Yasmin D.
Yelp
I saw this on Yelp as one of the newest places to try. I dropped by here Saturday to check it out and see how it fares with the other Filipino restaurants. It's located in a small strip mall with parking that can be challenging sometimes because it's shared with other businesses there.
The staff are very friendly, no question about that. I was greeted warmly and handed me a menu while I was trying to look up at their menu on the wall. A Lechon Belly was displayed and looks crispy and juicy.
I ordered the Crispy Pork Belly and Full Squid to go. For each order, there are 2 sides that goes with it. One can choose salad, garlic rice, java rice, steamed rice or French fries. I chose garlic rice and salad for the crispy pork belly and the java rice and salad for the other.
The wait for the order was around 15 minutes and some. I left a bit and went to their sister restaurant which was just a door or 2 down the same strip. When my order was ready, the staff at Ethan's brought it to me personally which I'm very pleased.
Went home, took a peak of what I ordered, and did a quick small bite of the crispy pork belly and the squid. Seems good.
Now for the real eating. The crispy pork belly were bigger cuts of meat compared to the usual combo orders one gets in other Filipino places. It is crispy indeed and the ratio of meat and fat is enough that eating the fat is not too sinful. The garlic rice didn't work for me. Bits of fried garlic would be nice. The salad was just chopped lettuce with carrots and dressing. This can be improved in my opinion There's a small pickled papaya or atsara for both orders which was just ok.
The full squid on the other hand needed another minute or so in my opinion on the grill. Tender yes, but would have been better to have a lemon with the order. Also if it has been marinated long enough, this has the potential to be a winner. I had the same opinion with the java rice. Can be better, the salad same thing.
For both orders, one will be needing more than 1 rice especially if you are a rice eater. The soy vinegar sauce was not the soy vinegar or even with spicy sauce I'm used to have when eating either squid or crispy pork belly.
I will try this place one more time because I want to push these stars to 4 or even 5. It looks promising. I will try the other items in the menu. Maybe just a preference. We will see.