International Express - Filipino Market

I got excited when I saw this tiny Filipino market in the corner of Pacific Coast Hwy. & Pennsylvania in Lomita, California. I stopped by yesterday to investigate and see what they had to offer. It is a mini market, a take out and catering place. They have about 3 small tables and a few chairs. They had a lot to offer, including a middle eastern menu.

Today, I ventured in to actually order something for dinner. I decided on the chicken adobo, their house specialty, and the fried boneless bangus (milk fish). They also had shanghai lumpia which is normally finger size in diameter. Theirs was the size of a regular egg roll; no complaint there..the bigger the better right?

While I waited for my order to be cooked, I went ahead and ordered a halo-halo for my lunch.(translated: mix-mix). It is a dessert with a variety of stuff, from sweetened garbanzo beans, red beans, flan, macapuno, ube, banana (sweetened from brown sugar),langka (jack fruit), ice cream and milk. This is usually served in a tall glass with lots of finely crushed ice. To eat, you have to flatten the mound of crushed ice and mixing it so the bottom full of whatever stuff you ordered, comes to the surface ready for consumption. I also ordered my favorite dessert, turon. This is like a fried eggroll but is stuffed w/ banana and langka then fried. The turon's texture was excellent, very light. The banana was o.k. and could have been sweeter. If they put a tsp. of apricot preserves or blackcurrant jelly in between the banana and langka, it would have been excellent. When the halo-halo came, it took me a long time to mix everything as the crushed ice was not crushed properly. It had pea size ice balls which was quite annoying. I had asked for only 3 items and skipped the ube ice cream. I just had the milk. Well, it was disappointing as it was quite tasteless.

I looked forward to dinner. I heated everything and got my diet pepsi ready. Don't laugh. Wine to me just does not go with filipino food. The adobo was again just o.k. I have had really good adobo so my expectations were high. The bangus (milk fish) was very good, especially after drenching it in filipino vinegar. The shanghai lumpia was good but not addicting as should be.

I have to make another trip as I am CURIOUS to see how their pansit (filipino noodles) taste. I have to be careful as you all know what happened to the cat!