Fil-Am Star Cafe & Bakery
Got a chance to check out this new Filipino place on BuHi. It’s located inside Asian Square in the old Saigon Deli location across from Quoc Hong. My good buddy-slash-older brother G2 G1 and I went on opening day and it was a madhouse. It took over an hour for our food to arrive and even the table next to ours never got some of theirs. Odd because it’s not like they had to cook our order from scratch. They were mainly stews.
Anyway. The lunch menu is limited. It’s what they have on special that day and it’s usually about 4 or 5 items daily. The dinner menu is more extensive. We got the Adobo, Caldereta, Pancit Palabok, and Lumpia. The adobo didn’t really have that salty-sour flavor it’s well known for. I realize there are many versions but there are versions that are really good. I’ve had great ones in New York and California. It’s ok here. But it didn’t really make me go wow.
The Caldereta had fork-tender pieces of beef. It tasted like regular beef stew. Friends have told me that this is prepared with mashed liver to thicken the sauce and make it taste bolder but G2 and I agreed there wasn’t any. I did like the roasted potatoes that they added as a nice touch.
I liked the Pancit Palabok. But you have to eat it fast or the noodles get gummy. The sauce is thick and flavorful and the crushed pork rind gave it that amazing crunch.
Sadly, the eggrolls (Lumpia) that were a beautiful golden brown, were undercooked inside, a common occurrence when you deep fry with very, very hot oil. I would’ve eaten it just the same but the filling had pork in it, and, no, you don’t want to eat raw pork.
I would definitely go back to try more of the menu. But I’d wait a couple of more weeks when the kitchen has had time to accommodate an influx of people.
Menu here.
Gene Lee of the AJC has a great description of the dishes as well as pictures here.
Fil-Am Star Cafe & Bakery
5150 Buford Highway NE., Suite A-170
Doraville, GA 30340
678-580-1209.
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10 responses so far ↓
1 vince // Feb 11, 2011 at 5:04 pm
haha, that excited to try the first Filipino restaurant in awhile eh? Went there during the afternoon of 02/09 and it was kind of empty. Didn’t eat there though, just grabbed some pastries and left. Will try the full menu out after a couple of weeks… let them work out the kinks.
2 eggrollstan // Feb 11, 2011 at 5:41 pm
Thanks for the review! I got pretty excited about having someplace to possibly bring some pinoy friends for some Filipino food here! Some have resigned themselves to an annual lechon pig roast south of Atlanta for authentic dishes.
3 mingaling // Feb 11, 2011 at 7:29 pm
Oh wow, they have buko pie?
5 years of living in Manila and I have yet to find another buko pie around. Might have to make the trek.
4 Travis S. Taylor // Feb 11, 2011 at 11:25 pm
Now I’m incredibly hungry! I like your style of writing.
5 Chloe // Feb 12, 2011 at 5:33 am
Vince: Of course it was empty on 02/09– the kitchen didn’t open until 02/10
Oh, and, I was also there on 02/09 for pastries.
Stan: Don’t go there with high expectations. Just saying.
Lori: Hm, didn’t see any buko pie. Most of the pastries are soooo dry. Like they were frozen then thawed. Heard they come from California so it’s expected.
6 Jason Sailor // Feb 14, 2011 at 3:01 pm
Went there for lunch, had the Adobo, Pancit, and Lumpia – the lumpia were actually tastier than my mothers.
But don’t tell her that.
7 Statii Radio // Feb 14, 2011 at 3:52 pm
Thanks for sharing the menu. The Caldareta and Adobo look incredible and so does the Pancit Palabok. Maybe I’ll try the restaurant myself someday. Thanks for posting.
8 vince // Feb 17, 2011 at 12:44 pm
adobo was good. embotido… not so good.
9 Ramil Elloso // Mar 14, 2012 at 3:47 pm
Hi,
Do you mind correcting our phone number to 678-580-1209.
Thank you,
Ramil
10 El Vez // Apr 2, 2012 at 1:39 pm
Fried Chicken and Crispy Pata was a big disappointment. Overpriced!
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