Food
CRAVING THE rich, vibrant flavors of Southeast Asia? You’re in luck! From reinventing familiar Filipino delicacies to putting different spins on Vietnamese meals, this year’s JSEC Challenge hosts a wide array of stalls offering tasty dishes from all over the region. Dive into these stalls’ unique menus with Vantage Magazine’s third installment of the JSEC Roundup.
Kaplah: Pad Kra Pao (Php 129)
Kaplah offers a variety of dishes that combine Indonesian and Thai cuisine. The Pad Kra Pao’s stir-fried ground pork is colored a rich brown from all of the flavorings, with basil speckled in between. Served with fluffy, yellow turmeric-infused rice, steamed egg, and string beans, each bite is hearty and well-balanced. The meal is herbaceous, sweet, and savory all in one. However, the string beans could have used more time as their raw, earthy taste takes away from an otherwise satisfying experience.
Nevertheless, for a Php 129 dish, the portions are extremely generous and worthwhile for the price. This is a great pick if you’re looking to venture into Thai cuisine and want a simple, straightforward introduction.
4/5 🍚🍚🍚🍚/🍚🍚🍚🍚🍚
Sedap: Haisilog (Php 130)
Promising a blend of Filipino-Singaporean dishes, Sedap offers a variety of silog meals. The Haisilog comes plated with soft, juicy Hainanese Chicken atop a mound of almost-sticky but tender rice. Slices of thin cucumber and grated ginger are offered on the side; however, the latter tends to completely overpower the otherwise mild sauce. Still, the zingy bite of the ginger and the refreshing cucumber build well on the light yet flavorful chicken.
Unfortunately, the dish lacks the silog aspect—the crispy garlic on the rice was not enough to make a difference, and a runny egg would have emulated traditional silog dishes more than what half of a boiled egg does. Since customers can pick between rice and pancit canton, perhaps opting for the noodles instead might bring out more Filipino flavors in the dish. Still, choosing rice makes Sedap’s Haisilog a filling option for Php 130.
3/5 🍗🍗🍗/🍗🍗🍗🍗🍗
Xanh Bánh Mi: Pork Bánh Mi (Php 150)
Foodies on a budget might be interested to know Xanh Bánh Mi is one of the most affordable entries in this year’s JSEC Challenge. However, at Php 150, their Pork Bánh Mi’s fillings are served in underwhelming portion sizes and with slightly overcooked meat. Its bread also lacks the baguette’s signature crispness, though this could be unique to a 1:30 PM order sitting for quite some time after the lunchtime rush.
Its vegetables are the highlight of each bite. Alongside boosting nutritional value, the cilantro and atchara deliver a much-needed punch of refreshing, herbal zest but do little to offset the dish’s overall dryness.
2/5 🥪🥪/🥪🥪🥪🥪🥪
The Big Bánh: Chicken Inasal Bánh Mi With Ube Bread (Php 150)
With The Big Bánh’s long lines and early sellouts, it’s hard to get your hands on one of their bánh mi—and for good reason. Their reimagining of Filipino flavors through a beloved Viet sandwich is unquestionably innovative but begs the question of whether they can do both cuisines justice.
Their Chicken Inasal Bánh Mi With Ube Bread declares the answer a resounding yes. Slices of radish, cucumber, carrots, and cilantro make for a vibrantly flavored, well-balanced meal that emphasizes the inasal’s tangy charm rather than overpowering it. Its bánh mi packs a promising crunch, though its ube twist adds more in terms of novelty than taste. If you’re not one for culinary gimmicks, you’d probably enjoy a plain bun just as much—if not even more than—its purple counterpart.
With a serving large enough to leave you full at Php 150 and a blend of flavors to keep you munching for the whole meal, this Filipinized bánh mi is a shining example of Southeast Asian cuisine done right.
4/5 🥪🥪🥪🥪/🥪🥪🥪🥪🥪
NAMIT: Chicken Inasal (Php 130)
Bringing a myriad of regional Filipino flavors into one menu, NAMIT aspires to deliver food that tastes like home on a plate. Their Chicken Inasal, a grilled boneless chicken thigh placed atop a bed of rice, captures the traditional flavor of the hearty meal. Unlike other grilled dishes, the choice of thigh meat allows for the moisture to remain despite being cooked in dry heat. Completing the dish’s overall flavor profile is a serving of sweet and crunchy atchara that makes for a refreshing addition to the smoky viand.
While it checks off all the boxes of what comes to mind when you say “Inasal,” there is not much more to expect apart from the typical savory experience. However, at a pocket-friendly price of Php 130, NAMIT offers a good way to satiate cravings for Filipino classics.
3/5 🍗🍗🍗 / 🍗🍗🍗🍗🍗
OOMPA LUMPIA: Birria-ng Prinito (Php 120)
What happens if we put a full meal in lumpia wrappers? OOMPA LUMPIA introduces a novel concept into the JSEC food scene with their deep-fried meal wraps that pay homage to the popular Filipino fiesta food. Served in a banana leaf to complete the Pinoy experience, the massive Birria-ng Prinito shows off a golden brown crust enveloping a mix of birria beef and rice.
Unfortunately, the promising concept falls short of delivering the ideal flavors and textures. While the signature lumpia crunch is present, the rice filling overpowers the rest of the dish, making the birria notes difficult to identify. On the upside, the serving size for this giant, carb-heavy lumpia is definitely more than what you would expect for Php 120.
2.5/5 🌯🌯 / 🌯🌯🌯🌯🌯
