Welcome to Little Manila, Queens, one of New York City’s best-kept secrets and home to the city’s best Filipino food. In this video, we’ll take you on a culinary journey through this vibrant neighborhood, known for its authentic and delicious Filipino cuisine.
We start our food adventure at Renee’s Kitchenette & Grill, the OG spot in Little Manila. With traditional Filipino dishes that taste like Grandma’s cooking, this restaurant truly brings the taste of home to the local Filipino community. From the crispy and flavorful Lumpia to the savory Kare-Kare, every dish is a feast for the senses.
As we dig into dishes like Sisig and Sinigang, we discover the unique flavors and ingredients that make Filipino cuisine stand out. And of course, no Filipino meal is complete without a generous serving of rice and a side of garlic sauce.
Throughout our meal, we learn about the history of Filipino cuisine in New York City and how the community in Little Manila is growing and gaining recognition. With more and more non-Filipinos discovering and appreciating the flavors of Filipino food, Little Manila is becoming a must-visit destination for food lovers in the city.
So join us as we explore the hidden gem of Little Manila and sample some of the best Filipino dishes in New York City. Follow along as we eat our way through this vibrant neighborhood and discover why Filipino food is a culinary treasure worth exploring.
Watch the video by Here Be Barr
Video Transcript
Today we’re eating our way through New York’s Filipino neighborhood little Manila to show you why this is one of the city’s best-kept food Secrets we’re on Roosevelt avenue in Woodside Queens we’ve got Johnny who’s from the Philippines fellow New York City content creator why are we starting at Rene’s
Rene’s is the OG spot here in little Manila you can really taste the traditional type of food here it’s kind of like Grandma’s or mom’s cooking so this is the best place to go to I feel like I’m uh right at home if you go to any Filipino household usually there’s
Like spoons or Forks on the wall I’m not really sure why that thing but in my household in the philes they were like this long we’ve been here for like 31 years the job that I used to work to close the company and so with my
Husband so we decided to cook like the empad and the shopo we started that product and sell it to Filipino store became famous so I asked my husband to let’s try and open a little restaurant and the second one second restaurant here you’re the oldest running restaurant right now right now yet what
Do you think a restaurant like this means to the local Filipino Community well it makes them feel like home you know it gives them like a reminder of like how the Philippines is just like being around family before we were just to Philippine restaurant now probably 10
Of restaurant what are your best sellers K and the barbecues this is too much food this is a feast we’ve got here basically just opened Grandma’s Kitchen to us I think and brought every possible signature Filipino dish more or less pretty much I’m really excited first observation about eating at a Filipino
Restaurant there is no knife on the table we don’t believe in knives actually it’s really funny when I met my wife she saw me cutting with a spoon she was like do you need a knife I was like for what let’s start with alumia a deep
Fried pork egg roast this is one of the few things on this table I have had let’s rock get that in one bite that was impressive that’s how you know I’m excited and the food’s good and we dip it in like a sweet and sour sauce type
Of thing the last time I had this was Thanksgiving 2 years ago and Ben the longtime cameraman and one of the co-host in the channel who passed away this summer of lymphoma he brought this to Thanksgiving and he bringing back memories and we filmed with him a couple
Years ago in little manilo so I’m definitely dedicating this video to his memory cuz I know he’d be having a ball with us right now trust me all right so let’s go on to the SE this is one of those dishes that you kind of just
Invite a few friends and you have a couple beers and you you eat it you’re drink I have had seing before my last trip to little Manilla yes yeah pork belly ear the snout all the good stuff right and then they Grill it put it on here and
Just chop it all up nice egg on top a lot of people order the egg in the middle that it’s not standard but it’s very popular here proper way to do this is you have to mix everything right so the egg mixes with all the all the good
Parts of so and then you finish it off with a little bit more lemon a little bit of the seig and you need to have some rice in there too one M so moist juicy so much flavor who needs a knife you don’t even need this
It makes it easier to push all the rice and the and the meat onto the spoon this is the main the main tool right here two different Rices I did garlic you did without the garlic you said that garlic is a huge deal in Filipino food right yeah almost almost everything has garlic
This is going to be tough to top for my favorite I’m telling you por SE do you think Filipino food in general gets on up love in New York I think it’s a bit of after California it’s a huge community over there it’s nice to see
That we have a little Manila here but I think there’s so much room to to showcase the culture the food and just overall the whole experience yeah there’s so much to experience it’s also unfair in a way because there’s three huge chinatowns in New York and little
Manila we’ve got one main block here and a few other places scattered but it is growing it’s expanding and there’s a lot more opportunities for non- philippinos like myself to come here explore this and try it out have you noticed more non-filipinos coming in here yeah I
Would like social media is now and it’s helping the business out gets worried out on like about Filipino food I feel like right now it’s not too known but some people are catching up on it and you know trying it out did a k Kut my my
Personal favorite I grew up on this like my mom used to make this all the time peanut based super Savory and today we have oxtail and tri last time I had oxtail was in Queens of D’s Del but that’s more like guyane Caribbean style never had Filipino style oxtail that’s
