UPDATE: Payag Restaurant is officially closed.
My husband and I usually head to Queens when we’re in the mood to try new food or discover new restaurants. Queens is an immigrant enclave, so finding good and reasonably-priced international food is an easy feat. Sure, Manhattan has a sizable immigrant population with diverse culinary options, but Queens has the added value of being budget-friendly.
Today’s discovery is food close to my heart, Filipino food courtesy of SizzleMe Steakhouse/Filipino Kitchen in Woodside, NY. Yes, there are plenty of Filipino eateries and restaurants in Queens, but SizzleMe Steakhouse/Filipino Kitchen looked different from the outside.
Which, of course, drew us in.
You can find their story on the cover of their menu.
They had a weekend buffet with beef mechado, beef steak, pork afritada, paksiw na pata, cod fish fillet, nilagang baka, crispy pata, chopsuey and kare-kare, among others.
Hubby and I ended up ordering a la carte.
We ordered lomi, which was “noodles with fish balls and seafood” according to the menu. For $10, the serving was big enough for the two of us to share. I expected seafood lomi based on the menu, but there was meat in it (Chinese sausage?). It wasn’t really a deal-breaker…we’re meat eaters too, but the menu should indicate that. What if a non-meat-eater ordered it and found meat? Oh no!
We also ordered lechon kawali (crispy pork belly).
Now what can I say about SizzleMe’s lechon kawali?
Lechon kawali‘s skin typically has blisters, but this one didn’t even look crackly. The pork skin had no blisters. Imagine my surprise when the skin was crunchy, crispy and all things you’d want from lechon kawali. The inside was so tender; you don’t even need a knife to cut it. Six pieces of succulent fatty lechon kawali was such an indulgence.
For dipping, they served us Mang Tomas Lechon Sauce, which is Filipino pork liver sauce. My husband recognized it immediately after tasting it. It would’ve been nice to have a side of vinegar with garlic and salt as an alternative dipping sauce. Just to give us dipping options, really.
The side salad was a nice touch with such rich slices of pork. At least there was a little effort to give us vegetables. How about adding some sliced tomatoes too?
Mark, our very helpful server, suggested we try the SizzleMe Halo-Halo that had “jackfruit, red beans, purple yam, sweet yam, palm fruit, plantain, leche flan and ice cream”. Once again, it was big enough to be shared by two. This had so many toppings and ingredients!
Of course, you can never have too many pictures of halo-halo, so here are my halo-halo pictures.
They knew we were going to share the halo-halo, so they gave us a bowl to pour the halo-halo in.
Once we were done eating, here’s what we ended up paying.
Not bad.
After our excellent experience with their lechon kawali, we’re already planning to try their Kawali Sandwich described as “deep fried braised pork belly, sauce and fries” the next time we’re in the area.
Address:
69-16 Roosevelt Avenue Woodside, New York 11377
Facebook: SizzleMe Steakhouse/Filipino Kitchen
