish Mash (which relocated to Newton Street, at the site of the former Strozzi).

This eatery is on the bottom floor of the Mercado apartment complex and next to Iron Fist Brewing Co.



We came early enough so there were lots of seats to go around. Some military folks were there on their lunch break and during the course of our lunch, people came and went (some doing takeout).

There is the mandatory religious figurine on the shelf, above mini kalesas (horse drawn carriages used during the Colonial era, more on that at the end of the post) and even a jeepney (a WWII era surplus jeep which is still used in the Philippines today). On the metal shelves were Gundam robots and Funko Pops.

Our lunch:

Seared pork belly tacos with cilantro, pickled red onions plus cream sauce and Sriracha on thinly sliced (and wierdly shaped) jicama.

Not the easiest thing to eat.  You pretty much have to shove the whole thing in your mouth. If you take a bite, everything falls out.  The pork belly was so good. The sauces, I would have been happy with just one sauce.  Two of them are overkill in my opinion.  Interesting way to eat pork belly but yes, fusion blah blah.

Tapsilog (TApa, SInangag + itLOG / aka marinated Angus beef, garlic fried rice and egg) bowl. The egg was sunny side up which I should have expected. I ended up eating only the white part, ha ha. There was also some pickled radish in there (not a Filipino thing, more like Korean).

The marinated beef was on the fatty side, but that didn't seem to bother CAB.  The rice soaked up all of the juices, which we liked. This is basically a typical Filipino breakfast (minus the radishes). Just substitute the meat for Spam, tocino (cured and marinated pork) or  longanisa. Comfort food for me growing up but I hardly eat this now. Plus, it would be on a plate, not in a bowl. But I get it...the bowls are more accessible maybe to folks who like seeing things lumped all neatly together.  I could care either way, plate or bowl. I'll eat it if it's good.

Ha ha, they called these "fried pork rolls". Dudes, this shit is LUMPIA. Shanghai lumpia, you know the mini ones.

 That being said, despite the burnt ends, these were okay. I'm pretty sure the naming of these "fried pork rolls" is to make things easier to non-Filipinos to order and for the workers to not have to explain what "LUM-Pee-Yuh" is.  Heh.

Alright, we couldn't leave without trying their dessert. There are three mini desserts available from Creme Caramel, which is Los Angeles based as well as Filipina owned and run dessert shop. We skipped out on the coconut pandan dessert (me no like pandan) and got the upside ube cake and the mango. Both were really good. The ube had graham cracker crumbs (which were supposed to be bruleed, but didn't look like it had been). The mango custard had bits of ripe Manila mango as well.  Of the two, I liked the ube one better (had more texture).



Bert and TC enjoyed the dessert leftovers later that evening.

This photograph featuring a kalesa, a two wheeled horse drawn coach popular during  the Colonial period in the Philippines.  Only the upper class rode in these things. Nowadays, kalesas are used for tourists in certain parts of the Philippines (such as the colonial town of Vigan or Intramuros (a walled city in Manila).


Who else went to Oi Asian Fusion in Barrio Logan?
Mary was here last month!

Article
"Is this America's next top food trend?" SD Reader, Jan. 26, 2018

This article kind of irked me. I keep hearing and reading about how Filipino food is the "next big thing". But really? According to whom? White folks?  Damn, I've always liked Filipino food (as in from birth and that's a good four decades plus) but didn't need anyone else to tell me it was finally trendy to snack on fried chicken skin, pig ears, pork belly and blood stew.  The author of this article was also naive about the "lack of vegetables" here. Well, DUH.  And also that the food was very "salty".  Maybe to his virgin taste buds. That's why you eat rice with the meat.

I am not hating on Oi Asian Fusion by the way, just the lame article above.  The restaurant is a "safe" introduction to non-Filipinos. The food here isn't meant to be traditional, so I'm not bent out of shape about the radishes or jicama or whatever they use.  As long as the food is good I say. There's always going to be a double edged sword when you try to make certain ethnic foods appealing to the masses especially those unfamiliar with our foods.  There's still enough Filipino flair in the food for me to recognize the flavors but with a twist.

plus this older one about the LA eatery:
Oi Asian Fusion does Filipino rice bowls inside an East Hollywood strip mall"LA Eater, Jan. 7, 2016

as well as this informative article about the Mercado del Barrio complex and the development of Barrio Logan:
"Mercado del barrio getting Mexican flavored brewery" SD Union Tribune, Oct. 8, 2017

Oi Asian Fusion
1985 National Ave
San Diego, CA 92113
(619) 228-9857

www.oiasianfusion.com / fb page + reviews from that four lettered site

A fun morning spent with a great friend!