Rating / 3 out of 5 stars

Gold Mills Filipino Cuisine sits in a tiny strip mall complex just off Kingsway and Fraser serving up home cooked meals in a mom and pop fashion. They keep good company with Les Faux Bourgeouis, just kitty corner across the street and share the same complex as Ba Le.

(Above: All day breakfast: Fried Fish, Garlic Rice and Fried Eggs — Breakfast of Champions)

Gold Mills is tucked away pretty good on the Fraser side of the complex, keeping it out of view from most people. Despite the golden awning emblazoned with the restaurant name, you’d be hard pressed to notice it was there at all. Inside, the modest-sized restaurant felt like someone’s home kitchen with boxes of random objects stacked about. A home-printed sign on the front counter declares the best deals for flights to the Phillippines, while another declares a special price on buffet style warming trays.

(Top to bottom: 1. Shanghai Lumpiang. 2. Take away Coffee.)

We were here for breakfast, but the restaurant had just opened when we arrived after noon. A Filipino variety show played in the background as would-be stars belted out renditions of Katie Perry songs. Gold Mills appears to be run by a couple. She — decked out in full cafeteria lady gear: hairnet and smock — informed us that not all the items on the menu were ready yet, as the kitchen had just been fired up.

The all day breakfast was calling us, but the usual selection of Filipino sausage and Tocino were not yet available. Instead, pan fried Bangus (milkfish) was the protein of choice to go with the combination of garlic rice and fried eggs. Sounded good to us. We ordered that and half a dozen Shanghai Lumpiang (spring rolls) before settling down at the bar with a front row view of the strip mall parking lot.

(Top to bottom: 1. Mango Ice Cream topping the Halo Halo. 2. Chunks of Taro and Corn in the Halo Halo.)

Our meal came with a coffee, which arrived first with a bowl of brown sugar and a thing of what appeared to be evaporated milk. Our breakfast arrived after a delayed intermission, fresh from the kitchen. The Bangus was tasty — a bit dry and bony — but the flavour paired perfectly with the wonderfully fragrant fried garlic rice. The fried eggs were dope: greasy and slightly runny, just the way we like it. The Shanghai Lumpiang, however, were slightly disappointing. Although the flavour was nice, the skin was too chewy for our liking.

Case also ordered the Halo Halo (Filipino version of iced dessert) after eyeing a home-printed sign advertising its availability was tacked to the front window. At $6 a pop, though — we were pretty disappointed. I suppose this version of Halo Halo is likely an acquired taste — something we haven’t yet acquired. The mango ice cream on top was nice enough — but we weren’t huge fans of the taro chunks and corn niblets combination.

Overall, our meal came to just over $21 including taxes and tips. It was a pretty hearty meal — minus the perfectly forgettable Halo Halo.

Perfect for: a hearty, post-hangover breakfast.

The Details

#5 – 701 Kingsway, Vancouver
604.677.4247

Rating / 4 out of 5 stars

Aling Mary’s Store is a little convenience shop on Main Street that sells a bit of everything, from Filipino video rentals, to groceries, to fast food. Most importantly, they carry the ever so popular Pan del sal (or salt bread).

Pan del sal are Filipino rolls that have been lightly dusted with bread crumbs and then baked. They are enjoyed dunked in tea or coffee and eaten in the morning for breakfast. Despite the name, the rolls are not so much salty as they are slightly sweet.

Our friends, Virg and Mike tipped us off to Aling’s, describing the hot rolls being served fresh out of the oven. Inside, Aling’s is tiny and crammed with groceries. A few tables are situated in the middle for people to eat. A line up has formed and I’m ready to battle for our buns. Forget courtesies, similar to Chinese bakeries or dim sum, you can’t be too polite and need to be a little aggressive to get what you want.

There’s an informal ordering system in place. You stand on one side and call out the rolls by the dozens and wait. People are calling out 2, 3 and 5 dozen at a time. The lady behind the counter then packs them in a paper bag held by a plastic bag. She then repeats the orders back before handing them to you. A kind lady lets me go ahead of her. She probably sensed we were new at this.

The Pan del sal was hot, fresh and perfectly golden. The light dusting of bread crumbs added a nice touch to the outer crust giving it a deliciously light, crumbly texture. Inside, the roll was soft and pillowy, slightly sweet with a melt in your mouth type texture.

A dozen rolls was only $3.50. Although a sign states by the dozen, we saw someone order half a dozen. The rolls taste best hot. If you haven’t eaten the entire dozen there, you can take them home and nuke them for 20 seconds or wrap them in tin foil and throw it in the oven at 350 degrees for 5 minutes.

Perfect for: tea, coffee, dinner, snack… whatever.

The Details

2656 Main Street, Vancouver
604.873.6005

Rating / 1 out of 5 stars

Goldilocks, the Filipino bakeshop chain that doubles as a cafeteria, expands their operation from West Broadway eastward to the Main Street area of Vancouver. This location focuses more on the core bakery side of the business, but we wanted to see if the food could still hold its own.

