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Enjoyed this kamayan feast with family for valentines dinner. There was a lot of food for sure but everything was so delicious! It was a bit busy since it was valentines but the service was still good. The floor upstairs had a big window that overlooks the street in front. Highly recommended to anyone who has or hasn't tried a filipino kamayan meal!!
This restaurant has dine in and take-out options. There's a hot table to choose fresh offerings made in the morning. They have a bbq station outside where they are making pork bbq sticks, lechon manok (roasted chicken). We order 4 pork bbq sticks $3 / stick. The bbq has a nice char exterior, and meat is juicy and tender. I did find several pieces of pure fat. I would appreciate it if the restaurant would not use the fat pieces on the bbq sticks. Service was friendly but we did have to wait about 20-25 minutes for our bbq. I'm ok as your order is cooked fresh. We also ordered one pork sisig with garlic rice. The sisig did not have the crunchy pork skin but mainly meaty pieces. Taste was on point nice citrus and savoury seasoning. I like this dish if it was served on a sizzling plate with egg on top. Overall, I would come back as the bbq sticks were definitely good value. Compared to neighboring restaurants they have the cheapest bbq sticks! They also offer party trays if you're looking to cater your party or event.
First time trying the Kamayan Feast! The colors are eye-catching and it's a grilled heaven. They serve fish, shrimps, squid, and mussels. They also have BBQ skewers and different kinds of vegetables. Everything tastes so delicious and is grilled perfectly. Nothing is overcooked, except the fish, which is a bit too salty for us. But they serve a generous amount of rice and when you eat it with rice, it's fine. Moreover, when mixed with the shrimp paste, I couldn't stop myself from eating a lot of rice. It's indeed perfect for a party or a family meal.
If you're looking for big value when it comes to food, or cheap & economical meals with large volume of food (that's also tasty and high quality), Kabalen is the place to be. It serves authentic homestyle-cooked Filipino dishes - everything from grilled fish and seafood, to rice and vegetable dishes. One of their signature offerings is the kamayan / boodle fight. ** PARKING ** The restaurant is located in a small plaza. There is free parking for customers in front of the restaurant, but parking spots fill up quickly (especially on weekends and around peak meal times), and the area is quite small, so parking space can be quite tight. There are other outdoor parking lots and street parking nearby, if the plaza parking lot happens to be full. ** RESTAURANT LAYOUT & HOW IT WORKS ** Just like a lot of other Filipino restaurants in the neighbourhood, they do the grilling / most of the cooking in front of the restaurant (so you can smell the delicious food being cooked before you even step inside!). The first floor is the area where they serve hot food ready to go. There is quite a large selection of dishes, as well as some traditional Filipino snacks and desserts. Snacks / desserts selection includes puto, sapin sapin, kutsinta, biko (various steamed rice / tapioca cakes in different flavours and varieties), as well as 'cold' desserts such as the coconut shreds with fruits & jellies in refreshing coconut milk. The first floor is also where you can pick up your catering or take-out orders. If you order directly from the hot food bar downstairs, you can take the food to eat upstairs or get them in containers for to go. There are washrooms on both the 1st and 2nd floors. The washroom on the second floor only has 1 stall, but it's quite spacious and clean. **SERVICE & AMBIENCE ** The second floor is the dining area. Service is almost non-existent as it operates more like a self-serve cafeteria (i.e. you seat yourself, bring your own tray of food upstairs, get napkins yourself from downstairs, pour yourself water from the water station). Sometimes there is staff to help bring your tray of food upstairs, but you just have to do most things yourself. So don't come expecting a typical dine-in service where the waiter / waitress will take your order and get you things. The ambience in the dining room upstairs is very casual and laid-back. There are TV screens around the room, with music playing (with a bit of the Filipino-style karaoke vibe). ** THE FOOD ** Lots of people seem to come for take-out / pick-up / catering orders. Most of the other patrons in the dining room order food from downstairs and bring it upstairs to eat. We came for the kamayan feast (boodle fight) for 4 people. (Note: You need to pre-order and pre-pay ahead of time.) It came in a large box, and was served on banana leaves. Portion size was huge (as expected). They gave so much rice, it probably could've fed 8 people. There was a large amount of fish and seafood on top of the rice (including 1 grilled tilapia, 1 fried bangus / milkfish, 1 whole grilled squid, large shrimps, and mussels). I really liked the vegetables, fruits, and salads that came with the kamayan: grilled okra, eggplant slices, atsara (pickled green papaya & onion slaw), cherry tomatoes, diced mango, and grilled pineapple. It was a very satisfying and excellent value meal. The best part of kamayan feast is eating with your hands from a common big spread of food on the banana leaves. (Kamayan is a Filipino word that means "eating with hands"). It gives a communal feeling. They provide plastic gloves, styrofoam plates, and plastic utensils if you need them (optional), but it's a lot more fun eating with the hands!
