Affordable Filipino, Vietnamese, Taiwanese treats under one roof in Kanata

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If anyone ever tells you that the food in Ottawa is boring and lacks diversity, just send them to 782 Eagleson Rd., Unit 2.

Three casual, affordable and intriguing businesses co-exist here, under the same roof in a Kanata South strip mall, occupying a long, bright and airy 40-seat space.

Chicha San Chen is a franchise of a high-end, Taiwan-based beverage brand. There’s Banh Mi Girl, an Ottawa-based business that was previously in the ByWard Market, which sells not only its namesake Vietnamese subs but also two Japanese sandwiches (or “sandos,” as they’re called in Japan). Finally, Saboroso Bistro serves Filipino food, specifically dishes that reflect the regional palate from Iloilo, a province in the centre of the Philippines.

At first glance, it doesn’t look like a miniature Asian food court. Nor is it advertised as such. But that’s how I think of it.

I’ve ordered from all the businesses here in recent weeks, and consistently enjoyed what I received, especially from Saboroso.

“We have a lot of Filipinos here in Canada, yet I feel we are so underrepresented, under-celebrated as a culinary culture,” says co-owner Danielle Casiple. Her spouse, Hero Provido, is Saboroso’s chef, and he has a degree in hotel management.

The couple came to Canada in 2017 and somehow got Saboroso off the ground, even though they have two young children, even while they live across town in Orléans, and even while Casiple works by day as a paralegal in Gatineau.

Most of Saboroso’s dishes — packaged in take-out containers as rice bowls with a featured protein plus veg, or available a la carte — are at once authentic, according to Casiple, but also accessible and tasty if you’ve never had Filipino food.

A big winner was grilled chicken Inasal ($18.99), which starred bone-in thighs and drumsticks that had been long-marinated with lemongrass, dark soy, calamansi (a Filipino citrus fruit) and other flavour boosters. Casiple told me that the catering side of Saboroso is preparing fare for the Embassy of the Philippines in Ottawa, and chicken Inasal skewers will be on the menu. Given the choice, we paired the chicken with Java rice rather than white rice, which had been mixed with and coloured by an annato seed-infused oil. Containers of dark soy mixed with calamansi juice, more annato oil and pickled veg broadened the dish’s already flavourful appeal.

Pork belly is put on a pedestal at Saboroso in a preparation called lechon kiwali ($14.99 a la carte). The pork is boiled, marinated and then deep-fried for a maximally crispy skin and melty-fatty-tasty meat. Opt for some of the savoury “gravy” that’s offered with the pork belly, even if it’s made with pork liver. I also found that a little of Saboroso’s house-made garlicky chili oil was a nice pick-me-up.

Pork belly also appears in the beloved Filipino dish sisig, chopped into morsels and mixed with collagenous bits of pig’s ear. Here, sisig comes on a sizzling platter and the porky bits swam in a creamy sauce that makes for a slick, indulgent, meaty, chewy mouthful best mixed with rice. At least, that’s how I saw a Filipino couple out for date night eating their sisig.

A lighter option, despite being deep-fried and generously sauced, was the sweet and sour basa fish. After wolfing down an à la carte plate ($14.99) in record time, I could see why this easy-to-eat dish was the hit with Saboroso customers that Casiple said it was. Equally deep-fried and enjoyable were the six-to-an-order lumpia ($9.99), the Filipino answer to spring rolls.

I used to think that shaved-ice desserts should only be eaten when it’s sweltering outside. But Saboroso’s deluxe halo-halo ($11.99), which included ube ice cream, ube “slush,” house-made jams and house-made flan, was the best halo-halo I’ve had, and I could see wanting it regardless of the weather.

Saboroso subleases its space in the unit from the owner of its two other business lines. Much of the kitchen is at the disposal of Provido, while a smaller station is dedicated to making Vietnamese subs and Japanese sandos.

The banh mi selection here is smaller than what’s found at banh mi shops in the city. But the grilled pork ($12) and grilled chicken ($13) subs were well-made and economical, with lots of charry flavour and fresh garnishes tucked inside made-in-house buns. The meats can also be had in vermicelli bowls (up to $17.98) if you don’t want to eat with your hands.

The Japanese sandos star either a deep-fried pork cutlet ($15.98) or deep-fried shrimp ($15.98). They are fastidiously made, with crusts trimmed off toasted white bread and sliced like tea sandwiches so that they fit tightly into their containers. They are easy to like, but bigger appetites and fans of bolder flavours should prefer the banh mi.

The story on Chicha San Chen is that while the Taiwanese company founded in 1998 does serve bubble tea drinks, it touts the quality of its freshly brewed teas, six of which were awarded the Superior Taste Award by the International Taste Institute, according to its website. Its drinks can be pricier than those found at more budget-friendly bubble-tea concessions.

Still, I’ve watched teens in droves order the brand’s “bubble volcano,” a concoction of milk, brown sugar and chewy bubbles. My preference is to dial back the sweetness and the ice when I order Formosa fruit tea or honey osmanthus tea ($6.95).

Casiple calls the relations between the businesses “symbiotic.” Rather than compete, they collaborate, referring customers to each other. The tea-based drinks go just fine with Filipino food, says Casiple. Front-of-house staff are equally adept at serving items from each business line, although they use different cash registers for each business.

I’m sufficiently impressed by the distinctiveness, quality and prices of all the fare here, regardless of the business, that I’m inclined to just show up and order something on a whim, confident that it would be good.

phum@postmedia.com

Banh Mi Girl, Chicha San Chen, Saboroso Bistro

782 Eagleson Rd., Unit 2, instagram.com/chichasanchen.ca, instagram.com/banhmi.girl, instagram.com/saborosobistro

Open: Banh Mi Girl and Chicha San Chen open daily from noon till 9 p.m. (10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays), Saboroso Bistro keeps the same hours but is closed Mondays.

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