F is for (a) Filipino (restaurant): Lutong Pinoy

It is shameful how long it has been since my last post.

What is also shameful is that a couple of weeks ago Pete and I went to eat Filipino food for F. I didn’t feel like this was cheating since I had previously categorized posts with the adjective forms of the countries (e.g., B is for Brazillian, D is for Danish, etc.), not their names, and the adjective for people from the Philippines is in fact Filipino. Also, French was way too predictable and I couldn’t find food from Fiji.

However, in double-checking that this was indeed true before for this post, I’ve come to discover that while Filipino culture, Filipino people, and Filipino language all use the F adjective form, the food is described as Philippine. If Wikipedia is correct. I don’t know what this means, but I’m still not excited about a French restaurant…(and the sign does say Filipino Restaurant.)

That being said, nothing really motivated this restaurant choice, and finding reviews for Filipino (or is it Philippine?) restaurants was surprisingly difficult. I spent more time than I’d like to admit browsing a Filipinos in the UK message board. Most of the posts were outdated though, so the restaurants had closed.

In the end, we went for the practically-named Lutong Pinoy, which I think means “Filipino Philippine cooking” in Tagalog. It was located just near Earls Court tube station where there’s an apparently large Filipino community.

The restaurant was very no-frills with a buffet option and a satellite TV playing Filipino soap operas. We ordered pork adobo, because I remembered a Filipino coworker in Shanghai saying that this is a typical dish and an eggplant omelette because it had been recommended on the message boards. Adobo is a method marinating meat in vinegar and garlic and is adapted from a similar Spanish style of cooking.

Both dishes were good, though I’m not sure I’m a massive Philippine food fan just yet. It probably would have helped to have some local recommendations or a larger sampling of the menu.

I’m not sure how I’ll solve this P/F mix up…but next up is G and we’re most likely visiting a Ghanaian restaurant (which doubles as a bagel shop in the morning) becasue the owner has been very friendly to me all year. And I’m positive both Ghana and Ghanaian start with ‘G.’

Details (regardless of letter category):

Lutong Pinoy / Filipino Restaurant

10 Kenway Road
London SW5 0RR

nearest tube: Earls Court
tel.: 020 7244 0007

meal for 2 with drinks: about £20.