According to Julia Child, “People who love to eat are always the best people.” And there is so much attestation that Filipinos are one of the groups of people who love to eat. One of the best attributes of Pinoys are our fondness of food and even if we have little food in our table we even offer them to anyone. So hearing “tara kain” (come let’s eat) is so common to hear. Warmly accepting guests especially when it comes to eating time, emanates to Filipinos so naturally it almost seems hardwired into their systems.
Not only that, we Filipinos pride ourselves with our flavorful dishes. Many say that it’s hard to put your finger on Filipino dishes because it is influenced by so many other cuisines. Not to mention it is constantly evolving. May it be traditional, modern or fusion, I am glad and proud that Filipino cuisine is slowly taking center stage in the world.
Last weekend I attended a bloggers’ lunch at Ombu Kusina at Sequioa Hotel in Quezon City. I saw there a lot of the bloggers I know and I also got to meet new ones while we feast on what Ombu has to offer. It was a fun occasion since besides the great food that was served to us, I was able to relish an afternoon with people who share the same passion as myself: to eat!
Ombu Kusina is a restaurant that offers modern Filipino cuisine that lingers in your taste buds. Ombu's menu is a take on traditional Filipino cuisine infused with popular dishes from other countries. The restaurant also has a cozy dining space with interiors and mood lighting to match their menus modern sensibilities. Their location is easy to spot too as it is on the corner of Tomas Morato and Mother Ignacia, the center of food, dining and drinking in QC.
During this event we got to try their best-selling dishes and two new dishes wherein the invited guests got first dibs on:
Dilis Rice - lightly flavored rice topped with crispy anchovies. There’s nothing more that says Filipino than dried anchovies. Before this was only a common Pinoy food but is now added to make gourmet dishes. This fried rice, a staple in Filipino breakfast truly embodies the taste of the dried and salty flavor of the dilis and goes well with almost every other viand that we tried.
Sisig Pizza - your favorite pork sisig dish in a delicious pizza topped with sunny side egg perfect with a garlic sauce drizzle. Sisig is also one of the famous dishes that can be easily associated with Filipinos. The late Anthony Bourdain raves about it so much and it is so fun to see it as a topping for a pizza. This Sisig pizza from Ombu is surprisingly good! The sisig taste is so distinct especially that they used thin crust pizza dough. Even without the dipping sauce it’s already so good. This was actually my favorite dish among all the others. Definitely a must-order!
Salted Egg Spaghettini - spaghettini tossed in golden sauce of salted egg yolks, sprinkled with tomatoes, cucumber and salted egg whites. Don’t be fooled by the plain appearance of this pasta dish, because every bite you take in gives you full-bodied flavor of salted egg. I was surprised how tasty it was and stays true to the salted egg flavor. This actually reminds me of the salted egg salad that Pinoys always make. As a fan of salted egg, I truly enjoyed this one.
Seafood Mix Laing - - heavenly mix of shrimp, crab meat, onion and lemongrass wrapped in taro leaves and slowly cooked in light coconut milk. I love this Ombu’s version of laing because it is my first time to eat laing with filled with seafood and not only just taro leaves. The laing flavor stays true to the real laing taste that I grew up with.
Binagoongang Talong - fried fresh eggplant with crispy fried pork belly mixed together with shrimp paste sauce. I’ve always loved binagoongan especially when it comes with eggplant. Though I must say that this wasn’t the type of binagoongan that I prefer. As I like the sauce of binagoongan really salty and just that sweet salty bagoong alamang flavor. The sauce was too viscous for my liking.
Adobochon - cuts of roasted pork belly with crispy skin with adobo sauce dipping sauce. This is one of the newest dishes at Ombu. Who can say no to lechon? I don’t know about you but I know I can’t. The skin was so crispy and the meat so tender. The adobo dipping sauce was a clever way to make it more Filipino.
