Lamesa Filipino Kitchen

This place is so cool. I went on a Sunday with my fiancé when they have a special menu, where you eat only with your hands. They put all the food on the table on top of banana leaves. It was a really awesome experience.

Normally i do not post. But this restaurant was amazing, we went sunday evening they have special menu, hand to mounth, was unique eating with our hands, the presentation, combination of flavors and textures were amazing!!! Very recomended for a unique experience. Also the atmosphere is good…

I’ve been wanting to check this place out forever and I finally, finally went for brunch the other day.
Their brunch menu consists of around 8 items, split between Western-​style and traditional Filipino dishes.
We ordered the chicken adobo (chicken thigh, poached egg, mixed green salad) and silog breakfast (pork belly, cassava hash, fried eggs and mixed green salad). Both came with a bowl of garlic fried rice. My chicken adobo was pretty good and the chicken was especially tender. I can’t really speak to the authenticity of the food but I thought everything was pretty solid in terms of flavour.
Just a note that the restaurant is pretty small and can fit maybe 25 people at best.
They have a special kamayan hand-​to-​mouth dinner on Sundays and I’m looking forward to trying that.

I’ve been here before for dinner and while I personally thought it was expensive, it was only because it tastes exactly like the food my mom makes but was stylishly presented and proportioned for fine dining’s sake. So that can be taken as a compliment because A) it tastes like my mom’s cooking so you know it’s authentic Filipino food, and B) their presentation is on point.
I came back more recently to try their brunch menu. Prices seemed to be like any downtown Toronto brunch joint (you’re paying for style, any cheaper you should probably just go to an Eggsmart). I thought it was really cool to see traditional brunch items such as eggs Benedict and French toast with a Filipino twist! Everything on the menu seemed delicious. Since eggs Benny is my brunch go-​to I decided to order that while my friend got the Silog Breakfast with pork longanisa (you could choose between susag and tocino for your meat).
I wish I had ordered the Silog Breakfast. The pork longanisa was generously served and had a delicious smoky, charred taste to it from the grill. The garlic fried rice hit the spot and really sealed the Filipino breakfast deal. Unfortunately, my Salmon Benny wasn’t as meaty as I was feeling for my first meal of the day and the hollandaise sauce, described as being made with suka (vinegar), ended up having too much suka for my taste. It completely drowned out the salmon and the emsaymada bread it all sat upon.

Great brunch and reasonable price! I ordered salmon Benny. The salmon is so great! That Filipino bread (sry I forgot the specific name) was on point, a little bit sweetness added some exciting taste for the bread! And the eggs were not too hard not too soft! Everything is near perfect!

Had dinner here recently and it was a good experience overall. It was on a week night so it was pretty quiet in the restaurant which was great. We had:
Cocktail: Mary Rose
Dinner:
Roasted Broccoli
Chicken Adobo
Beef Bulalo
Garlic Rice
The drinks are great here. The Mary Rose is light and fruity and I really enjoyed it.
Our favorite part of the meal was the Roasted Broccoli, which sounds weird because it’s just broccoli… but it really is delicious. It was seasoned with garlic and peanut sauce and a few other things that made it really unique.
The Chicken Adobo was tasty, but we had expected it to have a bit more to it
The service was good, our waiter was very nice and relaxed. We had no complaints here.
Overall I liked Lamesa, and it is a great place to try something new since they create a modern twist on Filipino dishes.

This place has great Filipino fusion cuisine! The restaurant itself is tiny yet intiate. The kamayan, or «hand to mouth» dinner tasting is a great introduction to those not familiar with Filipino food. The regular menu is delicious as well. The corned beef is a nice twist on a classic. I could make better chicken adobo, but it’s safe but good choice. The salmon laing is also worth a try. The ube leche flan is to die for and I can’t wait to try the halo halo the next time I go.

