The Filipino Dinner - Grill 21

My first time having Filipino food! It was at Uncle Pete's 2nd birthday party at GRILL 21 ! (part of his 3-day bash, of course). It's a little joint on the east side on 21st St between 1st and 2nd ave. It's small, our party literally took up the entire inside of the restaurant AND the outside. There's a lot of cute mural paintings all around the inner walls and there's a clean bathroom.



Thankfully it was a nice breezy night, and we were able to sit outside as well. The owners of the restaurant (a Caucasian man, in whom I suspect is married to the owner-ress, who looked Filipino) were really nice people. A little impatient I believe, but that's because we came in with such a large party and they weren't used to so many heads in one sitting. None the less, they were really friendly and recommended a lot of different things for us to try. We started off with some Filipino beer and spring rolls. The spring rolls were quite yummy, crispy yet still tasty. Nothing compared to Shelley Ting's Amazin' Springs, but they were decent. I have no idea what they had inside, I generally just tasted.. pepper. The beer was okay. As most of you know, again I am not a beer-connoisseur, but this 'Red Horse' Filipino Beer wasn't very memorable.



For my entre, I ordered the "Chicken Curry- chicken chunks cooked in coconut milk with potatoes, carrots & pepper". I know, I know, I'm not very adventurous when it comes to these things. But did you know that in Filipino cuisine, they really like fish? I DIDN'T KNOW THAT! I don't like fish though, so I settled with chicken. It was good though, the curry was really thick and flavorful. The portions here are enormous and probably not possible for you to finish- unless you're a REAL MAN. (Kidding). But they gave me about 5 large chunks of chicken leg and massive amounts of curry. (image to the left). A few of my friends ordered the "Sweet & Sour Tilapia whole fish" in which- they LITERALLY gave you the whole fish. I didn't taste the actual dish, but I heard of a few mixed reviews, going from "great!" to "horrible"- so this is something you will have to decide for yourself when you try it. Haha.



FINALLY- FOR THE BEST PART OF THE NIGHT! The YAM ICE CREAM. They call it the Halo-Halo (?). But its basically Yam Ice cream on top of shaved iced with condensed milk and red bean. A lot like Taiwanese Ice, but with the amazing Yam ice cream with rice krispies sprinkled lightly on top. Can I say YAM ICE CREAM again!? It was so delicious- I think everyone loved them some of this!

OVERALL: This restaurant was tasty, worth the buck for it's bang, or bang for it's buck- whatever that saying is. I personally wouldn't venture there for part 2- unless it's just for dessert! That's all!

Taste: 3/5
Atmosphere: 2.5/5
Cost: $25-30