Pinoy food has been slow to catch on in Singapore. You’d find it only in one or two select restaurants, or at places where Filipina maids congregate, such as Lucky Plaza. But you know when a foreign cuisine has reached a certain mainstream status – when you find it in a coffeeshop.

An Indian lady who goes by the name Gowrie, and her son Michael set up the “Adobo!” stall in the Katong coffeeshop at the corner with Joo Chiat Road. It’s new, barely two months old as of early September 2011. The cook is her Filipino daughter-in-law Jhoana, and they believed so much in her cooking, they started the stall to capitalise on her talent.

While their original intent was to cater to the Filipinos working in the Joo Chiat district (there is a small section dubbed “Little Makati”), they found their food gaining popularity with the local Chinese.

So far they have about a dozen dishes, primarily featuring one-dish meals.

Obviously, we had to try their signature adobo. The chicken adobo (S$4.00) or stewed chicken came a little dry, but was flavourful. It’s like a more robust rendition of the Chinese soya sauce chicken. Adobo is the quintessential stew of the Philippines. Usually meat or seafood is marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, black pepper. It’s browned in oil and then simmered in the marinade. The vinegar helps the dish keep well without refridgeration, but this one was not too sourish.

The Tapsilog (S$4.50) or beef tapa comes with a fried egg. The Filipinos make tapa by curing meat with salt and spices, and then grill or fry it. It’s a common breakfast dish. Most times it comes with garlic-fried rice, but here it’s regular steamed white rice you get.

The Lechon Kawali (S$4.50) or crispy roasted pork served with a vinegary garlic sauce. Isn’t it wonderful that almost every culture has some version of crispy roast pork? Well, roasted pork is perhaps a misnomer here, because there’s no roasting involved. This pork belly has been twice cooked – first boiled and then deep-fried until golden brown. Not all the fat has been rendered, so the pork is full-on gamey and fatty. The crispy skin and meat bits are the best.

Adobo also has a few snacks like lumpia (fried spring rolls), chicharon (deep-fried pork rinds) and some desserts like biko (sticky rice cake) and leche flan (caramel custard).

Filipinos will think of home when they see Adobo’s skinless longsilog (Filipino sausages), tocilog (sweetened pork), bangus (milkfish) and maja blanca (coconut milk cake). But these dishes easily transcend cultures and appeal to locals as well. That’s the hallmark of comfort food.

With mains, snacks and dessert, Adobo!’s offering looks well-thought out. Perhaps a soup like sinigang would make things complete. The national soup of the Philippines will go down well with local tastebuds, given our penchant for similarly tangy broths like tom yum and kiam chye ark.

There is some attempt at plating and presentation, but the taste of the food does remind you that many of the dishes rose amidst poverty. Indeed, Jhoana herself came from a really poor region near Manila. But as Filipino food gains acceptance here, she just might find that her cooking skills can bring her places. Today a coffeeshop, tomorrow a restaurant perhaps? But we hope the coffee shop stall will stay, as there is nothing quite the casual ambiance of an old school shophouse ‘kopitiam’.

ADOBO!
125 East Coast Road
#01-01 Stall no.2
Ali Baba Eating House, Singapore
Opens daily 11.30am to 10.30pm except Tuesdays