I’ve been to a surprisingly small number of Filipino restaurants ever. So when I saw a place in Toronto near by that had good reviews, I was pretty excited to try it.
I met up with a friend here at 6PM. We were the only two in the restaurant for a while, so we were able to order and get our food pretty quickly. While we were there, the tables all got filled up, so making a reservation might be a good idea (unless you wanted to chance it).
The staff recommended that for two, it would be good to get 3 things (an entrée, 1 or 2 starters, or 1 or 2 salad/​side) + rice. My friend doesn’t like veggies, so we ended up sharing two starters (lechon kawali – or crispy pork belly and dip; and the corned beef lumpia), an entrée (chicken adobo), and a bowl of garlic rice. For us, it ended up being exactly the right amount of food for two. Enough so that we were able to also get a chocolate pandan cake for dessert, but probably not much more.
I thought the food was very good. Flavour wise, I thought everything tasted pretty good. I wish the pork belly wasn’t as crispy as it was (if that makes any sense), but I thought it still tasted good. I also thought the dessert was going to be half pandan, half chocolate, but it ended up being chocolate, with a hint of pandan flavour infused in there. It was a good chocolate cake – just different from what I thought it was going to be.
Service wise: I thought it was very good.
Ambience/​noise level wise: it was great for conversation.
Price wise: I think some of the other reviewers thought it could have been cheaper… obviously, I would never complain if it was cheaper. But I thought it was reasonable.
One final note: my friend had been here before and told me that the menu changes. I’d come back here to try other dishes, for sure.

3.5÷5
I haven’t been to a Filipino restaurant in Canada to eat a full meal before — after all, I can do that easily at my own house. But I figured, if I had to do it, I might as well go to a place where they’ve modernized traditional dishes a bit and added that North American flair (for the novelty). Lamesa did a pretty good job, I think.
We came on a Sunday morning, just before noon, and were seated fairly quickly. They weren’t busy yet, but I could see that three big tables had already been reserved. My partner was a little disappointed that they only had the weekend brunch menu (he really wanted roast pork), but I think it worked out well. We were pretty hungry and I don’t think we would have been satisfied with a sharing menu.
My partner ordered the pork belly tocino with cassava hash and eggs while I had the bifstek with eggs. When the food arrived at our table, they came with greens and garlic rice. Filipino dishes are very protein-​rich and carb-​heavy so I appreciate the addition of vegetables even as I pondered at how weird it seemed with the rest of the food.
The garlic rice was perfect. The steak and the pork belly tocino were OK — although I had been expecting the steak to look and taste like actual Filipino bifstek (it didn’t). It was on the medium-​rare side, and our server (who I think is also the owner) never asked how we wanted our eggs or steak done. A minor oversight, but maybe we should have known better. I did like the gravy and the cassava (?) sauce that the steak was on.
Overall, a very filling meal, as Filipino meals are (and should be). I found the portions just enough — and although I really wanted some ube leche flan to top it off, regrettably I had no room.
The whole bill came to less than 40 after beverages, tax and tip, so quite reasonable, really. I rounded my rating up to a 4 because good gourmet Filipino restaurants are far and few in between — if not completely unheard of — so it’s nice to know they exist and that there’s a market for it. I would not hesitate coming back and trying other dishes — if that counts for anything!

Came here based on the reviews and really wanted to try some modernized Filipino food.
Service: Casual and friendly
Ambiance: Laidback, small.
Food: 3.5÷5 … ~$ 20 for a small meat entrée that feeds one… then you have to order rice on the side at an extra cost. If you’re someone like me that needs the veggies as well to really complete your meal, that’s another $ 8 – 15 to your bill. Taste-​wise, the food was good. Presentation was great. But based on the food and price — I don’t think it was worth it.
I had the beef brisket — came in the delicious broth which when well when dunked into rice.
Also had the eggplant which was supposed to be a restaurant favorite — I wasn’t a fan. The charred eggplant wasn’t for me. Still feeling hungry… I ordered the adobo chicken. 3 pieces of boneless chicken thighs coated in nicely balanced sauce — I was finally full.
I also ordered the LoLo Cool J — was yummy.
In total, for two people we spent $ 102 which was pretty steep considering this was supposed to be a casual night out.
I would like to come back again to try other items sometime in the future though.