We're from SoCal and our turo-turo places can't compare. Service, ambiance, and food was amazing. Only complaint is that their pork adobo and vinegar dipping sauce is a little too sweet, but that's subjective!
Since the beginning of the pandemic, it was quite some time I enjoyed a Boodle Fight / Kamayan Feast with my friends and family. Nothing will beat the camaraderie of eating with our sanitized hands while enjoying laughs and great conversations. At Kabalen , you can enjoy a traditional Boodle Fight from the comfort of your own home with their Super Kamayan Feast! On a bed of steamed Jasmine Rice, it's a dream surf and turf combo in however you enjoy a boodle fight. There's Lechon Kawali (Pork Belly or Siu Yuk for my Cantonese friends), grilled squid , shrimp, mussels, chicken skewers , mussels. For the vegans and vegetarians, there's perfectly grilled eggplant, okra, pineapple, and atsara (pickled green papaya). For the head to feet connoisseurs, you definitely need to try their Sisig. My friend @iam_rainyrain was not kidding, this simple but classic dish made from pig heads and minced pork is best enjoyed with a bite of rice! I wouldn't mind just getting an order of sisig straight up! As we get through these times, if you're looking for a feast to lift up your spirits, be sure to visit Kabalen for home-cooked meals at reasonable prices. You'll definitely would want to go back for more.
OVERALL: Overall cool Filipino spot, a great Kamayan dinner VENUE: The restaurant looks like a takeout joint downstairs but has a great seating area upstairs for a sit in dinner. FOOD: We had 6 people and ordered the Kamayan style dinner. The amount of food was insane! Generous amounts of seafood (fish, calamari), meats (beef, pork, chicken), veggies and rice. Overall the food was tasty. The dinner was also served with soup which was very refreshing (tasted like pho soup, so probably a beef soup). SERVICE: Good service. The set up the food infront of you which is a cool experience.
I was truly DISAPPOINTED by the food we ordered. The daing na bangus looked nothing like the picture on the site, with just two tiny pieces and none of the mango-onion salsa promised. The fish tasted rotten, as if it had been marinated for weeks. Even the bilo-bilo had undercooked taro and sweet potatoes. The vegetable spring rolls seemed like cheap frozen ones from a grocery store. Despite claims of deliciousness, Kabalen's food was far from it. The biggest letdown was the fish, as I had been craving daing na bangus, only to be served something unrecognizable. It felt like being fooled and scammed, nowhere near the advertised picture. I suspect they use frozen marinated fish from grocery stores, but even those taste better than what Kabalen served.
I've ordered from here several times now and each time has been a great experience! The pork bbq skewers reminds me of the ones I grew up with at weekend family get togethers! Their kamayan is visually gorgeous, and tastes very good too. The lechon is OK, but some parts were over cooked and very hard to chew while others were overly greasy. My family loves their pancit bihon/canton mix and their palabok it also tasty. The lumpia shanghai is really tasty too, but pretty comparable to other ones you can get. My best suggestion is to try and order stuff that gets made-to-order in the kitchen rather than things that are made and put at their hot bar
Came here during the Taste of Manila festival. I ordered pork sisig which is a Kapampangan dish (a place part of Philippines) which is made from parts of pork head, chicken liver usually seasoned with Calamansi , onions and chilli pepper.
