Modern Filipino Cuisine — Local services in Pittsburgh

As a Filam, I'm always searching for Filipino food because due to toxic cultural reasons, our food in a restaurant setting just doesn't exist. I'd say right now it is easily the best Filipino food in Pittsburgh, even if it's currently a ghost restaurant.

The only way I can describe the food is that it is extremely traditional to the T. Turo-turo traditional. The food is clearly made with born-in-the-Philippines hands. Usually, turo-turo is made only for the Filipino palate and a huge turn off for Americans, but the grubhub-only style ordering hides the turo-turo negatives, so it works in the ghost restaurant's favor (turo-turo places are literal holes in the wall, no American would ever touch them).

As for food items I tried...

Pancit here is the standard Filipino pancit, made in a Filipino house flavor. You can't ask for more. Unlike Lolo's Kitchen in Novo, it's actually fully cooked and not raw.

Lechon Kawali is made well, the meat and fat juicy while the skin is crunchy (the skin isn't as prominent as you'd get in like in California, but I think it's due to the lack of pig farm options you get here).

I was actually slightly disappointed in my pork adobo. The pork was clearly old so there was a funk to the meat. However, the adobo flavor itself was fine. If the meat was fresher, I'm sure I would've enjoyed it better.

Kare-kare, while made with local American eggplant and American green beans (it's usually made with Asian eggplant and long beans), is quite good. It is above average, and the lechon belly is very nice with it.

The liempo is actually above average. Closer to the flavor in the Philippines (but less fatty), and surely better than a lot of liempos in turo-turo places in LA. The portion is quite small for the price, but it's full of flavor.

Regardless, the food is so good we will likely cater a full lechon belly for a future wedding reception next year.

My advice moving forward as a Filam very invested in seeing Filipino food flourish in the USA.... If you are interested in opening a restaurant, try to figure out the balance between price, "tastes good," and presentation. Most if not all Filipino restaurants will open then close just as fast because the community is EXTREMELY toxic when 2/3 criteria are hit. I've seen Filipino restaurants in the OH Valley including Pittsburgh open then abruptly close because of it. You have presentation and food quality down (though the adobo can improve..). I feel with UberEats/Grubhub, the price is pretty steep, but since you're the only legitimate Filipino (though a ghost) restaurant right now, it's acceptable.

Especially through delivery, the presentation is often hard in a restaurant setting because Filipino and American expectations are literal opposite spectrums. I'm not sure what the best balance is right now, but I'm interested to hear your thoughts!

Your food is good, so I hope you'll succeed! Maraming...

After a long day at work, I was tired and didn't feel like cooking or going out. I was thinking that I would order some Thai food delivered by DoorDash but changed my mind when I saw that there was a Filipino restaurant only 0.5 mile away. I love Filipino food and was excited

So I placed a takeout order through DoorDash for Filipino adobo with chicken and lechon kawali from Modern Filipino Cuisine last night around 9:00 and was really looking forward to a great meal

What I got instead was disappointment.

My order was supposed to be ready at 9:26 and I arrived at 451 Melwood Ave at 9:30. They don't have a counter person but have a multi-restaurant system similar to Amazon where your food is placed in a locker and you either scan the order information from your phone or enter your information into the tablet manually. Over and over I tried, but neither method worked for me. After ringing the doorbell on the counter multiple times, someone eventually showed up and got me my food. It was annoying but glitchy technology is no surprise.

When I got home, I opened up the bag and took out the two containers. After taking off the lids, to my dismay, I discovered that the food was cold and the portion size I received was much smaller than what I had seen online.

The amount of lechon kawali was about half of what I saw in the picture. Despite reheating it in the oven, it never achieved the crispiness that makes deep fried pork belly so good.

There was no picture of the chicken adobo online, but there was a picture of the chicken inasal which is the same price. It had a leg and thigh portion that looked massive compared to what I got. There was also scarcely a tablespoon of atchara.

The one thing they didn't skimp on was rice. There was a lot of rice. Lots of rice.

While I thought the lechon kawali was only so-so, I liked the chicken abobo. It reheated well and was pretty tasty. I'm still undecided about the atchara as there really wasn't enough of it to have an opinion.

I'm not expecting huge portions of gourmet food at rock-bottom prices. But I do expect to receive value commensurate with the cost. For the $30 I spent, I pretty much got the equivalent of a not very special $15 lunch special. I feel like I got cheated by what I received in terms of quality, quantity, and price - It lacked value.

Modern Filipino Cuisine is not a restaurant. Just a kitchen and a bunch of electronic lockers. One review that I wish I had read before I ordered summed it up pretty well:

"To be clear this is a catering service operating out of a ghost kitchen. The food is decent and authentic. Small portions for the amount charged though."

Modern Filipino Cuisine is entitled to charge whatever they want, for whatever amount and quality of food they want to offer to their customers.

But I'm not going to be one of them.

I don't...

ZERO RATING… this is NOT a restaurant or eatery, takeout or otherwise. IT DOES NOT EXIST AS AN EATING ESTABLISHMENT at the address indicated.🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

THIS IS A CATERING SERVICE MANAGED BY A THIRD PARTY🫤🫤🫤 , The Food Mill Company.

The owners MUST ask Google Maps to CHANGE the category of this business. As it is (on July 2024) this is deceitful advertising🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

The ordering kiosk at the Melwood St. address is a counter for takeouts from SEVERAL food preparation businesses including this one.

A big mistake is that website also lists many foods that ARE NOT authentic Filipino.—- Since when is beef stroganoff Filipino????

For this Filipino Preparation business, the kiosk DOES NOT list all that is advertised in their website.

As someone who is very familiar of Filipino cooking, a unique cuisine of several regional culinary subcultures, a mere food preparation business:

makes one suspicious whether or not food is freshly cooked on the day/time of order; OR

IF food had been frozen/refrigerated from several days before.

The kiosk states it takes under 9 to 15 minutes for cooking/packing and pickup of orders. 🤢🤢🤢Really? — Anyone who knows Filipino cooking whether a home cook or actual restaurant, takes at least 30-45 minutes wait!!!

Importantly, takeouts managed by 3rd party will NOT make it feasible to check whether or not food had been cooked properly.

This is really a pity as it’s a missed opportunity to showcase what some reviewers imply as good cooking talent of the owners.

As a global traveler and a foodie, this is an abject...