R & B Filipino Cuisine

I'm constantly amazed at the amount of recommendations I've received from FOYs(Friends of Yoso) since I've started blogging. Restaurants in locations that had never even entered my mind. A good example is R & B Filipino Cuisine in Mira Mesa. R & B is located on Camino Ruiz, North of Mira Mesa Boulevard, an area that I hadn't ever visited. But thanks to FOY JanFrederick, who mentioned R & B in several comments, I made an effort to check them out.

R & B is a little Mom and Pop "turo-turo" joint, that offers about 20 or so different steam table options daily. The Lady who works the counter is very nice, always smiling, and chatting in her relatively high pitched voice, the Gentleman who works the front is on the quiet side, but still very nice.

The prices are reasonable, $3.99 for 1 item and a starch, $5.79 for 2 items and a starch. On this day, I decided on the (what else) Lechon Kawali and Beef Mechado(Beef Stew), which at first I thought was Kaldereta.

The Beef Mechado was good, though it did not have as much gravy as I would have liked(probably why I thought it was Kaldereta). Nice tomato tartness, the beef was fairly tender, with a touch of black pepper flavor.

We had times our visit pretty well, the lechon kawali was moist, and not too waxy, nor greasy. The skin was crisp, not hard, making this a pretty good version of lechon:

What I didn't care was the lechon sauce, the liver based dipping sauce. It was too bitter for my tastes. Still this was a pretty good meal......

Which led to another visit, where I again got the 2 item combination:

This time with Pancit Bihon....which wasn't greasy, and had a decent flavor....but it was almost all noodles....in fact, other than 1-2 pieces of stray cabbage, and 1 small piece of chicken, this was all carbs.

Because of the hour (10am) not everything was available, so I got the lechon kawali again.

This time the lechon was on the dry side....

Now where's the "missing item" you ask? Here it is:

 

This was something I'd never had before, Kilawing (per the menu, I've also seen it spelled as Kilawin) Puso, banana blossom simmered in a vinegar based sauce. I could also identify a bit of pork, but not much else. The banana blossom had the texture close to that of artichoke. Overall, this was a very bracing dish. Per instructions, I ate the Kilawin with the pancit, a touch of Kilawin on top of a bite of pancit, the saltiness helped to cut the sour flavors.

Did I mention Filipino Breakast? On weekend mornings R & B offers Tapsilog, Tocilog, Dasilog (Bangsilog), and of course the classic Longsilog, all for $4.50. All the dishes come with 2 eggs(any style), and Garlic Fried Rice. I recently had the Tapsilog:

The Tapas wasn't bad, more tender than most versions, and decently flavored. The Garlic rice, didn't have enough garlic for my tastes(but very few do), and the rice was hard and dry in sections. The easy over eggs were overcooked, the yolks hard. Still, not bad for $4.50......less than a bowl of Pho.

A friend's Husband who eats here once in a while told me the Pork Adobo is pretty good, JanFrederick enjoys the Sisig, and the Hamonado has also been recommended. Unfortunately, I haven't run into any of them in my visits....always Chicken Adobo, never Pork! Hopefully, I'll be more lucky in the future.

R & B Filipino Cuisine
11257 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126

Mon-Fri 930am-730pm
Sat 8am - 7pm
Sun 8am - 6pm

Thanks again for the recommendation Jan!

Comments

[janfrederick]

Hey! You made it! I totally agree with you about the pancit. Don't get me wrong, I like noodles. But the pint I bought the first time I went had only a couple small bits of pork and veggies and not much else.

When I stayed home with my sick son recently, we went to R&B and enjoyed the chicken afritada which was good, but a little bit on the bone splintery side of things. My son really liked the lumpia dipping sauce which, to my chagrin, he ate with a spoon.

Yah, I think you have to get lucky for the sisig. Lucky me though, my neighbor invited me to his son's baptism bash this Saturday. I found out about this place through him because he had his last party catered by them. I'm getting heavy just thinking about it.

Anyhoo, don't forget about the lengua next door. I didn't care for it during my first visit. But I thought the last four tries were great. Again, I had the burrito instead of the tacos. So I couldn't tell you about the all important corn tortilla quality. But the tounge was nice and beefy.

[the office goat]

Interesting. My wife and I ate at (or very near to) that location about 5 years ago. We went at an odd time of day and the food had been sitting in the chafing dishes far too long, so our experience was less that glowing. This review was encouraging -- maybe we'll be back after all -- although my weakness is for point-point places serving BBQ and I don't think they do.

[janfrederick]

I think a lot of their business comes from catering. So don't go on Mondays. ;)

[howie]

I almost forgot about this place. I went here a few times when I worked in SV. I'll have to stop by for for the lechon.

[Kirk]

Hi Jan - Thanks for all the recommendations....I'll check out that lengua soon! 2 of the visits were on weekend mornings, so they were still trying to get breakfast done...the time I had the tapsilog, they didn't have anything out.

Hi ToG - Were they under the same Ownership then? Someone mentioned that this place was named something else before.....

Hi Howie - For that lechon, timing is everything.

[the office goat]

Pretty sure it was a different name back then. I think you're right and that it was a different restaurant in the same location. Like I said, it was around 5 years ago and I remember less of those details than how we both felt for the following day or two. :-/

[Kirk]

Hi ToG - Yuck, I think I know how you felt......that would be giving me flashbacks as well.

[Artie]

Hey Kirk,

R&B is what I consider *my* local Filipino joint, and I've been here countless times. The funniest thing about your post though is that while the Lady who works there is nice, the Gentleman is actually super talkative with me, recognizes me and when I went there a bit more frequently (once a week or more) even remembered my name for a while.

I haven't had a lot of Filipino food so maybe I'm not the best judge, but I think this place is usually pretty great (if a bit greasy, but I guess that's Flip food). The fish is $1 extra but WELL worth it (a whole fish!), so I always get it. Their sisig really is quite good though.

[Kirk]

Hi Artie - R & B is pretty good, I'd gladly eat there again......but it's not perfect, and not all the dishes are good.

[jammarlibre]

You guys do a wonderful job! Keep up the good work!!!k

[Kirk]

Hi jammarlibre - Thanks so much for the kind words....we'll try our best.

[sats]

Hi All,

Just saw this post and had to reply to . There was another restaurant in R&B's current location. It was called Manila Fast Food. That restaurant became more successful and moved to bigger digs. It's still in area, on Mira Mesa Blvd. just a few doors down from Rite Aid. Killer goat (lamb?) Kaldereta and chicken Chicharon (when available)- perfect with beer while watching the football game!!

[Kirk]

Hi Sats - I've been to Manila Fast Food and Desserts, but that was before the new owners took over:

http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2006/04/manila_fast_foo.html

I've heard mixed info regarding that place, but thanks for the rec....I'll try to check them out when I'm able.