Isla Pilipina

We celebrated my mom's birthday a day earlier for dinner at Isla Pilipina, which was the Sunday after Thanksgiving. This was a first for the whole family, but I came here once earlier with a friend the year before. Since then, I've been raving it to my family and trying to plan a dinner, but with different schedules and it being in the city, it was difficult. Finally, we visited on this special occassion. Isla serves traditional and authentic Filipino cuisine in a small 40 seating, BYOB space, but it's food is packed with flavor and to my taste, it's so close to my mom and family's cooking. Reservations are recommended because this place fills up quickly with long waits. It makes me proud to see a Filipino restaurant cooking up such delicious food that other nationalities are lining up to eat here. I'm telling you, it's THAT good! We ordered sweet and sour red snapper, Bicol Express of slightly spicy combination of meat , shrimp, squid, and mussels drizzled in coconut milk; Beef Kaldereta of angus chuck roast cooked in tomatio and pepper based gravy with potatoes and peppers; Daing ng Bangus of sun dried boneless milkfish, marinated and deep fried; Pancit Bihon of pan fried rice noodles sauteed with chicken, mixed with shredded vegetables; Lechon Kawali of deep fried pork belly served with Filipino style gravy. My family genuinely enjoyed the food here and were surprised too on how good it was and how the flavors were right and at times better. See you soon!