I went to Rekados the other day with a large group of people, the majority of them being Filipino. This was my third time dining here and it's been really good each time - this time was actually much better because I got to try a number of different things.

As there were 16 people in our group, it was too difficult to share everything, so we opted to order food to share just between the four of us. I don't recall the Filipino names for the dishes, but we chose spring rolls, deep fried tofu, crispy pata (pork) grilled eggplant, garlic rice, beef brisket soup, and another pork dish (don't remember what it was called).

Everything was served hot and tasted wonderful. My favourite was the smaller pork dish - cooked and seasoned just right and served with 2 different sauces that really complemented the flavour of the pork. The garlic rice was awesome, although 2 orders would have been enough for the four of us. The grilled eggplant was my least favourite as it had a bit too much 'smoke' flavour and overpowered the flavour of the eggplant. The tofu was also excellent, and the sauce served with it was amazing. Nice & spicy.

As for the "authenticity" of it, I did hear some comments that it wasn't totally authentic, but everyone loved the food and there were no complaints. Some people ordered desserts and raved how great they were, especially the chocolate mango creme brulée. I myself was too full to have dessert, but I did try a taste of the creme brulée and it was good. I prefer vanilla, though, so this one was not outstanding for me. The consistency was spot-on, although the sugar on top could have been a little thicker, as it didn't 'crack' when you hit it with the spoon.

For all of the dishes we shared, between the four of us - including tax and tip - was less than $20 each. I thought it was a great value for the amount of food we had, but I will say it wouldn't have been AS good a value if there were fewer people at the table... unless of course you order lots and have leftovers.

I will absolutely go back.

but the food, meah...nothing spectacular. I have never had Filipino food before and thought everything tasted the same. I agree with a previous review that many of the dishes remind me of cuisine from other ethnic cultures. The food came out fast but were either lukewarm or cold which made me wonder if they were pre-made. The 'martinis' with slushy ice was very odd. I know this is being critical but of all the different Asian food that I've tasted, Filipino is the least enjoyable. But I gave 3 stars for ambiance, the room was comfortable. And it was inexpensive I must add, $100 for 4 people with tons of food and 6 drinks.

My neighbour recommended this place and she is a Filipina, so she knows the score. When we got to the restaurant my wife and I were really impressed by the ambience. It was modern chic, and they had cool techno music in the background interspersed with pop favourites sung in Tagalong. This place used to be a Chinese restaurant but it has had an extreme makeover.

The owner was very friendly and he made recommendations to help us decide. We started with tokwa ‘t tokwa, which is deep fried tofu squares with a spicy vinegar sauce. Then we had the mains: curry pińa chicken which is yellow curry, chicken pineapple and peppers, and crispy pata, which is roasted pork hock with crispy skin on the side, with a savoury vinegar sauce. To wash it down I also had a honey-calamansi, which is a famous Philippine slush drink, containing citrus and, well, honey.

The food was really outstanding. Maybe the portions were smaller than at Pin-Pin for example, but the presentation was awesome and the food was delicious. The service was great too, and I really enjoyed the meal. Mrs. C was very impressed too, and she demanded that we return with our friends to share the experience. I think I would go back with my pals for the wow factor, but if it is just me and the missus, it would be hard to decide between this place and Pin-Pin.

Recommended!

I have been here a number of times, though I'm discovering that each time I go, I'm slightly less and less impressed. It's still on my 'eat here' list, though.

The food is presented nicely. It's pretty. The decor is very nice - it's my kind of place. I have never had a problem with the service, personally. As far as Asian cuisine is concerned, I would say Rekados has the friendliest, warmest staff I've seen in a long while.

The only complaint is that in winter, the dining area is C O L D if you happen to sit on the wrong side of the door entrance, and the food correspondingly loses its wonderful aroma, and much of the enjoyment is then gone.

Dishes that I personally like include 'crispy pata', 'adobo' and 'crispy tofu'. Desserts are out of this world, wildly delicious - especially the toffee cake.

Do go!

I came to this place with a Filipino who has gone to Sandy's Kitchen ( I think that's the name of it), anyways, she thought it was very Americanized compared to Sandy's. And, she didn't really like it.

But, I enjoyed what I ordered because I probably wouldn't want anything extremely exotic, but I just wanted to get an idea about what Filipino cuisine (other than adobo) is all about.