Called in the morning to place an order for the Super Kamayan Feast. Portion is super generous as my family of 6 had difficulty finishing it. Probably could use a bit of reheating by the time we got home, but other than that, no complaints. Would definitely order from here again for a special occasion!
What is good: Their kare-kare, Adobo pork knuckles, Fried tilapia when less than an hour old! Kaldereta Chicken inasal Pancit mixed Pancit palabok Bad: Pork siopao Lechon kawali -not crispy at all and hard Giniling Dinuguan with offals Kakanins Ginataang Bilo-bilo. Binagoongan na baboy - Pork meat was of low quality; not worth the $4.99, small, price tag. This is supposed to be binagoongan na baboy! It did NOT taste like it at all. No coconut milk nor shrimp paste in it.
This place was super busy when I went but I really appreciate the effort they put in to get my order to me as quick as possible. The super kamayan feast I had was amazing. Such a great assortment of food, definitely would recommend!
3 months ago
4 months ago
Went here after lunch next door (kapampangan?) for our take out food pilgrimage. My own take of filipino diners and take outs is that nobody really edge out over the others on taste and service. Everybody wins. Therefore, lets cut to the chase. Its about portions and prices. But because one has to do with the other and cannot be taken in isolation, you can wrap them under the fairness factor. Based on peer and prevailing prices in the GTA for similar fare, the justification for their way over the top prices is lacking, hence unfair. A basic example is their simpke pansit bihon. The portion hardly fits for a regular male snack let alone lunch or dinner and is priced at $15. A box of this pancit which is about 3 to 4 times the size cost around $10. Kabalen's kutsinta works out at $1.50 a piece. I could go on and on and the conclusion is the same. read more
We went here for our team's Christmas party and had a blast. From the presentation of the food to the ambience, we loved the time here. We were a large group so we called a week ahead. For the price being only $28/adult, it was a lot lot lot of food. Children 12 and under are 50% off and babies are free! The kamayan feast comes with fruits, pork belly, pork bbq stick (i opted for chicken as I don't eat pork), shrimp, bangus fish, tilapia fish, mussels, squid, okra, eggplant, atsara, shrimp crackers, turon, and UNLIMITED garlic fried rice. There were also garnishes and sauces given to each person. Most specially considering we were a big group, we truly appreciated their patience with us. The service was very hospitable. Excited to come back! read more
2 years ago
Enjoyed this kamayan feast with family for valentines dinner. There was a lot of food for sure but everything was so delicious! It was a bit busy since it was valentines but the service was still good. The floor upstairs had a big window that overlooks the street in front. Highly recommended to anyone who has or hasn't tried a filipino kamayan meal!! read more
This restaurant has dine in and take-out options. There's a hot table to choose fresh offerings made in the morning. They have a bbq station outside where they are making pork bbq sticks, lechon manok (roasted chicken). We order 4 pork bbq sticks $3 / stick. The bbq has a nice char exterior, and meat is juicy and tender. I did find several pieces of pure fat. I would appreciate it if the restaurant would not use the fat pieces on the bbq sticks. Service was friendly but we did have to wait about 20-25 minutes for our bbq. I'm ok as your order is cooked fresh. We also ordered one pork sisig with garlic rice. The sisig did not have the crunchy pork skin but mainly meaty pieces. Taste was on point nice citrus and savoury seasoning. I like this dish if it was served on a sizzling plate with egg on top. Overall, I would come back as the bbq sticks were definitely good value. Compared to neighboring restaurants they have the cheapest bbq sticks! They also offer party trays if you're looking to cater your party or event. read more
First time trying the Kamayan Feast! The colors are eye-catching and it's a grilled heaven. They serve fish, shrimps, squid, and mussels. They also have BBQ skewers and different kinds of vegetables. Everything tastes so delicious and is grilled perfectly. Nothing is overcooked, except the fish, which is a bit too salty for us. But they serve a generous amount of rice and when you eat it with rice, it's fine. Moreover, when mixed with the shrimp paste, I couldn't stop myself from eating a lot of rice. It's indeed perfect for a party or a family meal. read more
