I'm constantly amazed at the amount of recommendations I've received from FOYs(Friends of Yoso) since I've started blogging. Restaurants in locations that had never even entered my mind. A good example is R & B Filipino Cuisine in Mira Mesa. R & B is located on Camino Ruiz, North of Mira Mesa Boulevard, an area that I hadn't ever visited. But thanks to FOY JanFrederick, who mentioned R & B in several comments, I made an effort to check them out.
R & B is a little Mom and Pop "turo-turo" joint, that offers about 20 or so different steam table options daily. The Lady who works the counter is very nice, always smiling, and chatting in her relatively high pitched voice, the Gentleman who works the front is on the quiet side, but still very nice.
The prices are reasonable, $3.99 for 1 item and a starch, $5.79 for 2 items and a starch. On this day, I decided on the (what else) Lechon Kawali and Beef Mechado(Beef Stew), which at first I thought was Kaldereta.
The Beef Mechado was good, though it did not have as much gravy as I would have liked(probably why I thought it was Kaldereta). Nice tomato tartness, the beef was fairly tender, with a touch of black pepper flavor.
We had times our visit pretty well, the lechon kawali was moist, and not too waxy, nor greasy. The skin was crisp, not hard, making this a pretty good version of lechon:
What I didn't care was the lechon sauce, the liver based dipping sauce. It was too bitter for my tastes. Still this was a pretty good meal……
Which led to another visit, where I again got the 2 item combination:
This time with Pancit Bihon….which wasn't greasy, and had a decent flavor….but it was almost all noodles….in fact, other than 1-2 pieces of stray cabbage, and 1 small piece of chicken, this was all carbs.
Because of the hour (10am) not everything was available, so I got the lechon kawali again.
This time the lechon was on the dry side….
Now where's the "missing item" you ask? Here it is:
This was something I'd never had before, Kilawing (per the menu, I've also seen it spelled as Kilawin) Puso, banana blossom simmered in a vinegar based sauce. I could also identify a bit of pork, but not much else. The banana blossom had the texture close to that of artichoke. Overall, this was a very bracing dish. Per instructions, I ate the Kilawin with the pancit, a touch of Kilawin on top of a bite of pancit, the saltiness helped to cut the sour flavors.
Did I mention Filipino Breakast? On weekend mornings R & B offers Tapsilog, Tocilog, Dasilog (Bangsilog), and of course the classic Longsilog, all for $4.50. All the dishes come with 2 eggs(any style), and Garlic Fried Rice. I recently had the Tapsilog:
The Tapas wasn't bad, more tender than most versions, and decently flavored. The Garlic rice, didn't have enough garlic for my tastes(but very few do), and the rice was hard and dry in sections. The easy over eggs were overcooked, the yolks hard. Still, not bad for $4.50……less than a bowl of Pho.
A friend's Husband who eats here once in a while told me the Pork Adobo is pretty good, JanFrederick enjoys the Sisig, and the Hamonado has also been recommended. Unfortunately, I haven't run into any of them in my visits….always Chicken Adobo, never Pork! Hopefully, I'll be more lucky in the future.
R & B Filipino Cuisine
11257 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126
Mon-Fri 930am-730pm
Sat 8am – 7pm
Sun 8am – 6pm
Thanks again for the recommendation Jan!