Haliná Modern Filipino Kitchen + Bar

Remember when they said Filipino cuisine would be the next big thing?  That was back in 2012 and then re-stated again in 2017.  I don't know about you, but it didn't catch on as much as it should have.  I mean, there are more Filipino restaurants now and many of them are quite good, yet it is almost a surprise when we see a new one.  Halina Modern Filipino Kitchen & Bar has been around for about one year and as the name suggests, they dish up Filipino food.  Eileen, Jackie and I decided to check it out.

Normally, we don't do that many drinks at brunch, but when Eileen wants drinks, she goes for it!  We tried the Araw Araw, Pandan Fizz, El Nido and Tita 'Be-By.  These were right up my alley since all were fruity and refreshing.  Sweetness was definitely there, but not so much I couldn't drink them.  I particularly enjoyed the pineapple juice in the El Nido as it was tangy from the calamansi and lemon juice.

One of my favourite Filipino dishes is Sizzling Sisig.  It can be made with pig's face meat or pork belly.  In this case, it was pork belly.  I personally like the pig's face more as the meat is gelatinous and fatty.  But no matter, they did a good job here with crispy crackling and buttery tender meat.  Definitely rich especially with the chicken liver sauce and the silky egg.  There was a touch of spice from the serrano peppers and a quick squeeze of the calamansi added tangy sweetness.

Continuing with pork belly, we had the Inihaw na Liempo served with garlic rice and salad.  There was a good amount of grilled pork belly that was meaty with some fat.  Nice tang from the calamansi and caramelized sweetness from the cane sugar.  We found some atchara (pickled green papaya) and toyomansi (soy & calamansi dip) on the side.

Since we were here for brunch, we had a classic Filipino item in the Tapsilog.  This consisted cured beef, garlic rice, salad and 2 sunny side eggs.  I thought this was solid where the beef was tender while not dry (despite being cured).  I thought the flavours were balanced and not overly salty nor sweet.  Of course, the toyomansi helped provide that extra kick.  Combining the garlic rice, tapa and egg yolk, it was a delicious bite.

Also on the table was the Grilled Chicken Inasal featuring charred lemongrass chicken leg.  This was smoky, sweet and aromatic.   Charring was substantial and it really added depth-of-flavour as well as fully rendering the skin.  Underneath, the meat was succulent and juicy.   Really went well with the garlic rice, especially when combined with the toyomansi.

Onto dessert, we shared a few orders of the Ube Cassava Cake.  These were topped with ice cream, caramel and cheddar toasted coconut.  Moist and slightly dense, the cake was sweet, but not overly so.  The ice cream and caramel did the heavy lifting for the sweetness.  Overall, we enjoyed the food at Haliná and the people there are super nice.  Would definitely come back!

The Good:

- Solid eats

- Nice people

- Cool space

The Bad:

- Food comes out a bit slow