If you're looking for big value when it comes to food, or cheap & economical meals with large volume of food (that's also tasty and high quality), Kabalen is the place to be. It serves authentic homestyle-cooked Filipino dishes - everything from grilled fish and seafood, to rice and vegetable dishes. One of their signature offerings is the kamayan / boodle fight. ** PARKING ** The restaurant is located in a small plaza. There is free parking for customers in front of the restaurant, but parking spots fill up quickly (especially on weekends and around peak meal times), and the area is quite small, so parking space can be quite tight. There are other outdoor parking lots and street parking nearby, if the plaza parking lot happens to be full. ** RESTAURANT LAYOUT & HOW IT WORKS ** Just like a lot of other Filipino restaurants in the neighbourhood, they do the grilling / most of the cooking in front of the restaurant (so you can smell the delicious food being cooked before you even step inside!). The first floor is the area where they serve hot food ready to go. There is quite a large selection of dishes, as well as some traditional Filipino snacks and desserts. Snacks / desserts selection includes puto, sapin sapin, kutsinta, biko (various steamed rice / tapioca cakes in different flavours and varieties), as well as 'cold' desserts such as the coconut shreds with fruits & jellies in refreshing coconut milk. The first floor is also where you can pick up your catering or take-out orders. If you order directly from the hot food bar downstairs, you can take the food to eat upstairs or get them in containers for to go. There are washrooms on both the 1st and 2nd floors. The washroom on the second floor only has 1 stall, but it's quite spacious and clean. **SERVICE & AMBIENCE ** The second floor is the dining area. Service is almost non-existent as it operates more like a self-serve cafeteria (i.e. you seat yourself, bring your own tray of food upstairs, get napkins yourself from downstairs, pour yourself water from the water station). Sometimes there is staff to help bring your tray of food upstairs, but you just have to do most things yourself. So don't come expecting a typical dine-in service where the waiter / waitress will take your order and get you things. The ambience in the dining room upstairs is very casual and laid-back. There are TV screens around the room, with music playing (with a bit of the Filipino-style karaoke vibe). ** THE FOOD ** Lots of people seem to come for take-out / pick-up / catering orders. Most of the other patrons in the dining room order food from downstairs and bring it upstairs to eat. We came for the kamayan feast (boodle fight) for 4 people. (Note: You need to pre-order and pre-pay ahead of time.) It came in a large box, and was served on banana leaves. Portion size was huge (as expected). They gave so much rice, it probably could've fed 8 people. There was a large amount of fish and seafood on top of the rice (including 1 grilled tilapia, 1 fried bangus / milkfish, 1 whole grilled squid, large shrimps, and mussels). I really liked the vegetables, fruits, and salads that came with the kamayan: grilled okra, eggplant slices, atsara (pickled green papaya & onion slaw), cherry tomatoes, diced mango, and grilled pineapple. It was a very satisfying and excellent value meal. The best part of kamayan feast is eating with your hands from a common big spread of food on the banana leaves. (Kamayan is a Filipino word that means "eating with hands"). It gives a communal feeling. They provide plastic gloves, styrofoam plates, and plastic utensils if you need them (optional), but it's a lot more fun eating with the hands! read more
3 years ago
We're from SoCal and our turo-turo places can't compare. Service, ambiance, and food was amazing. Only complaint is that their pork adobo and vinegar dipping sauce is a little too sweet, but that's subjective! read more
