Hello from the Philippines!

[ThisIsEarls]

hi fellow members! hope you can accept me here. i started a small bar in a province in the Philippines back in 2005 with a few hundred bucks and no idea what to do. i only sold beer, nuts that we cooked and got food from other bars since we are in the middle of a strip of bars on the beach front. in i think 2009 we started with making our own liquor infusions and started selling our own food. we didnt want to run a restaurant since we knew how hard it is and knew the failure rate. though in 2010 we started selling burgers and they have been out bestseller since. we added a few more items to the menu since then. we also have a place in the main town which we put up in 2012. we couldnt find any people to talk to about how to move forward and what to learn since we really have no background in the food world. so my wife and i jumped into booksthe last few years and i think i read about this site from nathan myhrvold. so im here to soak up anythin i can and tell others about our experiences if it can help. i attached a pic of our burger, thanks guys

[gfweb]

I'd love to hear more about Philippine food.

[ThisIsEarls]

sure, what would you like to know? where are you from if i may ask? id say local food here is all mixed and jumbled from different cultures. its kinda hard to say what is purely filipino as alot of food here is influenced by chinese american japanese cuisines among others. im in the bicol region right now, and its coconut country, so alot of local food is made with coconut milk from ice cream to savory meat dishes.

[KennethT]

Is your bar geared towards tourists or locals?  What is traditional Filipino drinking food?

[ThisIsEarls]

we catered to local mainly since we thought it would be hard to cater to tourists since thats only seasonal. the nice thing though is that since its in the province the local would start bringing their visitors or relatives that came home from manila to try our place out. we stopped being a bar back in 2019 since we noticed that our customer base was changing into families and young kids who just wanted to eat. for trad drinking food there are alot of different stuff that people use for drinking, i think we only have a few things left that we sell that are drinking food. when we were a full on bar we sold lumpia, chicken pops, garlic fried peanuts, grilled pork, and sisig. usually things with strong flavors that can cut into the taste of liquor and have small pcs so it can go a long ways. sisig is the usual thing you'd see at almost all places, which is one reason we stopped serving it a few years ago cause were trying to be unique.

[TdeV]

I've never heard of sisig! @ThisIsEarls, you're sure to find an appreciative readership here. And many of the folks here are very clever. So, it could be a win for everyone. Welcome.

[ThisIsEarls]

10 minutes ago, TdeV said:

I've never heard of sisig! @ThisIsEarls, you're sure to find an appreciative readership here. And many of the folks here are very clever. So, it could be a win for everyone. Welcome.

i came to the right place then 😊

sisig is pork. i think it started with the ears alone which were boiled in a broth, grilled, chopped into small pieces, add some pork liver, tossed with some siling labuyo/or a chili like birds eye as well as the long green chilis, onions and calamansi/lime. then served on a piping hot cast iron sizzling plate. i came from the US but sisig is something i crave alot. nowadays its available from almost any bar or resto, from low to high end they all have their own versions. some use pork face or mask, some use pork belly, some hold the liver, some add mayo and it cooks on the sizzling plate, some add egg. so its just gone so far from pork ears, people even use different meats fish etc.

Edited February 5, 2022 by ThisIsEarls
added a picture (log)

[kayb]

Ok, I’m off to Google sisig! And could I trouble you for your favorite chicken adobo recipe? I’ve tried it, and been disappointed.

 

welcome to the forum!

[ThisIsEarls]

2 minutes ago, kayb said:

Ok, I’m off to Google sisig! And could I trouble you for your favorite chicken adobo recipe? I’ve tried it, and been disappointed.

 

welcome to the forum!

hi, thanks for the welcome! we dont have an exact recipe written down for our adobo. we usually eat it for our staff and family meals. but we do follow a ratio of some of the stuff and what goes in it. also there are a ton of ways people make adobo as we also add diff things now and then to make it different, make i ask what was the one you tried?

[kayb]

It was a recipe from a blog that purported to be “authentic Filipino cuisine.” Don’t recall what blog. It’s been years.

