Address: 26A Mayfair Pl, Glen Innes
Phone: (09) 528 6050
Open: Monday-Sunday 10am-9pm
Website: turoturo.co.nz
Cuisine: Filipino
Rating: 6/10
A friend and I were paying a visit to a Filipino cafe in Glen Innes. Why? Well, some of the food blogs and articles I follow internationally are touting food from the Philippines as one of the emerging cuisines to watch in 2011. With more than 7000 tropical islands making up the nation, and an interesting history of settlement, the cuisine is a vibrant mix of Asian and Spanish influence.
Turo-Turo Philippine Cafe opened its doors in Glen Innes last May and I was keen to try it. I have a rule when approaching a cuisine that's completely new to me - try it six times before you make up your mind. The reason for this is that with its unfamiliar flavour combinations, and the possibility of encountering foreign ingredients, it can be an easy trap to put it into the "don't like" basket before you've given it a decent crack. So it's a good discipline to follow to ensure that your palate continues to expand.
Turo-Turo is a modest eatery, open from morning to night, seven days a week "Turo" literally means "point" and the name refers to the common practise of selecting food from the many roadside foodstalls in the Philippines.
The menu was full of dishes and words that were foreign to me so we pointed at dishes that diners at nearby tables were tucking into. One such dish however was hurriedly "un-ordered" once I discovered what it was - pork intestine in a blood stew. Not for me on my first time, thank you!
More cafe than restaurant, the ambience of Turo-Turo is not conducive to romantic dining, but we did note that the clientele were predominantly Filipino.
To get started we snacked on some siomai - steamed pork dumplings. With their wrinkled wrappers they looked like small brains when they arrived and the sogginess was a bit off-putting, but the pork filling was tasty enough and lifted by a squeeze of fresh lemon and a quick dip in the spicy sauce. Our other starter, lumpiang prito were crispy spring rolls but they were overcooked and a little too heavy on the pastry shell.
For our mains we'd ordered two Filipino favourites - a sisig and a stew. Sisig means "to snack on something sour" referring to the inclusion of vinegar in the preparation. Traditionally it's a dish comprised of pork meat (often from the head and snout) cooked with chillis, onions, capsicums, spices and vinegar, and when served sizzling, it comes with a raw egg on top. The version at Turo-Turo is true to this traditional recipe and the flavours were rich and spicy but not overwhelmingly so. My dinner friend loved it, though he thought it was very fatty and the mouthfuls I sampled had me agreeing.
For my main I'd ordered the beef caldereta, a Spanish-influenced stew. This comforting dish was flavourful and had potential, but it was the texture and temperature that let it down.
Served barely warm, I suspect that if it had been cooked for longer, to render the fat and to tenderise the meat more, it would have been more palatable.
Never mind, I tried. As I was picking away, my dinner companion told me to stop looking so unhappy and suggested I just give in and order desserts. He was right. The puddings did cheer me up. An alarmingly green layer cake, full of coconut and chiffon cream and another, filled with coffee cream and nuts, were wickedly decadent and delicious.
As an overall dining experience we found Turo-Turo a bit hit and miss but I'll follow my own rule and commit to eating more Filipino food, for another five tries at least, to allow my palate to acclimatise.
If you're already a fan of Filipino cuisine or you're the sort of person who likes to be adventurous with your dining, get yourself out to Glen Innes - at $56 for two, this is cheap dining that is guaranteed to expand your horizons and that's what eating is all about sometimes.
From the menu: Siomai (steamed pork dumplings) $6, Lumpiang Prito (spring rolls) $5, Beef Caldereta $10, Sizzling Sisig (spicy pork) $12.50, Layer Cakes $4, Leche Flan (large) $10.
Drinks: Unlicensed