Since the beginning of the pandemic, it was quite some time I enjoyed a Boodle Fight / Kamayan Feast with my friends and family. Nothing will beat the camaraderie of eating with our sanitized hands while enjoying laughs and great conversations. At Kabalen , you can enjoy a traditional Boodle Fight from the comfort of your own home with their Super Kamayan Feast! On a bed of steamed Jasmine Rice, it's a dream surf and turf combo in however you enjoy a boodle fight. There's Lechon Kawali (Pork Belly or Siu Yuk for my Cantonese friends), grilled squid , shrimp, mussels, chicken skewers , mussels. For the vegans and vegetarians, there's perfectly grilled eggplant, okra, pineapple, and atsara (pickled green papaya). For the head to feet connoisseurs, you definitely need to try their Sisig. My friend @iam_rainyrain was not kidding, this simple but classic dish made from pig heads and minced pork is best enjoyed with a bite of rice! I wouldn't mind just getting an order of sisig straight up! As we get through these times, if you're looking for a feast to lift up your spirits, be sure to visit Kabalen for home-cooked meals at reasonable prices. You'll definitely would want to go back for more. read more
OVERALL: Overall cool Filipino spot, a great Kamayan dinner VENUE: The restaurant looks like a takeout joint downstairs but has a great seating area upstairs for a sit in dinner. FOOD: We had 6 people and ordered the Kamayan style dinner. The amount of food was insane! Generous amounts of seafood (fish, calamari), meats (beef, pork, chicken), veggies and rice. Overall the food was tasty. The dinner was also served with soup which was very refreshing (tasted like pho soup, so probably a beef soup). SERVICE: Good service. The set up the food infront of you which is a cool experience. read more
2 years ago
I was truly DISAPPOINTED by the food we ordered. The daing na bangus looked nothing like the picture on the site, with just two tiny pieces and none of the mango-onion salsa promised. The fish tasted rotten, as if it had been marinated for weeks. Even the bilo-bilo had undercooked taro and sweet potatoes. The vegetable spring rolls seemed like cheap frozen ones from a grocery store. Despite claims of deliciousness, Kabalen's food was far from it. The biggest letdown was the fish, as I had been craving daing na bangus, only to be served something unrecognizable. It felt like being fooled and scammed, nowhere near the advertised picture. I suspect they use frozen marinated fish from grocery stores, but even those taste better than what Kabalen served. read more
I've ordered from here several times now and each time has been a great experience! The pork bbq skewers reminds me of the ones I grew up with at weekend family get togethers! Their kamayan is visually gorgeous, and tastes very good too. The lechon is OK, but some parts were over cooked and very hard to chew while others were overly greasy. My family loves their pancit bihon/canton mix and their palabok it also tasty. The lumpia shanghai is really tasty too, but pretty comparable to other ones you can get. My best suggestion is to try and order stuff that gets made-to-order in the kitchen rather than things that are made and put at their hot bar read more
3 years ago
7 years ago
Came here during the Taste of Manila festival. I ordered pork sisig which is a Kapampangan dish (a place part of Philippines) which is made from parts of pork head, chicken liver usually seasoned with Calamansi , onions and chilli pepper. read more
Called in the morning to place an order for the Super Kamayan Feast. Portion is super generous as my family of 6 had difficulty finishing it. Probably could use a bit of reheating by the time we got home, but other than that, no complaints. Would definitely order from here again for a special occasion! read more
7 years ago
What is good: Their kare-kare, Adobo pork knuckles, Fried tilapia when less than an hour old! Kaldereta Chicken inasal Pancit mixed Pancit palabok Bad: Pork siopao Lechon kawali -not crispy at all and hard Giniling Dinuguan with offals Kakanins Ginataang Bilo-bilo. Binagoongan na baboy - Pork meat was of low quality; not worth the $4.99, small, price tag. This is supposed to be binagoongan na baboy! It did NOT taste like it at all. No coconut milk nor shrimp paste in it. read more
5 years ago
This place was super busy when I went but I really appreciate the effort they put in to get my order to me as quick as possible. The super kamayan feast I had was amazing. Such a great assortment of food, definitely would recommend! read more
4 years ago
9 years ago
