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I think I am not alone when I say my experience of Filipino cuisine has been limited to countless fried chicken and pasta binges at Jollibee, and maybe even the odd snack bought as souvenirs from the Philippines (namely dried mangos). It was to my delight that I discovered MS Inasal MS BBQ, a halal-certified stall serving Filipino food at Hillion Mall.
To my limited knowledge, I’ve always thought Filipino cuisine was much like Malay ones. The base is usually rice, and its proteins, vegetables and gravies look like something from your average nasi padang stall. I held my reservation about how authentic the food could possibly be as it was under the Kopitiam brand, the same people that brought us all those ‘authentic’ Korean and Japanese food.
What I tried at MS Inasal MS BBQ
Just like Jollibee, one of the highlights of the place was its chicken. I had the Inasal Chicken BBQ with rice (S$7.50) as well as the Bisteak Tagalog with rice (S$6.50). There were many other dishes available, such as the Adobong Manok with rice (S$6), Chicken Afritada with rice (S$6), Fried Tilapia with rice (S$8) and Ginataang Gulay (S$4).
At that moment, I felt a tinge of regret not knowing what most of the dishes were, but I guess that only adds to the accuracy of the ‘distant man in distant land’ experience.
My first taste of authentic Filipino food was the Bisteak Tagalog with rice. When the lady at the counter poured the dark soup into a bowl and scooped up pieces of beef, I was already imagining a peppery soy sauce taste, or maybe even some herbal tones akin to those similarly dark duck soups that I’ve seen in Chinese restaurants.
What I got was instead an overwhelming tanginess that nearly made me choke. Initially, I thought the dish might have gone bad, but the lack of rancid taste, unfortunately, made me continue eating it.
This wasn’t even salty— it was straight-up sour. I saw what looked like calamansi seeds in the soup, and thought that might’ve been the culprit. There was none of that peppery taste; it was just a flood of tanginess in brown dye.
To MS Inasal MS BBQ’s credit, the beef slices were cooked decently and the tendons were soft like marshmallows. I thought the portion of beef was quite decent for its price but I would think the average person could only bear three scoops before succumbing to that sour taste.
Eventually, I did finish my meal as I thought maybe this was how it was supposed to taste. Similarly to how some people view durian, I accepted that it wasn’t to my taste bud’s liking.
All was well until I asked a Filipino friend if her Bisteak Tagalog was usually sour. She said yes, but only if it had gone bad, as she explained that it’s supposed to taste sweet with hints of pepper. My futile attempt at pinpointing flavours was finally complete.
Now desperate to rid of that sour taste, I tried the Inasal Chicken BBQ with a renewed sense of lowered expectations. It looked almost like an Ayam Bakar with rice, which by default, should taste decent. The solidified sauce on the chicken suggested that it probably wasn’t cooked to order.
My first act of prying a piece of meat from the chicken confirmed my previous assumption. It was a challenge, even with metal utensils, as the meat felt really dense and dry even before I tasted it. Sure enough, it tasted like how it looked.
It’s a shame too, as the flavours were decent. It had a slight charred taste and the sauce, even though tasting like store-bought sweet and sour sauce, helped quell the dryness of the meat, if only temporarily.
The soup that came with both dishes came with a piece of chilli. It’s definitely more than just a decorative piece, as the soup had a slight kick to it. It might have been slightly too oily to others and was very similar to the chicken rice soup, but at this point, anything that made me eat faster was invaluable.
Clearly not learning my lesson, I thought I’d gamble on another dish since it can’t get worse, can’t it? My final roll of the dice was the Lecha Flan (S$3) which is a custard-like dessert with caramel sauce.
Finally, some good food. It was creamy, but not as smooth as what you’d expect a custard to be. I tasted condensed milk intermixed with egg yolks. Though it was supposed to be caramel sauce, I thought it tasted more like gula melaka syrup, which I was okay with regardless.
Despite the small portion, I think it’s best shared as it can get quite jelak.
Final thoughts
Taste-wise, I didn’t have a good time at MS Inasal MS BBQ. I’m still scratching my head over what exactly happened to my Bisteak Tagalog, and the Inasal Chicken BBQ just couldn’t replicate its fast food counterpart.
Despite that, I would still recommend MS Inasal MS BBQ to broaden your taste buds. What I tasted was only three out of nearly 15 dishes on the menu, so I’m sure there’s an elusive dish that would make you and I scream Sa wakas (finally)!
For now, I’ll stick to my slightly overpriced fried chicken coupled with suspiciously sweet spaghetti and a large canned pineapple juice.
Expected damage: S$6 – S$9 per pax
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