4.5÷5!
*great service and great food, just like last time.
–Beef Cheek Sinigang (House corned beef, bean, radish, greens, citrus and tomato broth) — $ 24:
Friend ordered the beef cheek sinigang and she said the beef cheek was incredibly tender. I only tried the broth as she was raving about it as well and I have to say, it was the star of the dish! The broth was clear, sour but not in an artificial way and very refreshing with all the slightly-​steamed vegetables.
–Lechon Kawali — (Crispy Pork Belly, Picked Papaya, sawsawwan) — $ 12:
So much fatty goodness with this one. Crispy skin and tender pork belly, need I say more? The acidity from the picked papaya helped to cut down the fattiness of the pork belly… However, that dipping sauce or sawsawan?! I don’t know what is it made of but it was slightly sweet for me, and I thought the flavor combinations were pretty interesting (in a good way!).
–Pork Inasal (Grilled Pork Chop, 7-​Up glaze, scallion, pearl onion, pineapple) — $ 22:
The pork chop was on the verge of being dry, hence the –0.5 point :(. With that said, I found the jus really helped to keep the meat somewhat moist, and don’t get me wrong, the pork was seasoned perfectly with a hint of sweetness from the 7-​up glaze. The tangy pineapple cut through the heavy pork chop and I didn’t care too much for the scallion since I didn’t think it was needed
–Halo Halo (Strawberry anglaise, apple tapioca, blackberry gel, ube leche flan, shave ice) — $ 8
I was quite surprised to see this being served in a take out plastic cup and I was hoping there would be jellies or fruits like the one I see in other restaurants. Nonetheless it was still good and although a tad too sweet, that’s expected from the creamy ube (purple yam) flan and ice cream. With every bite you are getting some crunchy texture from the rice krispy topping and apple tapioca, overall a very refreshing and fun dessert!

This is my second time here, blown away by the food and service as last time! So bumped out that I missed the summerlicious menu.
My first time here was for the valentine menu. The atmosphere, food and service were 5star! Very impressed, amazing experience.
This time I came here with a couple of friends for dinner. We ended up getting almost all the main dishes on the menu. The chicken adobo, beef cheek sinigang, and the other main that I can’t remember. My vegetarian friend really liked his dishes too. The okras looked so good! We all got halo halo (yehhhh!) for dessert! Best thing ever. All the ingredients worked so well together. We left the restaurant extremely satisfied, loved every bits of it.
Would ve been a 5 star if lamesa serve some more traditional Filipino food. The modern fusion touch is nice, I love it, but without the servers or Filipino friends explaining each dishes to me I would never know they are Filipino food and easily mistaken them as food from another country. The food are a tad pricy for the amount but the effort put onto them and service made it up. Plus, it is because the food were so good I wish there were more. All the dishes looked like art to me, great attention to the details from the presentation to the ingredients. I can really see/​feel/​taste the chefs’ passion in their food. Really appreciated everything, salamut po!
Can’t wait to come back to try out the kamayan!

Modern Filipino cuisine is a rarity in Toronto but thanks to Lamesa Filipino Kitchen you can experience the bold flavours in Filipino inspired dishes served up by the new head chef Daniel Cancino. Daniel was born in Hong Kong but raised in the Philippines so he is very familiar with home cooked Filipino food. Daniel began working in the food industry at the age of 15 and after completing the culinary program at George Brown college he worked at many notable restaurants in Toronto such as Hudson Kitchen, Kanto, The Thompson Hotel, and Union. He is now the head chef at Lamesa where his culinary upbringing and Toronto learned cooking techniques have given him the inspiration to produce a unique spin on classic Filipino dishes.
With the addition of head chef Daniel also comes a brand new fall/​winter menu at Lamesa that features visually stunning dishes with sweet and sour flavours. The menu includes a number of items that I had never tried before so I was extremely excited to preview the menu.
When I arrived at at Lamesa, I automatically felt a very cozy and intimate atmosphere. The lights were dimmed, the space was long but narrow and some chill hip hop jams were playing. There was also art pieces throughout the restaurant which I later found out were from a number of Filipino artists in the community. After getting seated and being welcomed by the owner and chef Daniel, I was ready to indulge in quite an eclectic menu.
Here’s what I tried:
Boracay Breezy Cocktail — dark rum, coconut rum, banana liqueur, house made peach liqueur and macerated strawberry syrup
Tuna Kinilaw — albacore tuna, coconut calamansi vinaigrette, fresh chiles, coconut guacamole, shrimp chips
Beet Maalat Salad — salted egg, white anchovy, beets, Thai basil, watercress, wild rice
Corned Beef Lumpia — House corned brisket, house banana ketchup, house cheese, house kimchi, cabbage mostarda
Ensaladang Talong — roasted eggplant, eggplant caponata, crème fraîche, salted egg, puffed wild rice, sweet soy
Cauliflower Ginataan — Roasted and grilled cauliflower, green cauliflower purée, coconut cauliflower foam
Pork and Octopus Dinuguan — octopus, pork cheek, onion, apple, maple puto, pig blood
Beef Bulalo — beef short rib, bone marrow, cabbage, potato, salsa verde, beef and ginger broth
Ube Leche Flan — spanish style custard made with sweet purple yam, puffed wild rice, apple tapioca
The highlights for me were the Tuna Kinilaw, Corned Beef Lumpia, Beef Bulalo and Ube Leche Flan. The tuna tasted extremely fresh and paired perfectly with the coconut guac and shrimp chips. The corned beef lumpia’s were like a spring roll on the outside but filled with corned beef goodness inside and served with homemade banana ketchup and kimchi. The bulalo broth was so tasty and aromatic and the beef literally fell right off of the bone. The ube leche flan was unreal and I don’t think I have ever tasted something quite like it. Not only did it look lovely, but it tasted amazing. Very light with a creamy texture and the perfect amount of sweetness. Loved the addition of puffed wild rice and apple tapioca which made for all sorts of fun textures in my mouth.
My least favourite was the Pork Octopus Dinuguan. This dish was just weird to me. Octopus paired with pork and pigs blood is just not appetizing and it wasn’t visually appealing either. There was so much strong sour flavour as well, the whole thing unfortunately threw me off.
Overall I really enjoyed my experience at Lamesa and would come back here for drinks and starters. The main dishes were good, but I really enjoyed the smaller plates. It’s great to have a culinary hub for all things Filipino in Toronto so be sure to check out this spot if you want to experience a modern twist on your favourite Filipino dishes!