[ThisIsEarls]

4 minutes ago, kayb said:

It was a recipe from a blog that purported to be “authentic Filipino cuisine.” Don’t recall what blog. It’s been years.

ok, tomorrow ill try and get you something you can try out thats simple but hopefully youll like. 

[KennethT]

To move forward, I think one of the key things to think about is what equipment you already have in the kitchen.  Being able to expand your menu without purchasing new equipment can improve your sales without spending any excess $.  The other consideration is what your clientele might want to eat.  If it's a mostly local clientele, do they want something different than what they normally have at home?  The success of your burger might point to that.  So it might be an idea to try out other non-local dishes that you could make using the same equipment and see what sticks.  Are you grilling your burger over coals or gas, or is it done on a flat-top type griddle?  Do you have a deep fryer that you use to make the fries?  Having a deep fryer gives you tons of menu options for things that are tasty and cook quickly.

 

Another thing to consider, thinking about your burger, is taking non-traditional dishes and altering them (slightly?) to fit the palate of your local clientele - this has been done forever when people open restaurants all over the world, so it's usually a winning formula.

[ElsieD]

Welcome to the forum, @ThisIsEarls.  I'd like a bite of that burger, please.  It looks delicious.  Do you use kecap manis in the Phillipines?

[Kim Shook]

Hi, @ThisIsEarls!  Welcome to eGullet.  So interesting to see someone from the Philippines.  My daughter is enamored of what she has experienced of Filipino food and for her birthday a couple of weeks ago we took a trip down to Norfolk Virginia in the US, where there is a large ex-pat Filipino community to sample Filipino food.  I'm looking forward to your posts.  And that burger looks fantastic.

[ThisIsEarls]

2 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Hi, @ThisIsEarls!  Welcome to eGullet.  So interesting to see someone from the Philippines.  My daughter is enamored of what she has experienced of Filipino food and for her birthday a couple of weeks ago we took a trip down to Norfolk Virginia in the US, where there is a large ex-pat Filipino community to sample Filipino food.  I'm looking forward to your posts.  And that burger looks fantastic.

hi thank you! thats great to hear, im actually from Virginia and when i was a kid we sometimes went to the Filipino get-together parties that had tons of Filipino food served.😊

[ThisIsEarls]

8 hours ago, ElsieD said:

Welcome to the forum, @ThisIsEarls.  I'd like a bite of that burger, please.  It looks delicious.  Do you use kecap manis in the Phillipines?

hello, sure come by haha. i had to google what kecap manis is haha. i have no doubt that its used here or some version of it since soy sauce is a main staple and alot of people here do sweet foods every now and then. though ive never come across it, we just use regular soy and just add something sweet to a dish if it needs sweetness.

[ThisIsEarls]

8 hours ago, KennethT said:

To move forward, I think one of the key things to think about is what equipment you already have in the kitchen.  Being able to expand your menu without purchasing new equipment can improve your sales without spending any excess $.  The other consideration is what your clientele might want to eat.  If it's a mostly local clientele, do they want something different than what they normally have at home?  The success of your burger might point to that.  So it might be an idea to try out other non-local dishes that you could make using the same equipment and see what sticks.  Are you grilling your burger over coals or gas, or is it done on a flat-top type griddle?  Do you have a deep fryer that you use to make the fries?  Having a deep fryer gives you tons of menu options for things that are tasty and cook quickly.

 

Another thing to consider, thinking about your burger, is taking non-traditional dishes and altering them (slightly?) to fit the palate of your local clientele - this has been done forever when people open restaurants all over the world, so it's usually a winning formula.

hi thank you for the great advice! do you also have a restaurant? lately we have been trying to put out menu items that dont need new equipment and process. i think we figured out that since rice is a staple here and in most asian countries, everybody's palate for foods that use rice is different. since rice usually blands out the flavor, everybody will have a different taste for it. we noticed that the unusual things for the area that we sell are the best selling stuff since they dont have certain expectations for what it should be. so that might be the hard thing about it. finding something unique, good, still be accepted by peoples palate and easy to prepare and make a profit at the same time. that burger we use a flat top(had some welders make it for us). we have a electric deep fryer mainly for fries but we noticed its not versatile, so the other things we deep fry we just use pots and stoves. we did open a second resto that mostly had grilled items but closed it during the pandemic and might open it this year.

