A few years ago I had the pleasure of eating Filipino food for the first time at Diona Joyce‘s Kanto by Tita Flips, one of the many bright food stalls at Market 707 on Dundas and Bathurst streets. If like me you haven’t had a lot of experience with Filipino food, I couldn’t recommend a better person to visit. Everything we’ve had at Kanto has always been carefully prepared, and the flavour combinations blows my mind each time; there’s always the right amount of sweetness and/or acidity that balances out. So far at Kanto we’ve had the lechon (roast pork), sisig (offal, boiled and grilled and then turned to crunchy bits) on top of fries, ukoy (squash fritters), balut (fertilized duck egg), lumpia sariwa (vegetables rolled in very thin crepes), and palabok (noodles coated in golden shrimp sauce).
Last summer, Diona introduced ihaw-ihaw, grilled and barbecue foods (usually meat and seafood). I missed the whole thing because I was away for school, and I almost missed the summer ihaw-ihaw again because of work this year. But the last ihaw-ihaw–don’t you love that word?–coincided on the first week I didn’t have to work late. There were some skewers on special, but my eyes were big and my stomach hungry, so we ordered the prix-fixe. It came with grilled fish, pork, chicken, squid….and an unlimited supply of garlic rice, salads and calamansi (Filipino lime) iced tea. I couldn’t think of a better way to end the day.
If you missed the ihaw-ihaw this year, make sure to check it out next summer!
More about Kanto by Tita Flips on my old blog and visit to TO Food Fest 2013.
Kanto by Tita Flips
707 Dundas Street West | Website
Three Hour Brunch Friend 