Fillipino Street Food in a South Seattle Mall
I would not have expected my first taste of Fillipino street food would be eating grilled squid in a Seattle mall, but Friday night that’s where I found myself.
Since I had already had my fill of wine during the afternoon, a friend suggested we meet for something a little more unusual for dinner — Fillipino food. I’d never tried it so I was game, but was surprised when I was instructed to meet at the Seafood City grocery store in Southcenter Mall in Tukwila, near the SEA TAC airport.
My skepticism quickly faded as I waited. This didn’t feel like Seattle, this corner of the mall felt like I was back in Southeast Asia. Chain restaurants I’d only vaguely heard of and never seen in the US — Red Ribbon, Jollibee.
And it was to Grill City, actually located in the Seafood City grocery store that we headed. Â It all looked great!
L-R: Grill Pork Liempo, Grilled Squid, Grilled Pompano
Delicious looking chicken skewers.
Various soups, stews, and noodles. I got a pork one with lentils(?) which was delicious.
They also had various fried options such as lechon, but my friend advised me to skip it since I’m from the south where we fry stuff much better. HA!
The soup, squid, pompano, huge serving of noodles and two chicken skewers was under $20. And all of it delicious! Though I can never bring myself to munch on the fish head…
Hi Keri! I’m Dan from the Philippines. I’m an avid reader of your blog. Just wanted to say that I found it amazing that you decided to talk about Filipino food this week. Filipino cuisine, sad to say, isn’t as popular in the US as say Chinese or Vietnamese food. So as a Filipino, I’m very grateful and proud.
The beef with lentils dish you had is called Sabaw Monggo (pronounced ‘MONG-GO’). It’s a very common dish served everywhere in the Philippines. Filipino cuisine has a lot more to offer. Hopefully you can write more about it or even come to the Philippines yourself
If you get the chance, ask a Filipino restaurant to serve you ‘Kare-Kare’ It’s a peanut based stew that’s a staple in the Philippines.
All the Best, or as we say in the Philippines, Mabuhay
Thank you so much! Loved the food so excited to try more of it. My grandparents actually met in the Phillipines so hoping to get there one day 🙂
Thanks for sharing Dan 🙂 Now I know how to properly pronounced it and what Filipinos would actually call it. Cool!