Sizzling Fillo - Our Filipino Home Away From Home

If there is one thing I miss the most in the Philippines, apart from my family, of course, is food. Living overseas means having limited access to food you grew up eating - your Lola's sinigang, your mom's adobo, your aunt's special Filipino style spaghetti, among many others. Then there are your favorite local dishes - Crispy pata, Kare-Kare, Pancit, Leche Flan, Sisig and you have your favorite local restaurants where you woud always go to to have your "Filipino food fix."

Now that we are far away from home, I always try my best to recreate our favorite Filipino dish. Did you know that I did not know how to cook before we moved here to Sydney? I had ZERO knowledge in the kitchen but I miraculously learned here. I magically remembered all the things my grandma taught me when I was young. Akala ko hindi ako nakikinig noon pero tumatak pala yung mga turo nya sa tamang paghihiwa, pag prepare at paggisa. Anyways, no matter how much to I try to cook, I could not copy the taste I am looking for. Why? Because we lack the ingredients. The tomato sauce (which they call passata) is sour, he fish sauce taste different, the small ingredients like laurel are a little hard to find unless you go to a Filipino store or Asian Market.

Crispy Sisig and Crispy Pata (above) - that food you would definitely eat on a cheat day

With our craving for authentic Filipino food, Paolo and I searched for an authentic Filipino restaurant in Sydney. We came across Sizzling Filo - a Filipino restaurant located in Lidcombe, NSW. We saw their facebook and instagram account and immediately fell in love with the photo of Crispy Pata. Right then and there, we went to the restaurant and treated our bellies with all the Filipino dishes we missed,

Pancit, For Long Life

Food is also like a time machine - it can bring back a number of memories, and savoring it makes you linger on that memory even longer.

My favorite dish after Sinigang, Kare-Kare with Bagoong

Since, then, we have brought our Filipino friends over to Sizzling Filo. Not we only get to feast on a number of Filipino dishes, but we also found a place where we can be ourselves. Going inside the restaurant feels like you're entering a mini Philippines. OPM music plays in the background while Filipino servers go to you and speak Filipino with po and opo - something I rarely hear these days. Inside, you'd see a lot of Filipinos who are either celebrating an event or just having a good time. Lahat halos nagtatagalog, parang nasa Pilipinas lang,

Halo Halo!

As I've said, Sizzling Filo makes me feel like I'm just home. It allows me to enjoy my usual favorite Filipino dishes, which taste really authentic while having a moment inside a place that feels familiar in a foreign land.
Ube Panacotta - Its like ube and gelatin goodness.

Hope you liked my post. 

xx, The Mommy Roves