[ThisIsEarls]

9 hours ago, ThisIsEarls said:

ok, tomorrow ill try and get you something you can try out thats simple but hopefully youll like. 

hello i just talked to my wife and like i said we change it all the time. but u can try this for starters.

take 7 small cloves of garlic (peeled, diced) and dice 2 red onions(if u want them)

a kilo of pork or chicken slice into small pieces

it is better to dice smaller if you use pork especially if its meaty so the meat doesnt dry. pork belly is the best we think, since it has the fat content so your sauce wont be watery

1 cup soy sauce

1 cup cane vinegar (if u have white half it since its strong)

1 cup water

1 tsp pepper

4 tsp msg( if u dont want this you might have to add more salt or lessen the vinegar a little)

2 tbsp sugar

1 or 2 tsp salt, or to taste

1 bay leaf (add more if really like it or take it out if you dont cause itll work without it)

cooking oil

 

we like working with low heat so its not like the way most other Filipinos do it. so take a little oil maybe a tbsp or 2 and heat it up in a pan on medium or low medium, lightly fry the garlic and onions but not too much, then put in the meat and lightly fry that as well stirring consistently so nothing gets burnt unless you like a little more bitter or maillard reaction. after its a light brown add in the vinegar, soy sauce, water. put the other ingredients except the bay leaf. let it boil on low/medium heat, stirring every now and then to avoid meat sticking on the pan. also, use a pan size that is proportionate to the amount of meat and liquid ingredients. not too small and not too big as well. put the bay leaf when it's already boiling. taste the sauce and check if the meat is already soft. if the meat is not soft yet but the sauce is depeleting, add a little more water in and boil in further, when the meat is soft enough for you and the taste of the sauce is just right then its done. if you are to eat it with rice the flavor will need to be a little strong since the rice will bland it out

[ThisIsEarls]

Just now, ThisIsEarls said:

hello i just talked to my wife and like i said we change it all the time. but u can try this for starters.

take 7 small cloves of garlic (peeled, diced) and dice 2 red onions(if u want them)

a kilo of pork or chicken slice into small pieces

it is better to dice smaller if you use pork especially if its meaty so the meat doesnt dry. pork belly is the best we think, since it has the fat content so your sauce wont be watery

1 cup soy sauce

1 cup cane vinegar (if u have white half it since its strong)

1 cup water

1 tsp pepper

4 tsp msg( if u dont want this you might have to add more salt or lessen the vinegar a little)

2 tbsp sugar

1 or 2 tsp salt, or to taste

1 bay leaf (add more if really like it or take it out if you dont cause itll work without it)

cooking oil

 

we like working with low heat so its not like the way most other Filipinos do it. so take a little oil maybe a tbsp or 2 and heat it up in a pan on medium or low medium, lightly fry the garlic and onions but not too much, then put in the meat and lightly fry that as well stirring consistently so nothing gets burnt unless you like a little more bitter or maillard reaction. after its a light brown add in the vinegar, soy sauce, water. put the other ingredients except the bay leaf. let it boil on low/medium heat, stirring every now and then to avoid meat sticking on the pan. also, use a pan size that is proportionate to the amount of meat and liquid ingredients. not too small and not too big as well. put the bay leaf when it's already boiling. taste the sauce and check if the meat is already soft. if the meat is not soft yet but the sauce is depeleting, add a little more water in and boil in further, when the meat is soft enough for you and the taste of the sauce is just right then its done. if you are to eat it with rice the flavor will need to be a little strong since the rice will bland it out

also if you have leftovers Filipinos will keep adodo in the ref for a week or longer especially if u have a higher acid content. and sometimes the leftovers will taste better if u fry them then eat with fried rice!

[kayb]

Thanks!