Kabayan Bistro NZ — Restaurant in Maungakiekie-Tāmaki

An honest and raw review of this place. Went there with my hubby and toddler in tow. Drove a good amount of distance to try their lomi so I was expecting a good dining experience. The place is very welcoming and the atmosphere is clean and inviting. The service was great and friendly. We ordered the jumbo lomi and the pancit/lumpia combination with fried rice. They don't have fried rice and the ladies were apologetic. Of course, no big deal, we can eat the steamed rice. My toddler gobbled up the pancit and lumpia the minute it arrived. I tasted it and it was delicious. It was $31.99 with drinks, it was good, but I thought they could have put more on the plate? But overall it's delish so that's okay! Now I go to the lomi. The reason why we went there.. It was packed with everything which made me very happy. For $28 I think that was decent. What I didn't like though was how bland the soup was. I have to constantly put soy sauce on it but I still couldn't taste the lomi flavour I was used to. BUUUUT I believe this was based from a Batangas lomi recipe, one I am not familiar of, so I kept an open mind and enjoyed my food. I'm not saying it wasn't good, it's just different from the other lomis I has tasted before so my review on this was relatively neutral. It's still delicious and I could taste the freshness of it, not one that was microwaved.

Overall, I'm still giving a 5. Great place, good food, homey atmosphere and best of all, support our Filipino...

I ordered a roast pork sandwich plus 3 roast potatoes. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of meat in the sandwich as well as the inclusion of a piece of crackling plus I given an additional roast potato.

As an Asian, I've been to many hole-in-the-wall type eateries and this pretty much epitomises what you'd expect of those establishments.

The food was good and I'd have to give them the benefit of the doubt about their sanitary cooking environment... Although what I saw did not inspire confidence.

My biggest straight up complaint was the front parking... Small, awkward and difficult to enter & exit.

All in all an ok meal but certainly won't...

Lomi was a bit bland and too sticky, prolly too much flour/starch (at least the one served to me). Price-point of $28 is a bit expensive in my opinion, topped up with too many chicharon to make up the aesthetic. Place was empty when we arrived, the order came out in less than 10mins (that was quick! Hope it was not just reheated with microwave). I was not given kalamansi.. Biggest shock was the $2 takeaway container.

*Response to owner I’ve had Batangas lomi before but been a while. The sauce in my lomi was stretching a bit much, i had yo add some water to get a consistency expected for a lomi.

Kudos to the effort bringing Filipino cuisine to NZ....