We had bbq prawns (very hard to pull shells off) , bbq pork and chicken skewers, rice noodle dish, beef stew(very yummy), spring rolls(not great).

Give it a try you might like it. The hot pot looked good.

I really enjoyed my lunch at Rekados. It was the first time that I've tried Philipino cooking and I liked the variety of flavours and the mixtures of various asian influences...yummy. would definitely go again.

Okay, to enjoy any sort of Filipino food, you must understand the cuture first. I fortunately do and adore this restaurant.

I will admit the food is a little pricey for the portion size but the presentation of the food and the taste makes up for it. The Calderetta is awesome and the Adobo(Filipino staple)is exactly the way Adobo should be, just prettier.

The service is a bit different,but as I said before you must understand the culture to appreciate it.

I've returned to this restaurant many times and have yet to have a bad experience. Love Rekedos!

Great ambiance - very clean and modern decor, good background music. I was taken aback by the presentation. Never have I seen Filipino food presented so well. We ordered the bulalo (beef soup), lechon manok (chicken), spinach adobo and leche flan. It seems they've reinterpreted Filipino food for a more Western palate, but nonetheless it was good.

As I was looking over the drink menu, I said aloud to my husband, "oh look, they have mais con hielo", surprised because I'd never seen that at a Filipino restaurant menu. Imagine my surprise when it arrived with our order. I don't know if the waiter honestly thought I ordered it, or if I was duped into having it. It also took a long time to get our food (I think 30 mins), but luckily we were not in a rush and chatting with our friends, so it made the time pass more quickly.

Overall, Rekado's is a welcome addition to the restaurant scene - a presentable Filipino restaurant. Kudos to the owners for going where no one has gone before. We'll be going back to try some other dishes.

I dined at Rekados with 5 others and we were all disppointed from the minute we walked in. Upon arrival, one of the servers looked at us but turned around right away to serve a table. It took the same server another 5 minutes to get back to us. We said we had reservations, but he never asked for the name the reservations were for and told us we can sit anywhere. It was a week night and the place was a third full, therefore not too busy. We saw a table with a sign that said reserved and pointed it out. His boss came out and told him that the table was for us. After being seated, we waited another 5 minutes to be given menus. We ordered our drinks and again, it took about 20 minutes before all of the drinks were served.

We then proceeded to order our food: for appetizers, we had tokwa't tokwa, lumpiang shanghai, barbeque chicken and pork, and calamares; for our main dishes, we had palabok, bicol express, adobo, spinach adobo, and sizzling salpicao; and for dessert, we had turon toffee, leche flan, guinumis, sago't gulaman, cheesecake and dark chocolate combo. It took another 20 minutes before the first of the appetizers came out. By this time we had been at Rekados for almost an hour starving. All of the savouries were bland and/or spicy. We didn't mind the spicy, but not having enough flavour in the food was the concern. The iced drink/desserts were also bland. We were all so annoyed waiting for so long for food and service and to top it all, the food was not good.

I thought the food was expensive for what you're getting, not enought value for the money. This place was over rated and I don't think any of us will be returning to this restaurant.

Reading through the other reviews, I was struck by how very different they are. People either love this place or not, but I'm glad I hadn't read through that before we went last night.
I've not had Filipino food before, and neither had my partner, and a Filipino friend took us. Unlike some other reviewers, I was aware, however, of the diverse influences present in Filipino cuisine. Spanish, Chinese, Malay... so I knew that the food would be eclectic.
First off, my partner and I were both surprised by the restaurant itself. I think we were expecting it to be a bit more chaotic, more of the Philippines, but it was very modern and cool.
So too were the dishes. We sampled way too many dishes and ended up bringing home a lot, but we were never disappointed. Even the beer was a surprise. I was expecting San Miguel to be like TsingTao. Nope. San Miguel is a more complex brew. Very nice.
Other reviewers complained about the service. We had no problems whatsoever. In fact, at different points in the evening, all five of the wait staff visited our table.
I ordered from the specials menu, and I highly recommend the grilled oysters. They were so large and flavorful! And the pomelo salad was also wonderful.
My partner had the beef and spinach salad, the adobo and the garlic rice. We also shared the calamari appetizer, which was the best calamari we had had in a long time.
Our friend introduced us to the Crispy Pata. Yum. I kept thinking how bad pork fat is for me, but I couldn't stop eating it!
We will definitely be back.