Philippines – Michael Eats

Tasty Filipino Food at Bella’s Inasal

Published on December 26, 2025December 26, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 848 Burnhamthorpe Road West, Mississauga
Website: https://www.bellaslechon.ca/

I don’t go to Filipino restaurants all that often, but whenever I do, I’m like, why is this not a regular thing in my life? Bella’s Inasal definitely gave me those thoughts.

They have a pretty huge menu, but considering they serve a dish called “chicken inasal,” I figured that was probably the thing to order.

The first thing that comes is a small bowl of a garlicky shrimp soup, and wow this was good — it’s got a really great shrimpy flavour, and the toasted garlic complements it perfectly.

As for the chicken inasal, it consists of a perfectly grilled piece of chicken, a generous amount of garlic rice, and a small dish of a zippy papaya slaw called atsara. It’s very, very good; the chicken is super flavourful and perfectly cooked, with a good amount of char from the grill. The rice is nice and garlicky, and the atsara helps cut through the richness. It’s a great dish.

I also tried the pork sisig (“Crispy Pork with Onion, Chili and Calamansi”), which I think I might have liked even better than the chicken? It comes on a sizzling hot plate, and it is absolutely crammed with porky flavour and crispy bits from the hot plate. It’s enormously satisfying.

Filipino Desserts at Purple Oven Cakes & Pastries

Published on July 24, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 780 Burnhamthorpe Road West, Mississauga
Website: https://www.purpleoven.ca/

Purple Oven is a great little Filipino bakery in Mississagua. It’s one of those hidden gems that you’d absolutely, positively never find unless you’re specifically looking for it — it’s hidden around the corner in a plaza on Burnhamthorpe (I’ve actually been to this plaza a few times, and I didn’t even realize that this part of it existed).

I hope they’re still managing to do okay, because I tried a few pastries and they were all quite tasty.

The most interesting of the three was the cheesy ensaymada, which is essentially a brioche bun topped with buttercream icing and shredded cheese. Salty cheese on dessert is a bit of an odd combo, but it’s got that sweet/salty thing going on and is actually surprisingly delicious.

The ube cheesecake bar was basically like a chewy brownie, but with ube instead of chocolate. It also has a mildly funky flavour (like a stinky cheese?) that was odd, but not unappealing.

The last thing I tried was an ube cupcake, which was similar to the cheesecake bar, but without the funkiness. This was also quite tasty, though the dense cookie on top made it basically impossible to eat without squashing the frosting all over the place.

Delicious Filipino Food at Kusina

Published on May 13, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3024 Hurontario Street, Mississauga
Website: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558706068051&mibextid=LQQJ4d

Kusina is a delightful Filipino take-out joint with various meaty and seafoody dishes on offer. I’m not incredibly familiar with Filipino cuisine, but the guy in front of me said that the pork hocks are the thing to order, so that’s what I did.

There weren’t any labels on of the items on offer, but based on a quick google search I believe that this is a dish called paksiw na pata, which features slow-cooked pork hocks and banana flowers (which are the blossoms of a banana tree). It comes with a healthy portion of white rice and costs nine bucks, so it’s a great deal.

It’s exceptionally delicious. Pork hocks can be a bit gummy if they’re not cooked well, but these were absolutely perfect, and were abundantly tender. And the flavour was pretty amazing — sweet, savoury, and a little bit tangy. I can’t quite put my finger on what’s giving it that tanginess (the banana flowers, maybe?), but it gave this dish a really unique personality and was extremely tasty.

Great Filipino Brunch at BB’s

Published on October 26, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5 Brock Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/bbs.bbs.bbs.bbs.bbs/

BB’s is a delightful Filipino joint that’s mostly known for their brunch, though they are open in the evenings on the weekend, serving… not brunch? I don’t know, they don’t have a website. Maybe it’s all day brunch? Who knows; go and find out!

What a useful blog post this is. Not a waste of your time at all.

What I can say with some level of certainty is that if you show up between 11:00am and 4:00pm between Friday and Sunday, you can brunch it up. Even more of a certainty: the food is delicious.

I ordered the BB’s Silog, which the menu describes as “breakfast plate w/ garlic rice, two fried eggs, atsara, & your choice of house made longanisa, corned beef hash, fried milkfish.”

It’s a seriously, seriously tasty breakfast. I went with the corned beef hash, which is exactly what you want it to be: it’s super tender, the flavour is great, and it’s got a bunch of delightfully crispy bits from the griddle. It also has a perfect ratio of perfectly-cooked potato cubes to meat, which is to say that it’s mostly meat, with a few little potatoes interspersed throughout.

I also tried the longanisa, which is basically a Filipino take on chorizo. This was great, with an interesting sweetness and a great meaty texture. I’m a big fan of sausages with a more rustic grind, and that was definitely the case here.

As for everything else on the plate, the garlic rice was, as advertised, extremely garlicky, with an intense browned-garlic flavour and an interesting texture (it’s reminiscent of Vietnamese broken rice). The eggs were perfectly cooked, and the atsara (pickled papaya) was a perfect zingy counterpoint to everything else on the plate.

The only odd note was the big dollop of ketchup, which could not have been more unnecessary or unwelcome here. I tried a bit on its own, and as far as I could tell it was just plain old Heinz. I’m not a ketchup hater, but there was absolutely nothing on this delicious plate that even remotely needed it.

Amazing Roast Pork at B’s Sizzling Kitchen

Published on January 22, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 430 Horner Avenue, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.bsizzlingkitchen.com/

B’s Sizzling Kitchen is one of those places that you’d probably never discover if you hadn’t heard about it from a friend or read about it online, since it’s kinda hidden away in a very nondescript industrial/residential area of Etobicoke. But it’s absolutely worth coming out of your way for.

It’s a Filipino restaurant that specializes in Cebu lechon — ultra-tender roast pork with delightfully crispy skin — and man, it’s good.

I started with the lechon sisig fries, which features a heaping portion of tasty pork on top of crispy, crinkle-cut fries. This was everything you want it to be. It’s porky, crispy, sweet, and addictive. It’s profoundly delicious.

But of course, the Cebu lechon is what you’re here for, and it’s just the absolute best. They make it with pork belly, and… I mean, just look at it.

Look at it.

The meat is melt-in-your-mouth tender, it’s perfectly seasoned and intensely flavourful, and the crispy skin is the stuff dreams are made of. Just give me a big bag of that skin and let me eat it like potato chips.

I’m going to like pretty much any well-prepared fatty pork dish by default, but this one is something special.

As I was leaving, there was a whole suckling pig sitting on a table waiting to be picked up, and I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything so badly in my entire life.