Sherman's Food Adventures: La Meza Grill

La Meza Grill

When I first caught wind that Pinpin was opening up another location along Scott Road, I was pretty excited in eating something other than Indian food for once.  Hey, as I've said all along, I absolutely love Punjabi cuisine, but it gets rather monotonous day after day.  Besides, I'm Chinese and even I can't eat Cantonese food every day either!  But when I finally got to dine at Pinpin, it fell a bit short, being even more mediocre than its Vancouver location.  Then out of the blue, I stumbled upon La Meza Grill where I hoped I could find acceptable Filipino eats.

I decided to go for 2 items beginning with the "small" Crispy Pata.  Yes, what you see on the large plate was a significant amount of gelatinous meat that was fairly moist and tender.  Naturally, there were some pieces that had been completely fried and crispy (and a bit tough).  But the best part was the crackling as it was not overly hard while still crunchy and aromatic.  The accompanying dip was well-balanced between sweet, tangy and salty.  Moving on from that filling "appie", I went for the classic Pancit Bihon which was also well-portioned.  This was mildly-seasoned (and it generally is most of the time) featuring chewy noodles mixed with plenty of ingredients.  The noodles in my opinion were just right being soft while retaining a bite.

On another visit with Chill, I also went for 2 items including the Sigsig.  I explained to Chill it was sizzling pork face, to which he gave me a strange face (ironic?).  It arrived sizzling hot where the fatty meat crisped up and caramelized right in front of our faces (sorry for the lame joke).  I enjoyed the fatty and gelatinous textures mixed in with the crispy meat.  It was nicely aromatic and somewhat silky from the egg.  A squeeze of lemon helped light and liven things up.  For my next item, I had the Seafood Palabok.  Saucy and sporting a background sweetness, the noodles were a tad too soft (although they are usually this texture)In terms of flavour, I would've liked to see a bit more "seafoodiness".

Chill decided to go for the Curry Chicken with a side of Garlic Rice.  Smooth, creamy and coconutty, the curry was actually rather spicy.  As for the chicken, it was mostly dark meat being tender and almost succulent.  The garlic rice was chewy, nutty and of course aromatically garlicky.  So from these 2 visits, the food at La Meza was superior compared to Pinpin down the street.  Although not without faults, La Meza combines enough positives for future visits.

The Good:
- Nice people
- Comfy and clean dining space
- Decent eats

The Bad:
- Other than the curry, seasoning was a bit weak    

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