I had been wanting to visit Urban Island since I heard about it. They call themselves a Filipino American Craft Eatery. Urban Island serves Filipino favorites and Filipino twists on American foods and they are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My mom and I stopped in on a whim on a Friday evening. It was full and we were seated at a small table by the entrance. Not exactly the most comfortable spot. We were informed that breakfast was available all day. Apparently their traditional island breakfasts and twists on breakfast classics are popular. However, we decided to skip breakfast and order off the rest of the menu. They have several cocktails on the menu. We tried the Tita Margarita, a twist on a classic Margarita with the addition of calamansi juice and the Pointing Lips a mango juice, calamansi juice and vodka concoction. We both decided we don't like calamansi juice. It is bitter and over powered the drinks. If you are not sure what calmansi is, it is a citrus fruit popular in Filipino and South East Asian cooking. It is very tart and bitter.
We also ordered two appetizers. The Chicharron was hot and crispy and served with a spiced garlic vinegar for dipping.
The Lumpia was filled with ground pork and tasty, but a little on the oily side. Also, my favorite Lumpia are small, crispy and plentiful because Lumpia is addictive. I could have ate more of these.
My mom ordered the Philly Pino sandwich, it was filled with beef short rib tapa, onions, roasted peppers, gouda cheese, garlic aioli on top of a French roll. I was not a fan of this sandwich. It had a strange blue chees-y taste to it which was peculiar because it does not say it contains blue cheese. The fries were under salted.
I ordered the Sizzling Sisig. Sisig is a popular filipino dish made with pork and seasoned with calamansi, chilis, onion, garlic and vinegar. This one was made with diced pork belly and then topped with a fried egg. It was served with a side of their rice. I believe the rice was flavored with turmeric, it was just okay. My mom and I agreed that every food item we tried could definitely use a bit more seasoning in it, a little salt goes a long way. All in all we were not that impressed with Urban Island, I would like to return and try some of the breakfast items though.
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