House of Inasal

PHILIPPINES 🇵🇭

The highest concentration of Filipino restaurants and businesses exists on the eastern edge of Woodside, just before Roosevelt Avenue crosses over the BQE and changes abruptly into a South Asian neighborhood. Many of these restaurants are turo-turo style, meaning they have a steam table and the diner chooses their meal from pre-made options. One place that stands against this as a sit down restaurant with menu is House of Inasal, named for the style of barbecue that they specialize in here.

The place is comfortable, offers wine and beer to customers, and would be a great place to watch a basketball game with Filipinos, who are mad about the sport. Rock and roll music was playing during this visit, and a Celtics game was on the TV.

Rarely seen here in New York, kwek kwek ($6.95, above and below) is a popular Filipino street food consisting of fried quail eggs. The batter is thin and light, letting the richness of the egg come through. It is fried just enough so that the yolk is not hard, making a perfect snack once dipped in the garlic sauce.

Inasal-style developed on the island of Negros, which sits in the Visayas region that makes up much of the central region of the Philippines. In the local language of Ilonggo, it just translates to "roasted meat," but this undersells the complexity of the marinade that uses coconut vinegar and calamansi juice. Anything from the easiest chicken wing to all the guts of a pig can be cooked in this way.

The grilled isaw ($6.95, below) is just that, cross-sections of pig intestines charbroiled in the Inasal style. The squeamish might be advised to stay away from this very chewy dish, but in the end it may have been the table's favorite.

These skewers were cooked the perfect amount, so the juices were still around for each bite.

"Chicken Inasal" is given its own section of the menu and is available three ways, as a leg, breast, or a combination of liver, gizzard, and heart ($6.95, below), which you can have with tasty garlic rice. Liver lovers will absolutely love this order, as this preparation really lets the organ meat speak for itself. Chicken hearts as always are the perfect snack.

The other Inasal portion chosen was leg ($7.95, below), which arrives looking beautiful. The chicken really let the marinades talk, but unfortunately the meat had been cooked to a point of being much too dry for pleasure. I am not sure whether this is the style of the restaurant or the plate had just been bad luck, but this would be excellent if still juicy.

Filipino breakfast was probably my favorite meal during travels there, and the morning dishes are available all day long here at House of Inasal. Tapsilog ($9.95, below) is basically candied beef served with eggs and rice. Other candied meats like sausage or bacon are also available for breakfast, as Filipinos definitely have a large place in their lives for sweetness.

The wonderful thing about being able to eat this at night here is the option to pair it with Filipino beers like San Miguel and Red Horse. Now, what was the score of that Celtics game?

🇵🇭 🇵🇭 🇵🇭

WOODSIDE Queens

65-14 Roosevelt Avenue