I’ve heard of Cedrillon, one of the best Pan-Asian restaurants in New York City. It is also a very well-known Filipino restaurant. I’ve also purchased their cookbook, Memories of Philippine Kitchens. I never got a chance to dine there, but I did get “take-out” from there twice while at work. I had several items from their tasty menu, including the Pinoy Burger, Fresh Lumpia and their Chicken Inasal.
The Pinoy Burger…is a “Filipino” burger made out of ground sirloin and chorizo packed in a homemade bun which tasted like pan de sal. with shoestring fries. I ordered mine with Gouda cheese. The serving size is quite big – enough for 2 people actually. The burger was quite juicy and flavorful.
The Fresh Lumpia was unlike an lumpia I’ve ever had. All the homemade fresh lumpia I had was pretty much the same – shrimp, vegetables, vermicelli, and sometimes peanuts and peanut butter wrapped with rice paper. At Cendrillon, they had sauteed vegetables covered with ube (also known as purple yam) lumpia wrapper. The recipe is on their website.
Finally, the Chicken Inasal, a Visayan style barbecue marinated in kalamansi, garlic and achuete. The Visayas is an island chain in the Philippines located between Luzon (to the north) and Mindanao (the southern end). The chicken was juicy and you could practically taste the kalamansi.
Should you ever be in the SoHo area, I recommend you dine here.