Came here for dinner with a friend on a Tuesday evening — we didn’t have a reservation but it wasn’t busy, so we got a table right away (managed to snatch a window seat :). I’ve never really had Filipino food and have been wanting to try it for a while, so was excited for this meal.
The waiter introduced the tapas style menu and seemed pretty knowledgeable. We decided to not order any mains, but a bunch of starters instead as a few of them caught our eyes. We shared a salad of tomato, salted egg and anchovies (tomatoes were quite tasty but the rest a bit too salty), 2 bistek siopaos (we both liked red meat so enjoyed the patty, and the milk bun was interesting), and tuna ceviche guac with shrimp chips (the guac was probably my favourite dish).
We also ordered a side «vegetable» (vegetable pancit — which was mainly glass mung bean noodles topped with some peas and red chili peppers). I thought this tasted fine, but not really note-​worthy. My friend said I had to try the garlic rice, so we got an order of this too. It tasted like the Asian fried rice I have at home — good but again nothing special.
Finally, we shared half a bottle of pinot grigio (there’s always a time for red wine) and were pleasantly surprised. The table beside us had some really cute looking cocktails which I’d like to try if I go back.
We probably ordered too much for 2 people (had to leave a lot of the noodles and rice) — but I think the portion sizes would have been just right if we ordered the right amount of dishes for 2.
I later found out this was the favourite downtown Filipino restaurant of one of my Filipino friends. Overall I had a good experience here, and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in trying out a new type of cuisine.

Came here for summerlicious (prix fix dinner for $ 25). Atmosphere inside is lovely — classy but has a homey feel with all the wooden furniture. Service was fantastic — we were seated at the bar, so were being served on by the lady behind the bar. She was so nice and helpful.
On to the food. I did sharesies so tried two of each course on the summerlicious menu:
Appetizers:
Charred eggplant — this dish was just ok. Tasted like fried eggplant with some interesting tasting toppings.
Sisig — flavour was good. Rice wasn’t mushy, but I would’ve liked if the rice had a little less water content.
Mains:
Chicken adobo — this was really good. Chicken was oh so tender! And the asparagus was a really nice touch.
Fried bangus — this is a fried white fish. Really enjoyed the orange sauce and sides (esp the potato). My friend thought the fish was a bit dry, but I thought it was good.
Desserts: (now THIS is where I was super impressed)
Langka cake — ahhhh so delicious. Moist cake with rhubarb and coconut whip. Try this!
Ube leche flan — absolutely delightful. I think the waiter said this was a purple yam based flan? Can’t remember, but it was amazing. I’ve never tasted any dessert like this before. The flan went perfectly with the apple tapioca and the rice crispies… Try this too!!!
I’d come back just for the desserts. While the apps and mains didn’t stand out to me, they were still really well done.

I want to start off this review by saying I actually had no intention to eat here, but we stumbled across this place waiting for our table for 416 Snack Bar. I’m glad we did, because this place was some of the best Filipino food I’ve had on par with the best in Mississauga. We got in here during the peak of dinner time and still managed to get a table.
Our server was super friendly and took the time to explain everything on the menu. We also told him we were in a rush (waiting for our table at 416), and he assured us the food would come out quickly and they would make sure we were on time. We quickly ordered a small meal to share consisting of the Lechon Kiwali and the Sisig. The pork belly slices of the Lechon Kiwali were supremely good, they just sort of melted in your mouth like butter. I know the fat content was high, but I couldn’t resist finishing every last bite. The sisig, looked better in Unilocal photos, than what we got IRL. It was aight though, a little dry and small portioned, but we still ate it all up.
Overall, great service, good food and cool atmosphere. The place reminds me of restaurants downtown in NYC as the décor and lighting make it work. I’ll definitely be coming back here for more pork belly in the future. You don’t win friends with salad.

