Filipino in Calgary T&T mall

[alau2]

We made a quick visit to the T&T mall in the NE this weekend (the one next to the Cdn Tire) and I saw two stands in the food court I never noticed before. One was the donair place, and the other was a coffee place. Both are now serving Filipino dishes from steam tables (I couldn't tell if they were ALSO still selling donairs and coffee).

Anyway, I don't know much about Filipino food so the names of the dishes on the bristol board signs didn't help me, and when I tried to ask, one of the lady's English was quite limited to "pork" and "vegetable."

So my questions are:
1) Has anyone tried food from these places?
2) What are good Filipino dishes to try?

Thanks!!

[John Manzo]

Do you mean Pacific Place Mall or whatever that power centre is called where the new T&T is?

[alau2]

Hey John,
The mall I'm talking about is Pacific Place - 999 36th St. N.E. where the first T&T is. I'm guessing the neighbourhood is Marlborough-ish?

The newer T&T is further north in Harvest Hills.

Sorry for any confusion!

[John Manzo]

Jeez it's been so long since I've been to that mall that I forgot it even had a food court!

[howlin]

has anybody been to the new t and t?how does it compare with pacific place?

[John Manzo]

MUCH bigger.

[fmed]

I hope you don't mind a Vancouver interloper in a Calgary thread:

>> 2) What are good Filipino dishes to try?

"Introductory" dishes include:
Adobo (Probably the Filipino "National" dish - Chicken and/or Pork in a Vinegar/Black Pepper/Bay Leaf Sauce)
Pork BBQ skewers
Sinigang (A fish or meat soup that uses tamarind as a souring agent)
Lumpia (Fried or Fresh egg rolls)

More "challenging" dishes
Kare Kare (Oxtail and Tripe in a peanut stew)
Pinakbet (Veggies - usually including bitter melon - in a fermented shrimp braise)
Kaldereta (Beef in a Liver sauce)

Get plenty of rice with anything you order. Note that these "turo-turo" ("point - point" or cafeteria style) places often have "on rice" specials - you may want to try that first.

[alau2]

Cool! Thanks fmed.
One more question, I've always wanted to try balut... but would it be risky to do it in one of these mall stands? Does it matter?
Tx!

[fmed]

Can't be sure unless you know the source....but I personally would risk it...though I'm the type of guy who eats sketchy streetfood while traveling in Asia.

[fmed]

BTW - a tip about eating balut - there are three sections - the "yolk" (or what used to be the yolk), the "white" and the bird. The yolk is quite good - the flavour is much stronger, the white becomes chewy but still quite edible...and the bird is...crunchy and feathery ;-)...salt heavily!

[raidar]

I've always wanted to try balut, and never knew much about the "three" sections. As always fmed, your full of helpful knowledge..now if only I could convince one of my friends to try it with me!

[crigg]

The filipino one one the corner(with hotdogs) sells divine stewed meats... Ive had most stuff there except the blood dish... My favs there are the Pork Afritada, Menudo(mm) and the Kare Kare... Damn I just had this this morning and now im craving again. Two items on rice is 6.50-- and worth it!

Oh yeah and to throw in a few good words for the newly rennovated area... the BBQ pork steam bun is delicious! Hahah some guy came in and ordered 20(he was filipino)