(Clockwise: 1. Shanghai Lumpia with plum sauce 2. Tocino: sweet, marinated barbeque pork. 3. Two scoops of rice.)

We ordered Tocino: a sweet, marinated cured pork; Shanghai lumpia; pork adobo; and two scoops of white rice. Unlike the West Broadway location, we couldn’t see a kitchen with actual cooks (bad sign), but the food was presented much more nicely.

The taste, though, fell flat on its face. Now, we know that most of their food is reheated in the microwave, but both the adobo and Tocino had an impossibly tough, leathery texture — as if they were actually cooked in the microwave. The Shanghai lumpia were pretty decent, but for $20, the food was only a notch up from frozen dinners. Not recommended.

Perfect for: Staying dry while waiting for the bus.

The Details

2833 Main Street, Vancouver
604.876.2464
goldilocks.ca

Rating / 4 out of 5 stars

New Town Bakery in Chinatown is a Chinese/Filipino bakery that also doubles as a restaurant. They’re well known for their steamed buns, especially the house special bola bola — a  Filipino version of a steamed pork bun (except with more meat, and egg too). But it wasn’t the buns we were seeking, we were here for their egg tarts and egg twists.

There are a few key components when looking for a good egg tart. One is the crust. And the other is the custard. The egg custard has to have the right sweetness and the right texture. The pastry shell should be light and flaky (that is, unless you prefer the non-flaky kind). We’ve had our share of egg tarts over the years, and New Town Bakery pretty much has this one in the bag, although St. Germaine’s Bakery is a close runner up. New Town Bakery’s egg tarts custard has a semi firm texture with a nice balance of sweetness. The crust is nice and flaky but is a touch on the firmer side.

(Left to Right: 1. House specialty steamed buns, in old-school over-sized bamboo steamers. 2. Coconut Rice Balls)

Tre likes the egg twists, a strange, twisted dough that is made up mostly from eggs, fried and then glazed with some sort of sticky substance — very likely corn syrup. It can be quite messy eating this and probably isn’t the healthiest choice on the menu. Regardless, New Town Bakery’s egg tarts and egg twists pretty much rock the house.

(Clockwise: 1. Egg Tarts. 2. Egg Twist & Coconut Bun. 2. New Town celebrates 30 years in the biz in 2010.)

At just under $1 a piece for each item, what could initially seem like a bargain can quickly add up if you start walking out with boxes of this stuff. If you don’t mange to get them straight out of the oven from New Town, try this at home: Put the egg tarts in the toaster oven at  35o degrees for 10-15 minutes and it’ll taste like you just bought them fresh straight from the bakery.

Perfect For: sweet eggy delight

158 East Pender Street, Vancouver
604.681.1828

Rating / 3 out of 5 stars

Pinpin on Fraser Street is a restaurant that features Filipino-Chinese cuisine. Their bright red awning stands out noticeably amongst the many other restaurants in the area.

Even though Tre and I arrived for an early dinner, Pinpin was full — but we managed to get a table anyway. The restaurant is relatively small. On one side is a bunch of tables placed side by side to be shared by patrons depending on party size. On the other side are individual tables. We were seated on the shared side which felt awkward, but lucky for us there was no one seated next to us during most of our meal.

Tre and I ordered their value meals. For an appetizer, we ordered Lumpia Shanghai — finger sized spring rolls. I ordered Tapsilog: Filipino style beef jerky with garlic rice and fried egg. Tre had Lechon Kawali on rice: Pork belly with vegetable in brown sauce over rice.

(Top to bottom: 1. Tapsilog, Filipino style beef jerky with garlic fried rice and a fried egg. 2. Soup of the day, minced pieces of pork in a light broth with egg swirls.)

Our meals arrived quickly. The Filipino style beef jerky was good. The jerky was equally balanced between the sweetness and saltiness, but was a tad dry. Tre found the pork belly good, but large cut chunks of vegetables made it feel more like a chop suey dish. The Lumpia Shanghai was only ok — we’ve had better. The filling in the spring rolls tasted like a regular Chinese spring roll but made smaller. Our combinations were also served with the soup of the day: minced pieces of pork served in a light broth with swirls of eggs.

Two meals and an appetizer came to just under $28 including taxes and tips — which we felt was a bit pricey. Pinpin is not known for their service, but we didn’t experience any problems. The waitresses were friendly for the most part, and one of them even cracked a smile. Pinpin has other tasty looking items we would like to try, but I don’t think we’d got out of our way to return. If we’re ever in the area, however, it’s definitely worth trying again.

Perfect for: a taste of Filipino cuisine with a Chinese flair.

The Details

6113 Fraser Street, Vancouver
604.322.3086
pinpinrestaurant.com