Lamesa was my first Filipino food experience, although I hear from my Filipino friends that it is more of a fusion restaurant. The place was quite hipster, so fusion made sense. While waiting for my party, I ordered the «Lalita?» drink. I’m not sure if I’m getting the name right, but it was a mix of mango juice, Malibu and Baileys — oh boy was it ever delicious. I went with a group of 8 people and so we were able to try a little bit of everything on the menu.
Seems to me that Filipino food has a lot of egg in it. Starting with the deviled eggs, and then moving onto other entrees with egg in it. That’s probably the first thing I noticed. There were forks so we used utensils. I was excited about eating with my hands… but I conformed since that’s what everyone else in the restaurant seemed to be doing. The crispy pork was probably the highlight of the entrees.
Moving onto dessert, they had this dessert with purple things on the top and it was probably the best thing I tasted all night. Yum! I don’t even have much of a sweet tooth, but I loved this dessert.
I think that overall it was a good experience to try out a new type of cuisine. Would I come back? No, not for the same menu because now I’ve tried everything and I’d have to say that nothing warrants the trip back, however if they do change up their menu then I would consider it.

BF and I were doing a bit of a «tasting» night, and the first on the hitlist was Lamesa.
First, our server explained to us that «Merienda» are appetizers, «Ulam» are the entrees, and the «Gulay» are the sides. This was helpful to get us started, and to gauge the correct amount to order.
Food was amazing, hands down. I ordered the the Lechon Kiwali ($ 22), which was crispy fried pork belly with pickled veggies and comes with a bowl of rice. This was served beautifully on a wooden cutting board, with 10 – 12 generously sized pork belly pieces of fatty goodness. If you’re thinking about being healthy, this is not the dish for you. But if you’re fine with eating Fat with a capital «F», this dish was all about the melting fat, perfectly paired with sweet sauce and kicked off with the sour picked veggies. Winner. I’ll exercise after!
Also ordered the Sisig ($ 12), which is chicken gizzards, fried egg, and pig’s face. What is pig’s face, exactly? Not sure, but whatever it was, it was cooked down to a crispy little dish, and topped with a fried egg. This appetizer was just ok, nothing to scream about.
Overall, I loved the meal here. The server knew we had somewhere to be in an hour, so he made sure the food was out as soon as possible. And wow, they cook FAST when asked! I appreciated that a lot!

Came here for a late dinner and was able to get a seat with no wait at around 8.30−9pm. It wasn’t very busy about 3 other tables in the space dining area. The temperature inside was a bit cold as well.
We got the sisig, which was ok I have had better sisig, their version is less crispy and greasy but more meaty, I found it a bit on the watery side for my personal liking. The garlic fried rice was good though even though its just the usual. The star is definitely the crispy pata! A large (very large!) chunk of deep fried pork with crispy cripsy skin and it came with 2 sauces. Wash it all down with a San Miguel beer. We ended with 2 little turon pockets, it was banana wrapped in crispy fried pastry with sugary syrup.
In the end, the place isnt bad but not amazing either. It is a trendy and more modern take on Filipino food and its the only one in the area

I have limited experience with Filipino restaurants — I’ve only been to Bistro Manila and Jesse Jr. Based on these two restaurants, I basically summed up Filipino cuisine as the saltier and greasier version of Chinese food: P I wanted to try a more refine version of Filipino cuisine and decided to give this restaurant a shot.
The first dish I tried was halo halo sisig with garlic rice. I forgot what the protein of the dish was but it was very flavourful and not too salty! It was a great start to the meal.
For the mains, I got the kare kare and my friend got chicken adobo. My friend thought that the adobo was very sour and I had to agree. The kare kare was very tender and I enjoyed the pieces of fried fat. However, if I was to come back to this restaurant, it wouldn’t be for the mains but for the halo halo sisig.
We ended the meal with ube leche flan and it was DELICIOUS. It wasn’t overly sweet and the ube flavour really came through. I would highly recommend getting this dessert.