Delicious and affordable Pinoy comfort Food at Wooden Spoon

News & Lifestyle section of Dad On The Move.

I once said that if I were to eat out, Filipino cuisine would be at the bottom of my list of choices primarily because I get to eat Pinoy food on a regular basis at home or in the office.

As such, for me, discovering a really good Filipino restaurant is like finding a gem amidst a sea of debris. That is Wooden Spoon for me, a gem among a plethora of Filipino restaurants.

It was in February when, after our prenuptial shoot, our stylist suggested that we have dinner at Wooden Spoon in Katipunan Avenue. The name somehow rings a bell; I knew I have heard about it somewhere but I couldn't figure out where. When we got to the place, it was a bit crowded so we had to wait a while to be seated. As we were waiting, the waiters got our orders and that's when I found out that Wooden Spoon specializes in Pinoy cuisine.

Shortly after we were seated, our food started to arrive at our table. I recall that we ordered Kare-Kare, pork Binagoongan, dinuguan lechon kawali, and fish sinigang. Everything was good but what we really liked was the Binagoongan which offered a rich, balanced bagoong taste -- it was neither too salty nor too creamy. Another dish that we really liked was the dinuguan lechon kawali -- rich lechon kawali coated with a thick dinuguan sauce. The salty-sour-spicy flavor of the dinuguan sauce blended harmoniously with the savory and fatty taste of the lechon kawali.

And when the bill came, we were surprised because the total was much lower than what we expected. On the whole, this is one experience that was truly unforgettable.