Super different to a sandwich and it take a look at that add some rice cuz some rice as you said rice with everything yeah and then you have to add a little bit of this on top very salty not too much just like a little dab it’s
A fermented shrimp paste um we call it bong that’s how you say it uhhuh let’s see just disappeared remember what I said about the SE I don’t know Ki car is moving up my list right now I don’t know I think it’s cuz of the peanut sauce
Personally you’re a big peanut guy yes I am oh dude peanut butter okay pad tie c c now don’t tell her but I think this rival is my mom for like what I said earlier outside it’s like you come here for the traditional dishes and it really
Tastes like you’re eating it from home Johnny’s mom we’re sorry we know you’re watching this but oh she’s probably going to she wants to come here now to find out but yours is still the best by buy a buy a hair so like I mentioned earli beef cang is a Tamarind soup very
Sour everybody loves in the Philippines super popular feels like you’re at home so the way I eat this I put it on top take some your meat it feels like Filipino food is either your Filipino or you have a good friend who’s Filipino or your Filipino family but I don’t think
Enough people are going to explore it other than that I don’t think you would get that intro unless you actually know something no exactly I’m just thinking like you’re showing me all these intricacies here so bring a Filipino friend or watch this video or ask them
How to eat it just right hit me up I got you it’s fun yeah I put the fish sauce like a little bit super salty like something like that on top of the of the beef we’re putting the rice on top of the beef let’s do
It I’m feeling the sourness for sure M I’ve never had beef quite like this before I have to say at a restaurant in New York with so much competition for food if You’ have been around for 32 years probably doing something right and even looking around us as we’ve been
Eating here it’s been almost entirely a Filipino or Filipino Americans eating here so that’s another stamp of improvement I have to say the neighborhood backs you you’re doing something right obviously good food but you’re bringing in Nostalgia also what’s your favorite thing about having this restaurant eting people presenting the
Food that they enjoy like a home family lot of our customers been coming here for like years they know me since I was like a little kid know some customers that were young at the time grw up have kids get married Grand Finale is Dinan this guy right here or what we call
Chocolate meat chocolate meat best name ever for a dish by the way plat is not sweet at all acquired taste well we’ll just stick to that I’ll try I’m going to try it for the record I had belut before okay and that was by far the most
Disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten in my entire life so I think this is going to be better Al it’s controversial very Infamous but the country actually does love this it’s kind like a split pork you get JW you get heart belly ears and they they simmer the blood for a long
Time and that’s how it gets that color you can try pork blood in Queens you’re adventurous which I’m trying to be today going to go on some rice first time I was waiting for a reason not to like it but I like it like if you told
Me that this was just some regular pork dish I probably wouldn’t think twice what would you say is a flavor profile very strong on vinegar you don’t taste that chocolate no you know what I mean nothing sweet about this we we use vinegar in almost everything again and
Garlic I think the rice is what’s holding this all together it’s balancing out the vinegar flavor a little bit the broth itself is super rich not my favorite thing of everything we had but I could certainly eat it I’ve actually never tried balloon as an adult they
They force me I feel like it’s religion in the Philippines like you have to eat it it’s like the bar Minster for Jews actually a b lady right outside Rene’s at 400 p.m. she’s she’s out there until like 11:00 which one is your top favorite is it still seig seig by a
Whisker I also I like egg and I like grilled stuff like like barbecue just it checks all the boxes for Mee if you go to the Philippines and like the first thing you say is like you ask for beer and seas s you’re accepted instantly be
Like oh he knows red horse I’m down there you go bro you’re more Filipino than I am I think all right Johnny we’ve got a long walk next door to the next stop cabayan and this this place looks cool this is it cabayan this is what you would call a
Turo turo basically it’s like a Filipino Bodega you can get any types of food that they have available while also getting some groceries and I want to bring you here cuz I want to show you some of my favorite street food snacks all right I mean where to begin now I
Have to have to the filam Mart before so a little familiar with some of these things but I’ve never been to the Philippines so not really this is like one of our go-to um P I forgot how to pronounce it I haven’t had this in years but cheese flavored snack like chips
Pure Nostalgia here she come to Little Manila just for the snacks what about the sweet bread pandesal a very go-to for breakfast heat it up in microwave 10 seconds some butter on there people put spam or like corn beef make it like a little sandwich out of it this is like
One of my go-to desserts looks like apricots shaped like muffins coconut shavings on top and you take a bite of it centa centa it’s always more fun in the Philippines what I love is you know from the outside you just see what looks like a little market
But we’ got the food here lot of food so we’ll get h two pork barbecues oh two kot cues please thank you so much you know I have to say what a job we have it’s pouring rain and we are standing under an awning next to the
Subway tracks and and little Manila life is good and anything on a stick always tastes better have you had this before never had the Filipino version of this two ingredients I think makes it unique to the Philippines One 7 Up or Sprite in a marinade if you don’t have like a
Lemon or camon juice Sprite 7 Up is very acceptable and the other thing is uh banana ketchup that banana ketchup really puts us out there cheers this tastes a lot better than I expected I’m telling you anytime I have a birthday party or like any type of events like graduations other than the
