Pork ‘adobo’ and ‘tortang talong’: Enjoy classic Filipino dishes at De Manila Café in Taman Desa

KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 — The tender cubes of braised pork belly taste savoury, slightly sweet and surprisingly tangy. The seductive dark sauce looks caramelised but looks can be deceiving: there is a sharpness from vinegar.

This is a Filipino classic: pork adobo. The version we are enjoying is a home style one served at De Manila Café, a Filipino-run restaurant hidden on the first floor of Faber Tower in Taman Desa.

Their pork adobo is slowly cooked in vinegar and soy sauce. Garlic and onions are added to the mix, as are some spices (black peppercorns, certainly, and I detect a bay leaf or two too).

It’s delicious and comforting, two words we hear batted around often these days, but perhaps the rainy season has us seeking exactly such flavours. A warm hug for our jaded taste buds.

Certainly the motif of our current wet weather continues when one visits De Manila Café. Don’t misunderstand; the shop is perfectly dry. Rather, their playful choice of décor — green, plastic vegetation is well and flourishing — creates a verdant rainforest ambience.

The verdant rainforest ambience of De Manila Café in Taman Desa.

(This sort of mirrors the profusion of mature trees and shady canopy that Taman Desa is known for, so maybe the restaurant is on to a thing here.)

A lot of Filipino cuisine is influenced by Spanish colonisation of the Philippines in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, of course.

Yet adobo — derived from the Spanish word adobar, meaning "marinade” or "seasoning” — as a cooking process that involves marinating meat or vegetables before simmering it has long existed before the Spanish arrival in 1521.

So while the name comes courtesy of the Spaniards, the cooking method itself was already being employed by the indigenous population prior to colonisation. Which makes it a must-order at De Manila Café or indeed at any Filipino restaurant.

But adobo alone does not a meal make.

Also known as eggplant omelette, 'tortang talong' is a quintessentially Filipino dish.

'Nilagang baka' (left) and 'ampalaya guisado' (right).

We have our work cut out for us though, as De Manila Café has an extensive menu with helpful descriptions in English of the dishes, which retain their names in Tagalog. How’s that for authenticity and accessibility in one helpful package?

Another popular choice is their tortang talong. Also known as eggplant omelette, this quintessentially Filipino dish involves grilling a whole eggplant, charring the skin and cooking the flesh through.

Next, the charred skin is peeled off, retaining the stem, before mashing the now soft flesh. Dipped into a seasoned egg mixture, the entire eggplant is pan-fried till a golden brown crust is formed on the outside.

What you get is a fantastic contrast of textures: crispy on the outside, creamy inside. It’s like no omelette we have ever tasted, almost a meal in itself. (A reminder that torta might mean omelette in Spanish, but also a cake or flatbread.)

No Asian dining experience is complete without soup. Nilagang baka, a simple boiled soup with fork-tender beef shanks, tendons and vegetables, hits the spot.

Originating from the Spanish 'longaniza', the Filipino 'longganisa' is a sausage made from ground pork, pork fat, sugar and spices.

For those who are more adventurous, the friendly Filipino owner recommends papaitan. Considered a delicacy in the northern part of the Philippines, this soup is mostly composed of cow innards, with beef bile added for a characteristic bitter flavour.

To go with the soup, we had bowls of steamed white rice and a plate of ampalaya guisado, a stir fry of bitter gourd, eggs, tomatoes, garlic and onions.

Sometimes you are ravenous and crave nothing but meat and more meat. For those with more carnivorous appetites, De Manila Café has you covered with longganisa and inihaw na liempo.

The former is a sausage made from ground pork, pork fat, sugar and spices (the Filipino name longganisa originates from the Spanish longaniza, which is a close cousin to a chorizo). The latter is grilled pork belly that uses calamansi juice for tangy citrusy flavour.

There are more Filipino favourites, from sinigang na bagus (milkfish boiled in a sourish broth) to lechón belly (pork belly roasted over a bed of hot charcoal, which requires pre-ordering). More to try during the next visit, for sure!

'Inihaw na liempo' is grilled pork belly that uses calamansi juice for tangy citrusy flavour.

De Manila Café

Lot 113, Faber Tower 1, Jalan Desa Bahagia, Taman Desa, KL

Open daily 10am-10pm

Phone: 016-352 8488

FB: facebook.com/demanilacafe/

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