No (place) food like home.

One of the perks of living abroad is that you get to miss food you never thought you would. Many people think that food is better abroad and when you are out there, and once you have had a taste of a different cuisine, you will never look back to the food you were served growing up. This is a false accusation. No matter how delightful, scrumptious and generous meals are in another country, your taste buds will, once in a while if not always, long for that familiar taste.

I have been personally victimized by this. I would always say I am tired of Filipino food and I just want something different but the past few days haven't been like that. I would crave for Pinakbet, or Crispy Pata and all those sinful goodness you can order anywhere in the Philippines.

Yesterday, Father's day, my dad, my uncle and I had the leisure of satisfying our cravings for Pinoy food. We had lunch at a Filipino restaurant called "Pinpin" located in Vancouver, BC. The place was jam packed when we came in so at first we decided on eating somewhere else. But after walking a block from the place, we all thought we wanted Crispy Pata so the wait would probably be worth it. We came back and waited for about 30 minutes before being seated.

We started off with "Lumpiang Sariwa". I'd like to think of this as something like a vegetable crepe with a sweet, nutty sauce to top it. It has lettuce, carrots, raddish, etc. inside the soft wrap.

Crispy Pata (Deep fried pork leg and knuckles). I bet Pinpin has the best Crispy Pata in all of Vancouver. The skin has that perfect crisp and the meat inside is very juicy.

Kare-kare - beef, tripe, flank and assorted vegetables in peanut sauce.

Nothing better than soup on a cool day. We had Hototai soup.

The wait was extremely worth it. I would totally recommend this restaurant especially their Crispy Pata. Their prices are reasonable too. The restaurant is along Fraser St. and very hard to miss. So next time you crave for Filipino food and don't want to cook, or if you want to have a go on Filipino food (for non-Filipinos), I suggest you go here. 

Address: 6113 Fraser St. Vancouver, BC. V5W 2Z9
Visit their website: http://www.pinpinrestaurant.com/