Pinoy Restaurant brings new taste experience to BR

• By GEORGE MORRIS
• Restaurant reviewer
• Published: Jun 5, 2009

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Officially, the Philippines has 7,107 islands. It only seems like there is a 7,108th near the intersection of South Sherwood Forest and Coursey boulevards.

Pinoy Restaurant and Bar is, as best we can tell, Baton Rouge’s first Filipino restaurant and, according to the Filipino-Americans.com web site, only the second in Louisiana. The newest addition to the culinary archipelago isn’t as remote as some, though tucked into the crook of an L-shaped shopping center, Pinoy might  be just about as hard to find.

Is it worth the effort to try? For the most part, we thought so on our two visits. As with a lot of ethnic food with which we’re not familiar, we aimed for menu items that seemed within our comfort zone. Others — beef and ox tripe in peanut butter sauce — we left for the more adventurous.

We sampled two of the three appetizers and liked them both. Gambas ($7.99) is a small plate of sautéed shrimp mixed with garlic, onions, diced jalapenos and some fried egg to hold everything together. The jalapenos gave the dish an edge, but without making it too hot.

Likewise, sisig ($6.99) comes sizzling on a cast-iron plate and is made of chopped pork flavored with hot sauce, lemon and onions, with extra lemon slices if you want a little more tartness. We didn’t. This is good to get the taste buds jump-started without being filling enough to spoil the main course.

Taking the waiter’s advice, we also tried the barbecue pork ($7.99). Three strips of pork were served on wooden kabobs and cooked in a sweet barbecue sauce and accented with sesame seeds. This was plenty of meat, especially for lunch, and we liked the flavor. Actually eating it, however, was a bit difficult.

The skewered meat was uncut, which made it hard to get off the kabobs, even with knife and fork. After some trial and error, I decided the best strategy was to cut enough pork off the kabob that I could hold the stick with both hands and eat it that way. It didn’t seem to be the most polite way to dine, but it got the job done.

Among the side dishes are French fries, which for most Americans means there is a bottle of ketchup nearby. Not at Pinoy. Instead, there is banana sauce — it is, inexplicably, red like ketchup, but sweeter and with a different texture. Not sure what banana sauce is designed to accent, but for me, it doesn’t work on fries.

Also at the waiter’s recommendation, we tried the Adobo ($6.99), which comes with either pork or chicken cooked in soy sauce, black pepper and bay leaf. We tried the pork and were pleased to get several chunks of hot, tender and nicely seasoned meat. The dish came with two sides. We had pickled papaya and bean sprouts. The papaya is a cool, refreshing dish with an excellent blend of sweet and sour flavor. The bean sprouts were served hot and offered a mild taste that worked well with the rest of the meal.

On a dinner visit, we went with two more items that didn’t stretch us outside our comfort zones. The beef steam ($8.99) is a large, thin loin slice cooked with soy sauce, vinegar and onions and seasoned with black pepper. The sauce is quite tart but pleasant, and we found the meat tender and satisfying.

The Hawaiian chicken ($8.99) is cubed chicken breast that is fried and garnished with pineapple and raisins. We liked the flavor, though the chicken was a bit overcooked.

One highlight was the shake, which is a cold, refreshing blend of mango and cantaloupe that is sweet but not too sweet. It’s a great treat for the hot weather we’re about to get in abundance.