Like with what I suspect to be a decent amount of people, this is my first Filipino food experience. I knew of one growing up near White Settlement, but I had never visited it. I never Googled what Filipino food was like and have no expectations on what to expect. I only came across it because it happened to open up in a shopping area that I frequent.
When you enter Alicia's Kitchen you are bombarded with photos of food both on the walls of the restaurant and in her menu. There are many items to choose from including, interestingly, burgers. I'm curious to know if burgers are a Filipino thing like how Hawaii has SPAM. The dish called lechon kawali seemed to look the most appetizing so I went ahead and ordered it. For $8.00 you get fried pork belly, a side of sauce, rice and a Filipino egg roll.
Being practically the only one in the food court, my lunch came fairly quickly with the sauce missing. To make up for this, an Asian condiment basket with fish sauce, soy sauce, and the like was temporally substituted defeating the purpose of trying out new food. Only after a decent amount of time did I get my whole order.
Let me reiterate again - my first time with Filipino food.
I'm unsure of how Filipino egg rolls are supposed to be like, so I can only describe it and make a judgement call based on my opinion which is to say that it was weird. The look of it was fine. It's a longer and skinnier egg roll than what I'm used to. What was strange was that the item itself was cold on the inside and warm on the outside. Towards the end of the eggroll where there was less meat to be fried, it was even warmer. In a situation with a Chinese or Vietnamese eggroll, I would say that the fryer who fried this messed up and had the oil at the incorrect temperature and/or put the egg rolls in for the incorrect amount of time. In this scenario my lack of knowledge can't make an informed call if that's true or not, but nonetheless I do not like the egg rolls.
The lechon kawali's fried pork belly was excellent though. It came on a sectioned styrofoam plate that you would get at the store. Your meat goes in one spot and your egg roll the other. The remaining area was filled with white rice. The fried pork was surprisingly soft when compared to chicharrón, a similar item found in Mexican establishments throughout the area. You get bite sized pieces perfect for dipping.
The sauce though wasn't outstanding. The contents and what it's suppose to taste like is a mystery to me, but wasn't exciting enough for to share to others as an awesome find. Just a matter of opinion and to each their own.
For something newly remodeled Ben Thanh Plaza is not the most ... updated, but that doesn't mean its eateries have to follow suit. A lack of atmosphere with the building can be overcome within. Exceptional service, food, and presentation makes up for a lot.
Ignoring logistics since restaurant owners sometimes feel entitled for a free pass because they "worked hard", Alicia's Kitchen is not a complete experience. The face of the restaurant was unable to explain to me their offerings and choose to point at pictures. With me as their only customer, the disconnect when the food came out alarms me. Already unsure on eating there, I became even more so. Seeing that some of the food was already pre-made in pans like the food at Panda Express pushed this feeling further, and emotions only became solidified when I found that the rice mountains over the meat. I made it a point to ask if my food was going to be cooked fresh and the response was "I cook for you". I just went with it and thanked my lucky stars that my plate wasn't plopped on school cafeteria style.
Overall though, I'm willing to give this place another shot once it becomes more mature. I'm not willing to spend more resources to experiment until other people have worked out Alicia's kinks or at the very least until there's more data on what to expect since what I got was not a pleasant surprise. There's promise. They're smart enough to accept credit/debit cards. The fried pork although small in quantity was great. And there's a charm to getting your food on a paper plate. read more
