San Francisco Exotic Food Crawl Post: Filipino Food at Kusina Ni Tess in the Tenderloin

My friend and I have never had Filipino cuisine before, so we decided to try this place out. It is basically a hole-in-the-wall, not somewhere you would dine at for the ambiance or the decor. Kusina Ni Tess can be translated to mean Kusina's Kitchen.

I had longsilog, a breakfast dish consisting of garlic rice, Filipino sausage, a fried egg, as well as a small bowl of chicken adobo, while my friend had bangusilog, which came with fried bangus (milkfish), Philippines' national fish, garlic rice and a fried egg.



Longsilog

The portions were generous and the food was really tasty, if a little too greasy for my liking. My best friend was totally in love with my adobo and kept on sneaking spoonfuls of the sauce. Adobo was created during the days before refrigeration existed and it was difficult to preserve food in warmer climates. Marinating and cooking meat in vinegar adobo-style helped to preserve the meat, although today adobo is cooked with vinegar primarily to enhance its flavor.



Adobo

We also had the Bibingka and the Halo Halo dessert to go. Halo Halo is pronounced as it is spelled and not at all pronounced like the Halo video game series. The Bibingka was underwhelming while the Halo Halo dessert had an interesting and somewhat weird taste amidst the ice and fruit.

Bibingka is a rice cake cooked in banana leaves that is usually eaten during Christmas in the Philippines, while Halo Halo is a type of shaved ice dessert mixed with evaporated milk, fruits and other assorted ingredients, which tends to differ depending on who is making it.



Bibingka



Halo Halo

Would definitely come back here again for affordable authentic Filipino cuisine.