My Favorite Filipino Restaurant @ XO 46 Heritage Bistro, Estancia Mall, Pasig City

I've been on the look out for a delicious Filipino restaurant since I've been back. Honestly, I couldn't find any yet, until I went to XO 46 Heritage Bistro. I think this might be it but there's plenty more out there to try.

What impressed me the most was that every waiter there was very fluent in Tagalog. They made me feel like I was back in the days of Jose Rizal, when everyone does not speak English or Taglish. I almost missed reading Noli Me Tangere or a few of my books on Filipino poems, though I think that I won't be able to understand every single word now. I used to flunk my Filipino subject when I was in high school and college, after all!

Food-wise, we ordered the Vegetarian Mountain Fried Rice (~Php 285), which I absolutely loved! The rice was not dry or clunky at all. Each grain was well coated and deliciously flavoured with onions, green and red bell peppers. My aunt said that there was garlic in there as well.

We also had the carabao cheese fritters (Php 295) which were very subtle in taste and deep fried. I didn't care so much for the mayonnaise type sauce, though. I think a form of salsa would go very well with it. We had a chicken dish that was on their special menu (Php 275). This was chicken that was cooked over charcoal with a mango and coconut sauce. I liked the idea of this but I found the sauce too salty. For our final dish, we had the pinakbet (Php 382). Everyone liked this dish. It was tasty and was just right with the rice.