Bale Kapampangan — Restaurant in Toronto

We went here for the first time as a group of 5. Luckily one person was there to get a table when they opened on Sunday, as the tables were already full 15min later, and peopke were lining up outside.

The Good: Everything we tried was delicious. Pusit and liempo ningnang were fabulous. We also tried Kilayin, beef bulalo, and pinakbet. Every dish was excellent and large portions, enough to serve 3-4 people when sharing dishes. The steamed rice portion was enough for 2-3 people each. Everything was clearly freshly prepared and presented beautifully. The meat was all very tender. Service was friendly, and we were impressed to see them replace a kid's milkshake at the neighbouring table after he accidentally knocked over and broke the glass he was drinking from. Decor was lovely. Good value for money given portion sizes and quality of the ingredients.

The bad: Because we arrived at the start of the lunch rush and ordered after most other tables, we were told our food would require about 30min to prepare. It ended up being over 1h before our meal was ready. We were initially only given 1 menu to share and the paper was starting to get frayed. Again this was probably due to everyone ordering at once, but I needed to resort to looking up the menu on my phone. We didn't know until the waitress was taking our orders that the food is meant to be shared, with each dish being enough for 3-4 people to try. That meant that we ordered 5 dishes, all ate our fill, and still had enough leftovers to feed about 2.5 people another meal. It would have been great if the menu had mentioned that so that the appropriate number of dishes could be selected in advance. There was only one toilet for men and one for women, so there could be a significant wait for that.

Overall: this was a delicious lunch in a lovely restaurant. Great overall value for money. The seafood garlic and fresh fish escabeche our neighbours were enjoying looked like a couple of other dishes we'd love to try when we go again. We'll definitely return, and it will be with the...

⭐ Rating: 3.5/5

We recently tried Bale Kapampangan and ordered quite a spread: lumpia Shanghai, kare kare, pancit luglug, liempo, and ensaymada for dessert. The total came to $104, which honestly surprised me. With prices these days, I expected less food, but we received generous portions and ended up with plenty of leftovers.

The lumpia Shanghai was the standout - crispy, flavorful, and easily a 10/10. No complaints there. The kare kare was another pleasant surprise, packed with oxtail and really rich, balanced flavors. On the other hand, the liempo was a letdown for me - it was mostly fatty pieces. I’ll be repurposing it into fried rice at home, but as-is, it wasn’t enjoyable. The pancit luglug also missed the mark; once everything was mixed, it just turned into a mushy texture without anything particularly memorable in flavor.

To end on a high note, the ensaymada was delicious - soft, sweet, and satisfying.

Service was excellent, with friendly staff who made us feel welcome. The restaurant itself has modern details, both inside and on the patio. We actually chose this spot because their other restaurant beside only had upstairs seating, which wouldn’t work for accessibility needs. I’m glad we ended up here, though - it was a good...

We tried this place to celebrate my birthday with my 3 sisters and my partner. The ambiance was good but a bit tight or crowded. It’s a bit hard to moved around once seated. The patio is great for the summer.

We ordered, kare-kare, pakbit, ningnang (bbq) chicken legs, Bihon/canton guisado, sisig, sagot-Gül aman & halo-halo.

The food presentation was executed well. Didn’t care much of the sisig as it was floating in fat or very oily. There’s not much of lean in the meat that was used. Kare-kare, is not for me as it tasted on the sweet side for me but my sister’s liked it. The bbq chicken legs were cooked well and good. The pakbit was just right. The sago at gulaman, didn’t tasted like the traditional sago at gulaman I grew up. It was yes fancy when presented but doesn’t really taste sago at gulaman. The pancit was good moist and not dry.

The halo-halo is just ok. Presentation wise great. The servers are wonderful, and professional. I would definitely recommend the place and will go back for another dishes to try.

By the way, they also have fresh market for you to choose and to be cooked but we didn’t try it.

We didn’t have to wait as we called...