Unlike stock tips, handkerchiefs, and the last four digits of your Social Security number, some entrees are meant to be shared. Ration the bounty with today's Groupon: for $12, you get $25 worth of Filipino-Spanish fusion fare and drinks at Patio Filipino Restaurant in San Bruno.
Patio Filipino Restaurant's eclectic menu brims with Filipino flavors that exhibit a piquant blend of Spanish, Chinese, and American influences. Crispy lumpianitas egg rolls pack pork & shrimp into a deep-fried appetizer for dipping in a sweet chili sauce ($9.95). Chorizo, mussels, shrimp, and chicken meddle with aromatic saffron rice in the shareable paella Valenciana ($22.95), which, like a water-balloon fight in the back of a limousine, fully satisfies four to six people. Thirst subsides with sips from traditional Filipino juices such as coconut ($2.85) or mango mixed with calamansi, an Asian citrus ($2.85). Meatless preparations such as sautéed tofu with spinach-like kangkong leaves ($9.95) cater to vegetarians, and elaborate desserts ($3.25+) wow sweet teeth and architects alike with such masterworks as the seasonal buko con seta with violet ice cream atop a young coconut.
Patio Filipino Restaurant
The traditional Filipino dish of crispy pata is nearly always "pure pork bliss," according to Saveur, but the version at Patio Filipino is a cut above: it's “the best I've found,” writer David Bolosan says. To create the dish, pork foreshanks are simmered, slathered with fish sauce, and then deep-fried for a crispy coating. It's a three-step process perfected by Patio Filipino's head chef, a Manila native with both Spanish and Filipina heritage. It's no wonder, then, that the kitchen incorporates ginger, miso, and other Filipino ingredients into their tapas menu. Diners can wash down these shareable dishes with one of the restaurant's own wines, or clack their empty plates together like castanets to accompany the painting of a flamenco dancer gracing the dining room.