Flaming Chicken - sizzling roasted chicken covered with liquor and set it alight briefly in front of you. One of the newest dishes at Ombu. This was easily everyone’s favorite dish not only that it was served with so much fanfare. It will be served and put into flames in front of you! Usually the meat of roasted chicken tends to be dry especially the breast part, but this was able to retain its juiciness. This takes a place in my top dishes that we got to try that day.
Frozen Brazo de Mercedes - heavenly sweet layers of frozen soft meringue, custard filling, ice cream and crumbly graham cracker crust. A sweet way to end our lunch at Ombu. Their Frozen Brazo De Mercedes is probably the best I’ve tried so far. Each layer is just so good. I loved it so much, I was actually the one who finished the open served on our table.
G/F, Sequoia Hotel, 91-93 Mother Ignacia Cor.,
Timog Avenue, South Triangle, Quezon City
Contact Nos: 02 4411789 / 02 4410518
Not only that, we Filipinos pride ourselves with our flavorful dishes. Many say that it’s hard to put your finger on Filipino dishes because it is influenced by so many other cuisines. Not to mention it is constantly evolving. May it be traditional, modern or fusion, I am glad and proud that Filipino cuisine is slowly taking center stage in the world.
Dilis Rice - lightly flavored rice topped with crispy anchovies. There’s nothing more that says Filipino than dried anchovies. Before this was only a common Pinoy food but is now added to make gourmet dishes. This fried rice, a staple in Filipino breakfast truly embodies the taste of the dried and salty flavor of the dilis and goes well with almost every other viand that we tried.
Sisig Pizza - your favorite pork sisig dish in a delicious pizza topped with sunny side egg perfect with a garlic sauce drizzle. Sisig is also one of the famous dishes that can be easily associated with Filipinos. The late Anthony Bourdain raves about it so much and it is so fun to see it as a topping for a pizza. This Sisig pizza from Ombu is surprisingly good! The sisig taste is so distinct especially that they used thin crust pizza dough. Even without the dipping sauce it’s already so good. This was actually my favorite dish among all the others. Definitely a must-order!
Binagoongang Talong - fried fresh eggplant with crispy fried pork belly mixed together with shrimp paste sauce. I’ve always loved binagoongan especially when it comes with eggplant. Though I must say that this wasn’t the type of binagoongan that I prefer. As I like the sauce of binagoongan really salty and just that sweet salty bagoong alamang flavor. The sauce was too viscous for my liking.
Adobochon - cuts of roasted pork belly with crispy skin with adobo sauce dipping sauce. This is one of the newest dishes at Ombu. Who can say no to lechon? I don’t know about you but I know I can’t. The skin was so crispy and the meat so tender. The adobo dipping sauce was a clever way to make it more Filipino.
Flaming Chicken - sizzling roasted chicken covered with liquor and set it alight briefly in front of you. One of the newest dishes at Ombu. This was easily everyone’s favorite dish not only that it was served with so much fanfare. It will be served and put into flames in front of you! Usually the meat of roasted chicken tends to be dry especially the breast part, but this was able to retain its juiciness. This takes a place in my top dishes that we got to try that day.
Besides the great food, company of fellow blogger friends who loves to eat, I also enjoyed how organized and personalized this bloggers’ lunch was. I love that our tokens were wooden eating utensils placed inside a canvas bags bearing our names and Instagram handles. The program was concise and yet very informative. The food display was beautifully decorated too. The owners and organizers were very warm and friendly. The staff were attentive and friendly too. This event was definitely one for the books.
OMBU KUSINAG/F, Sequoia Hotel, 91-93 Mother Ignacia Cor.,
Timog Avenue, South Triangle, Quezon City
Contact Nos: 02 4411789 / 02 4410518
Email: omburestaurant@yahoo.com
Facebook: facebook.com/ombukusina
Facebook: facebook.com/ombukusina
Instagram: instagram.com/ombu_resto
For more information, complete menu and restaurant reviews, check out their Zomato profile:
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