I haven't eaten much Filipino food in my life. I visited the country in 2005 and was then exposed to adobo and sinigang. But since then other than my own version of adobo, it's been quite sparse and not a strongly represented cuisine anywhere I've lived. This new restaurant in Hoxton (a bit out of the way from anything) specialises in Kinilaw (ceviche) and Buko (icecream).
The bubble teas (one Earl grey and one Chai) were ok for flavour but nothing great £5. You can add an alcholic shot for £3. Chai was much sweeter and stronger than the watery Earl grey. Unfortunately the pearls were large, white and hard to the point of being inedible. Also the thin straws meant the pearls couldn't be sucked up. Would definitely not get either of them again.
- Mustasa cradled duck egg (salted duck egg, heirloom tomato, mustard leaf, grated cured yolk) £5.5 - egg wasn't particularly salty;
- Vinegar soaked talaba (oysters, avocado, onion, ginger, lime, vinegar) £6.5 for 2 - excellent shooter of oyster with balance of flavours;
- Baboy bounty (pork belly, dice cucumber, chilli, chicharron) £6.5;
- Kilawan coconut fire (bream, mango, red pepper, jalapeño, coconut vinegar) £7 - my favourite ceviche dish with good chunks of fish and well balanced with a bit of chilli;
- Diver hauls kapis treasure (hand-dived scallop, cucumber, radish, lime, fermented roe) £8 - one large scallop sliced into 3 with chopped up roe;
- Pusit hides in kang kang (squid, ink, coconut, peppers, water spinach) £6 - bouncy squid bits
- Hilaw na papaya & prawn (king prawns, green papaya, picked cucumber, achiote prawn oil) £7 - quite good but the prawns themselves were a bit soft and uninspired;
- Steamed rice with kanin-asawa rice seasoning £2.8 - tried the slightly salty pork floss version and strangely sweet fish. It was ok but necessary for the meal. I'd get the pork or try the chicken next time.
Interestingly all the dishes are cold. I suppose as ceviche that is expected. It's the hot rice that you eat it with that makes it feel more like a normal meal, particularly on a colder evening out.
- Red bean butterscotch bomb (red bean icecream, miso butterscotch sauce, ginger anzac biscuit) £3 served in a ube purple yam cone £0.3 - the red bean icecream was very good and unique. The sauces and anzac added even more sweetness, which wasn't necessarily necessary. The purple cone was surprisingly not purple and didn't have a strong yam flavour;
- Ube buko (purple yam & coconut, tapioca pearls) £3 served in a buko pandan cone £0.3 - unlike the cone, the icecream had a strong sweet yam flavour and was excellent. The cone was sweet but almost to the point that it overpowered the icecream and I preferred to eat it without.
Would order again the Kilawan (bream), the oysters and the scallop and rice with either pork or try the chicken (and hope it was salty). Otherwise I have to admit that many of dishes seemed to blend into each other. I would get both icecreams but without the cones.