This semester, I started my internship located in Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown. Twice a week, I head into HiFi, spend the day there, and leave with no Filipino food ever gracing my mouth. Last weekend, I decided I had enough of this teasing and headed over to Manila Inasal. 

Manila Inasal, while not in HiFi itself, is a Filipino restaurant in Silverlake, a few blocks away. Two friends and I entered the restaurant and found a chic, modern interior; we were devastated to hear the restaurant’s closest opening for us was in over an hour. Despite this setback, we were able to order takeout. Within 30 minutes we were heading back home, feast in hand.

The first thing I tried was my drink, the calamansi juice. Calamansi is a small citrus commonly grown in the Philippines and is used in a variety of dishes. The calamansi juice was sweet, tart and refreshing. It had a flavor that reminded me of the tangerine Outshine popsicles, my favorite type. 

As our appetizer, we ordered the Lumpiang Shanghai, or lumpia, fried pork spring rolls. The spring rolls themselves were delicious, with a pork interior that tasted like grilled sausage alongside a fried, savory dough. Four sauces came with our meal, and I dipped my Lumpiang Shanghai into all of them. 

The sour cream was a nice and neutral addition, the sweet chili sauce reminded me of sweet-and-sour sauce, the green chili sauce was spicy and fresh, and the spicy inasal sauce gave the perfect amount of heat.

Inasal, meaning “skewered” or “grilled” in one of the Philippine’s many languages, is a popular grilled chicken street food in the Philippines. Being included in the name of the restaurant, I knew I had to try it. I ordered the spicy version of the boneless grilled chicken inasal.

The grilled chicken was soft and had a nice smoky flavor. Bacon was wrapped around a few sections, adding a savory undertone to those bites. Strangely enough, in a dish where chicken is the main star, the salad stole the spotlight. Mostly cucumber with a bit of tomatoes and red onion, when soaked in the chicken sauces, it created a beautiful, fresh and savory experience. 

While eating the inasal, I was surprised it wasn’t spicy. It wasn’t until later I realized I had made a crucial mistake; the green chili sauce and spicy inasal sauces from the Lumpiang Shanghai were actually supposed to be used on the chicken inasal. I can only imagine how good the dish would’ve tasted with these sauces. 

After the inasal I tried the chicken arroz caldo. The soup was made with chicken, rice, egg and a few more toppings. The soup had a porridge-like texture and tasted like standard ramen. With much better options to eat from, the caldo was quickly forgotten. 

The pork tocino rice bowl came with a variety of elements. The pork was mouthwatering and had a sweet-and-savory teriyaki-like sauce covering it. The garlic rice was delicious, with a subtle flavor enhanced by the pork sauce. The poached egg added a wonderful creamy texture to the entire bowl.

Despite these delicious elements, the bowl had some ingredients I wasn’t as ecstatic about. The fried enoki mushrooms were good, but I wasn’t quite convinced their overly fried flavor belonged with the rest of the dish. The atchara, consisting of pickled papaya and other vegetables, also wasn’t my favorite. Its flavor wasn’t fully fresh nor strongly pickled, bringing a confused flavor to the bowl party. Despite this, the bowl was a favorite among my friends and me. 

After finishing our delicious main courses, we moved on to dessert. The mango guava granita consisted of soft and sweet guava shaved iced complimented by mango slices and coconut cream. The mangos had a canned mango sweetness to them, which really worked with the dish, while the coconut cream served as a great binding agent for the entire plate.

The ube mochi brownies were a nice surprise. The texture was immaculate, having a nice chew while still being soft. The ube added a fruity, earthy flavor, and the chocolate flavor was subtle, playing the role of a backstage manager rather than being the Broadway star. The overall flavor was reminiscent of yellow cake. Soft, chewy, flavorful and unique, this dessert quickly became a favorite of Daily Trojan Chief Copy Editor and dear friend, Anna Jordan.

My favorite of the desserts by far was the pistachio sans rival. While sporting the appearance of a simple pistachio cake, the dessert is actually three layers of cashew meringue and buttercream with bits of pistachio sprinkled on top of the buttercream layers. Cashew pieces also adorn the outside. 

The texture of the dessert was immaculate. The buttercream was smooth and rich, perfectly complemented by the chewy yet crunchy meringue. The subtle flavors from the meringue, cashews, pistachios and buttercream all worked together to build a beautiful castle of flavor. While the pistachio flavor took the lead, it kindly let the others sing with it in this beautiful symphony. 

It was truly a shame that we weren’t able to get the full dine-in experience, but Manila Inasal proved its worth. Every dish, even my least favorite, the chicken arroz caldo, was enjoyable. With high lows and even higher highs, when this restaurant makes a great dish, it’ll blow you to the moon.

Pablo Rodriguez is a junior writing about international cuisine in Los Angeles in his column, “Global Gastronomy,” which runs every other Wednesday.