This place is a typical cantina style Filipino restaurant which serves dishes cafeteria style. You would just come in, point to what you like, they'll gladly scoop it up and pack/prep it for you on a plate. My boyfriend and I were trying to find a place to order party trays for Christmas and decided to do some testing first and ate there first before making a decision. We ordered crispy pata and adobo and yes we were convinced it was good enough. For our Christmas family party. we ordered chop suey (veggies w/ quail egg), lumpia, lechon kawali, pork skewers, and pancit bihon canton. All were super delicious, greasy, but delicious goodness. The pork skewers were nice and sweet and savory because of the banana ketchup, the lechon was crispy to the taste and everything else was decent. These were all fairly safe choices of dishes to order and it all came up to around 2 something bills. Just to let you guys know, they do fiesta ham here as well but we only knew that once we had got there to pick up our order. On the second floor they had Red Ribbon products, dessert items like buko pandan, ube etc all ready to buy with cash only. It was a first come first serve kind of basis for those items. Honestly, I really like this place more than Sampuguita Village, despite some recommendations there. I just find the food more flavorful here and not only that, they had expanded their location to a pastry shop on the other side of the street. Must be a sign they are doing well! Anyways, really recommend ordering here for party trays or just to visit and have easy, casual Filipino lunch. read more
8 years ago
Came for kamayan with a family of 21. They were very accommodating. Food was great and portions were large! The price per head was also very reasonable. I've been to other places for kamayan and many felt quite expensive for what they offered. Special thanks to Victor & Chris for being top notch with their service! read more
7 years ago
3 years ago
7 years ago
The Puto/Kutsinta wasn't taste good. The taste is awful. When you look at the puto and kutsinta it seems so yummy but when you tried to eat it. Omg, it's awful. I paid $6 for the puto and $6 for kutsinta. The kutsinta is hard. The side is soft but the middle part is hard. The puto when you eat it specially the purple colour, leaves a rough taste in your mouth. This is the first time i came there and I wouldn't recommend or buy anything specially their dessert. I wouldn't recommend you buy this and waste your money. The owner should try this dessert before they sell it. read more
8 years ago
10 years ago
One of the best "turo turo" filipino restaurants we've been to, if not THE BEST!! Kapangpangan know how to do it right!! They have combo deals, pick 1 dish with rice and a drink for $7.99 or pick 2 dish with rice and a drink for $9.99. We originally ordered 2 combo #2's but after trying our meal, we got 2 more combos, palabok and torons TO GO! You have to try their Kare Kare, Lechong Sisig, and Beef Kalderata! Its A MUST! They also have hella good torons for dessert. They have an awesome set up, an upstairs eating lounge with SPACE. If youve been to other filipino restaurants in the city, you know how tight the spaces can get. Great for a party lounge! Will definitely be back to try more of their menu! read more
8 years ago
Typical turo turo restaurant. You point at what you want,careful though you might get carried away . I like the Kamayan option. Just hope there's more meat coz with the price, I know another place that can get you better. Overall, it's okay. read more
8 years ago
Been buying food here due to food is very delicious, Im giving 2star because I found hair on my bbq ,pls pls advice your staffs to wear hair net,this is very important, sanitation is very important. Definitely not my hair,I have long thin hair. read more
5 years ago
7 years ago
Came for my friend's birthday for the kamayan group dinner. I've had it before at tinuno and loved it so I was expecting a similar experience. And it simply exceeded my expectations! The concept is family style dinner with items laid on top of a bed of rice on a banana leaf. Food items include bbq skewers, grilled chicken, seafood (crab, squid, shrimp, mussels), pancit, lechon, mango salad. That's a lot of food!! There was also unlimited iced tea or ginger ale. The food was amazing, we were all so stuffed we couldn't finish it all and ended taking the rest home. For dessert, I don't know who ordered it but they brought out a halo halo birthday cake and it looked and tasted delicious. Definitely got the seal of approval from my filipino friends too. The staff there are just so friendly and attentive, it was such a great experience. Standouts for the food included the skewers, the pancit, and the lechon! Drooling just thinking about it again! read more
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