Fil-Am Star Cafe and Bakery

I know Chinese food, Japanese food, Vietnamese food, Korean food, Thai food, Taiwanese food, Indian food, and other Asian foods. I pretty much have Asia covered. Except I never had Filipino food. The only thing I know about Filipino food is that they make their spaghettis with hot dogs and eat duck embryos. 

Fil-Am is one of the few Filipino restaurants in Atlanta. My Filipino friends go nuts over this place. It's probably because they grew up with this type of food and feels comforting to them. Who knows? But since I never grew up with this food, how do all these dishes taste to an outsider? Let's find out. 

First of all, some of the names look like they're in Spanish. They can get quite confusing because they are not same as the Mexican dishes you know of. For example, menudo is completely different in the Philippines. It's not tripes.  And the enchiladas doesn't look like it has any tortilla at all.

Unfortunately, they didn't have balut. It's okay. I got to try many different dishes here. 

The Lumpia looked like your standard eggrolls with pork. There was nothing too crazy or special about these; it was just eggrolls. But they tasted good. I liked the chili sauce it came with. They would make a nice snack or appetizer. 

Lumpia

Pancit Guicido was your standard pan fried noodles. It kind of reminded me of Yakisoba. It was no different than your standard pan fried egg noodles. I liked it because you can't go wrong with pan fried noodles.

Pancit Guisado

The Bistek was interesting. It was marinated in some sauce. It had a sweet flavor to it. The meat was chewy and tough, however. Overall, I liked the flavor that it had. They needed to not overcook the meat so much though.

Bistek

Daing Na Bangus isn't some old porn site. It's milkfish. I like fish so I thought it tasted fine. Although I did think it was a little dry. Also, milkfish has more bones than usual, so watch out.

Daing Na Bangus

The sisig came topped with a little chili pepper. It looked cute. You put raw egg and mix it in. It's mainly made of pork I didn't like the texture of the pork and the raw egg mixed in. It also had a flavor that I wasn't a fan of. It wasn't one of my favorite dishes.

Sisig

The menudo wasn't tripe soup. It was something better—marinated pork. It tasted good. I liked it a lot, and I found it better than Mexico's version of menudo. The tomato broth/sauce it came in tasted interesting.

Menudo

The food was plentiful and cheap. The owners there seemed very nice and friendly. It wasn't a bad place. If you aren't Filipino and want to try it out, I think it's a good place to experience a new type of cuisine.

The meats do come out overcooked. But I think they have unique flavor, and you can definitely afford a nice, cheap meal here.  Mr. Kitty gives this place 3.5 paws up.

Fil-Am Star Cafe and Bakery
5150 Buford Highway NE., Suite A-170
Doraville, GA 30340
(678) 580-1209
www.filamstarcafe.com