I went to the Philippines. I loved the tropical atmosphere there. Okay, it's near the equator, but not that tropical. Angeles Bay is more tropical, but that's another story. The Filipino cuisine didn't leave me much impression. Most food I had in the Philippines was western fast food or Chinese food in Chinatown. I still remember a fried chicken restaurant called Max's.

Later on, I came to Los Angeles. There are so many varieties here. I do dining and cooking a lot, mostly Asian cuisine. I cook Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, even Indian, but not really into Filipino and Indonesian. So, Filipino cuisine is still very interesting and not that familiar to me.

I know some Filipino cuisine like adobo, slow stewed in brown vinegar sauce, just because the name is similar to the famous Adobe. I didn't even know the meaning of Adobe until now.

I visited all the Asian grocery stores in Greater Los Angeles. I also went to Filipino markets, Pacific Island or Seafood City. I bought prepackaged frozen Rellenong Bangus, which is stuffed milkfish, and I also cooked adobo for myself.

I had a very good experience at PhilHouse@Pacific Island in Rancho Cucamonga. I wrote a review in Chinese for that food court and highly recommended it. Unfortunately, that one was closed, as well as the market.

Recently, I found that Pacific Island has twenty or thirty some locations, each one attached to a food court including PhilHouse. So good, I paid a visit to its Santa Monica Blvd location.

I saw Max's again inside the market. PhilHouse was the biggest booth there. The food dish marks were not as clear as they were in the Rancho Cucamonga location. You couldn't find the dish names according to the plates easily.

Let's talk about the food. They provided sets: one dish with rice or noodles for $8.99, two for $14.99, and three for $19.99. If you choose beef/goat/seafood/pork, every dish costs one dollar more.

I had three dishes with rice vermicelli. Let's talk about the food:

Chicken Adobo 3/5
Adobo literally means vinegar stewed meat, but it was too sour. The flavor was sour, but it didn't seep into the meat. The chicken itself was a little overcooked; the texture was fluffy. And by the way, the chicken was cooked with quail eggs, but only one quail egg per serving?

Lechon Kawali 4/5
Literally means fried pork belly. It was really good, the texture and taste just like Chinese grilled pork belly. It was okay, a very good balance between salty and sweet, tender and juicy. But the only issue was that some pieces' skin was too hard to bite.

Sinigang na Isda, Sinigang na Pampano 4/5
Literally means stewed fish in tamarind sauce. It had a good taste, and it was just the reason I would visit PhilHouse again. I had very good Sinigang na Pampano in Rancho Cucamonga before, and that's the reason why I'm interested in Filipino dishes. The Sinigang na Pampano in this location was a little too light, didn't have enough aroma and taste. Good, but not that good.

Pancit Bihon 4/5
Literally means fried rice vermicelli. Very good wok stir-fried, good taste, good flavor, good texture, not oily. The only issue was that the pork fat with skin was too greasy and almost made me vomit. Just get rid of that cube, you still have a very good stir-fried rice vermicelli.

Anyway, I rank it 4/5. It was a good gourmet tasting experience.

We saw this from TFC, drove hours (not joking really hours)

Twas worth the drive, food was really like lurltong bahay.

We had rellanong bangus, ginataang langka, bbq pork and belly, beef kaldereta, sisig, chicharon bulaklak. KUDOS TO YOUR CHEF

Service, the server needs to consider not everyone knows the drill on how to order don't get dismayed. Good thing there's a kababayan in line who was happy to tell us how to order.

Props to Island Pacific Phil House for offering crispy turon on the spot. After a disappointing order of turon from Valerio's (located on the same plaza), I decided to try and order a dozen of turon (Phil House's version). They placed each piece on a tray with lid and costs approximately $23. It's a bit more expensive than Valerio's, but it's worth a try. I didn't need to in order in advance (for today), and got lucky that they had enough for sale.

When I brought it to my potluck, I didn't expect all the pieces to be long and thick. So we decided to cut them in half and were still lengthy. On the first taste, it was super crunchy, perfectly sweet and caramelized and had generous amounts of plantain and jackfruit as filling. I will definitely order their turon again for my next event! In case the turon gets cold within the hour, it still tastes crispy. But I highly suggest reheating it using an oven or toaster oven. Babalikan ko ito! (I will comeback for this!)

Our friends and I bought filthy no taste, flavors, lack of ingredients, and all your foods disgusting. The pancit lack of ingredients vegestables cut too big, no meat and we trash all the foods. It's ok too expensive, but not worth and of all the restaurant you're the worst better close all foods not worth for the price, too expensive lack of ingredients terrible. You're the worst Filipino restaurant throughout California,

I bought grilled fish, 2 pork bbqs and medium fried intestines… i requested for additional vinegar and i was told that she already gave me 4 small ones. Come on' All the items i bought is dipped in vinegar and she cant even consider to give me more. Its just vinegar.