Trending: Filipino Cuisine

I like Filipino food, but it’s not one of my favorite foods. However, I have seen several Filipino restaurants pop up in the East Bay in the past year. I pass Kainbigan whenever I take 14th Avenue to get home. Speaking of pop up, Kainbigan started out as a weekly pop up before it moved to its current location in East Oakland. Last week I picked up some food from Kainbigan for dinner for myself.

I recently had bistek fried rice for the first time and liked it. It was on Kainbigan’s menu so I ordered it. It is essentially a fried rice with beef sirloin and onions flavored with soy and lemon. The dish was very flavorful, but a little bit on the greasy side.

I also wanted to try something different so ordered the garlic noodles topped with crispy adobo. Another very flavorful dish. The noodles and the pork together had a nice mix of textures. The portions of the fried rice and the noodles were very generous. I barely made a dent in either of them.

When I checked in at Kainbigan on the yelp app on my phone, I was able to redeem an offer for three free Shanghai lumpia. I easily polished these off dipping them in a Thai chili sauce.

My friend who also lives in the neighborhood happened to text me while I was waiting for my food. She is Filipino, a vegetarian, and a big fan of Kainbigan. She asked me to order her usual which is the fried chicken-less nuggets (made with soy) with rice and two fried eggs. It comes with a garlic sauce. The reason she likes Kainbigan is that this Filipino restaurant offers a couple of vegetarian options that other Filipino restaurants don’t.

I enjoy a balanced diet and realized that my dinner had no vegetables. I ended up having to make myself a side salad. It would be nice to see more vegetable options in Filipino cuisine.