Dinner at Maharlika in NYC

Risheen and I ventured to Maharlika for some "modern" Filipino food.  The restaurant itself is pretty cute with its artwork and random tagalog sayings on the wall.  I was a little early so decided to have a drink.  Being alone I felt totally not judged to order a very filipino drink - Tang haha.  But even better, an adult version.  I ordered the Gloria Diaz, which was basically a tang mimosa i.e. tang + sparkling wine.  Delish.  When Risheen arrived, we spent some time eyeing the menu because there were so many potentially delicious dishes.  I scoured the yelp reviews though to figure out which dishes were ehh (i.e. pancit).  I guess I'm more judgmental given that I've spent my whole life eating this food, and especially because my dad's food (and other relatives who cook) is just SO much better than any restaurant I've been to.  Overall the food was pretty good.  Not as good as places in Woodside, Queens, and not as good as some places in Jersey City.  But ambiance wise it beats all.  If you want to try Filipino food in a nicer environment, I'd recommend this place.  They generally know what they're doing but could tweak some of their flavors.

Gloria Diaz - tang and sparkling wine

Complimentary chicken chicharron (i.e. fried chicken skin) - sooo delicious.  Also lots of dipping sauces

Lumpia on left and chicken BBQ on right.  The lumpia were pretty tasty.  Filled with beef, pork, water chesnuts, carrots, and other veggies.  Not sure why it was like a foot long.  That makes it tough for sharing.  Also I like eating the little ones because I feel like I can eat so many ha.  My fresh lumpia shanghai is better though.  The chicken bbq was tasty but a little saucy and salty for me.  Also didn't get enough of the grill flavor.  The meat was marinated in banana ketchup, honey, and coconut vinegar. 

Long beans roasted with butter, garlic, and fermented black bean powder.  Delicious and a large serving.  Made us feel slightly healthier. 

Crispy Pata - best thing we ate there.  Deep fried pork leg.  Hard to mess this up, and fortunately they did a great job.  The skin was a little crunchier that I like, but overall very well done.  There are places in JC though that do it even better.

Maja Blanca - coconut flavored custard with sweet corn, jackfruit, and toasted coconut.  Pretty tasty but after a few bites was too much sweetness.  I also thought it was going to look very different.  The texture was more liquidy than cake-like, which is what I expected.

We also got delicious garlic fried rice that I forgot to take a pic of.  Amazingly garlic-y.