Lumia I I go for this right away if you’re too late the aunties the uncles your own parents they’ll take it from you so you’re saying that like street food like this is such an ingrain part of Filipino culture yeah I would say so I’ve had pork on a stick I’ve had beef
On a stick I’ve never had sweet potato on a stick and this is an idea that I really think I can get behind uh we call it camote yeah camote Q as in barbecue caramelized with brown sugar sweet potato let’s try this here go I’m just totally imagining a barbecue in
The Philippines right now and I’m just like eating all this if you’re a vegetarian go for this you have options just let you know I think I like the sweet potato as much as I like the pork is that crazy cuz this reminds me of candied yams really does that’s the
Perfect example for that we we annihilated the sweet potato on a stick something important to point out to the viewers is that little Manila is considered a micro neighbor neighborhood which means not every restaurant in this three or four block radius is Filipino here you have a Filipino restaurant and
Then next door you have Ecuadorian and that’s just the Melting Pot of New York there’s very few neighborhoods left that are purely one ethnic group there’s a mural over here and there’s a word in Tagalog and it says mauhi that basically means it’s it’s a greeting you say John
Mauhi and it’s just like good wishes the good wishes and welcome to little Manila if you see that when you come through 69th and Roosevelt yes right next to Max which I’ve eaten at in Jersey City and that’s a huge chain in the Philippines right it is it’s a huge chain it’s like
It’s right up there with jolly V Too all right Johnny we have shown the old school of the Philippines in New York and now a little New School fusion for dessert so we’re here at purple dough and you’ll find traditional desserts like leaan or Ube but they have a Twist to it kind of like the canoli
Where they’ll fill up the canoli Shell with u and I’ve never had that so I’m super excited to try it actually I’m excited for this spot too we got to check this out smells amazing in here so good I used to work carpet in the city
It’s want a time off for myself so I thought I’m going to open a business I wanted a restaurant actually to begin with but I realized the restaurant business is a little more tough I don’t have to bake in general actually to be honest with you and from that point on I
Kind of like learned how to bake here and when we came out with a name it just like you know I just want something like a Filipino meeting or an English word in it starting with I remember with vanilla and chocolate cupcakes people start saying how come you don’t have U since
You’re purple though so this is our signature item the UB lean you know my sisters and my mom kind of like give me ideas how to what to add in the item and this first item also we can it’s a lechon but how do we make it unique how
Do we make it more pal for everybody so what we did like we cooked a lechon and we actually added the cake on top when we bake it we bake it like a fla first then we add the cake halfway to the baking then eventually you know when we
Had the othero items the Ubie became kind of like the central point we have to add it on different mediums like you know from the crinkle cookie obviously this uh little bakery shop in Forest Sals called Silk cakes it’s a Korean run Bakery and I used to visit her and she
Had this like different flavors you know from cherro Bloss into TIY at one point she had Ube so I I seen this idea before but obviously you know like I wasn’t coping at the time because I have no aspiration took like how they approach things explain to us the canoli here cuz
That’s like so New York I took different inspiration obviously I didn’t do the canoli shells I want to make sure it’s done the Italian way you know yma which is a custard cream we put in the mango and Tai te did our own version our own
Play on that you know New York is the world’s biggest Melting Pot and I love seeing combinations of things like this especially the canoli Mark was describing to us I love canoli grew up in North Jersey super Italian part of the state and canoli with Ube mango and
Coconut coconut Fang yeah it’s it’s the perfect Fusion right it is it is I love it these three flavors are perfectly described and showcase the f I tell everybody you got to have at least one canoli but if you come to Little Manila You’ got to have an Ube
Canoli you you’ve never tried a canoli like this cuz I definitely have not no I’ve never heard of Italian Filipino canoli so this is the first I’m super excited let Rock right mm no Uber hit me right away I mean I never I never would have thought
To do this I love the crunch inial bite Crunch and then all the flavor just smacks you gr worth a trip to Woodside alone for this I’ve never seen anything like this it’s a Filipino FL uhhuh on top of an Ube cake it’s a buttercream icing it’s a Swiss Italian really less
Sweet then we put obviously the uby in it one customer told me it’s like a chocolate potato that’s one of the I think you know I mean most of the time we say it tastes like Taro let’s try this do it wow the U flavor is a little difficult to
Describe but sweet kind of nutty but with all the ways that he dressed this up this is really good different textures here you fluffy oh it’s thick you’re right thick C on the bottom strong the way flavors the U and the FL balance each other out pretty well I have to say I
Have not lived in New York since the ’90s but since I have been coming to little Manila for about 8 years it changes every time I come even walking on this block here away from Roosevelt I counted like three or four different Filipino eies so a little Manila slowly
But surely is picking up and I have to say I think it’s a real sleeper in New York yeah Filipinos we need we need to expand a lot more in y c I think that we have a lot to offer with with food the culture it’s so vibrant just so many
Things that we can offer to if you enjoyed little Manila another really delicious neighborhood to eat your way through is Harlem in this video we explore with a local guide watch us next
Video “Inside Little Manila – New York’s BEST Kept Secret!” was uploaded on 03/08/2024. Watch all the latest Videos by Here Be Barr on Gretopia