One of the crappy things about being an expat is missing the food back home. Luckily, there are enough Filipinos in Singapore for businessmen to have a big enough market to sell Filipino food. We have lots of Filipino restaurants and one of Manila’s most popular go-to restaurants even has a branch here! Yay!
Now I don’t know how long this place has been here, but it was my first time to go last month when my friend Nikki was craving halo-halo and invited us to go over on a Saturday night. The place was huge. There was an air conditioned space indoors but it was fully occupied a table on their al fresco area. We loved that there were lots of televisions playing music videos from the 90s, so we could relate! Haha.
Of course we couldn’t eat just halo-halo because we needed dinner too, and so we perused the menu and got all these.
Green Mango with Bagoong
This is a famous Philippine appetizer, my absolute favorite. Their version of the mangoes were not as sour as I would have liked, but I did enjoy it. Bagoong, by the way, may not appeal to everyone non-Filipino. It’s made of shrimp fry, salty, and a bit smelly. We like to mix it with other dishes too, like kare-kare.
Chichabits / Pork Crackling
Nikki insisted on getting these even though we didn’t want to at first, and I’m glad that she did! These pork cracklings were so freshly cooked, we could hear the skin making faint popping sounds even as the dish was served, and it became louder whenever we dipped it into the accompanying vinegar dip. Each morsel was crisp yet melted in our mouths once chewed. So delicious. MUST TRY!
Garlic Rice
Though we are all on a diet and don’t eat rice during the week, we just had to have some on cheat day. Fun fact: rice is a staple on all Philippine meals – breakfast, lunch, dinner. Back in the Philippines if you don’t eat rice for a meal, people will automatically ask you: “Are you on a diet?” Well except maybe if you’re eating Italian food. But even so, some guys I know still eat rice afterwards because they don’t full without rice. Weird, no? 😛
Grilled Squid
Do I need to explain grilled squid? I didn’t think so. My favorite part about this was the achara side dish it came with. Achara or pickled papaya is one of my most favorite side dishes from back home, and my friends used to give me all of theirs whenever we went out to eat because they knew what an achara-holic I was. Of course the squid was very delicious too, just the right amount of chewy and succulent.
Sizzling Pork Sisig
I didn’t realize I had taken a blurry photo. So sorry about that! Sisig is one of the famous dishes in Manila, often used as an appetizer paired with beer. In fact I think it’s what Gerry’s Grill is known for, and the Singapore branch got the Manila version down pat. Sisig is usually made of chopped pig’s face, snout, ears, and liver.
Halo-Halo
This dessert was the reason we all came here in the first place. Even though I thought it weird that the ube (yam) ice cream was lighter in color than normal, I loved it! Halo-halo is the most popular summer dessert in the entire Philippines, made of shaved ice topped with beans, fruits, leche flan (custard), milk, sugar, and ice cream. You mix every thing all together before eating it. That’s how it got its name – halo means mix.
We were so happy and satiated with the food that we went back a few weeks ago and ordered most of the same stuff! Haha. I’m just happy we have a decent Filipino restaurant here, one we can go to if we’re badly missing home.
GERRY’S GRILL
#01-12 Starhub Centre
51 Cuppage Road Singapore 229469
Website
Let’s connect!
Wow, it's so intresting seeing food from your culture, especially since you're living somewhere else! I haven't tired ANY of that, but I'd totally love to after reading your descriptions!! Great post! :)<br /><br />xo Becky<br /><a href="www.seductivemania.com" rel="nofollow">Seductive Mania</a>
Thanks! Food is one of the main reasons why you should totally check out Asia! 😀
that garlic rice looks yum yum yum!
Garlic rice, how was the taste? Rice is a staple on all my hometown meals, too. We eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner but I found that people don't eat rice for breakfast here.
It really was as good as it looked.
It was delicious! Ooh, sometimes we don't eat rice for breakfast too, just bread. Interesting to know Asian countries have some similarities!