Modern Filipino Street Food! PORK SISIG WITHOUT RICE? Best Elevated Filipino Food in the Philippines

Bone marrow and it's got corn custard to scrape the bone marrow. Oh it's jiggly. It's a piece of heart attack. In today's video, we will be trying one of the newest elevated Filipino restaurants in Singapore called Kubo Wood Fired Kitchen. Located at Robertson Quay near the iconic Singapore River, Kubo focuses on reimagining familiar flavors of the Philippines and celebrates the diversity of cultures and ingredients all over the world, while utilizing traditional Filipino barbecuing techniques. The owner and chef Kurt Sombrero, who was born and raised in the Philippines, showcases his heritage with his Filipino-inspired menu, as well as the kitchen wares and decorations that were handcrafted by the Philippine indigenous tribes. And as a fellow Filipino, it just makes me so proud. And I can't wait to try some of his delicious creations as he masterfully cooks everything with fire. And it all starts here at Kubo. All right, so it's a rainy Tuesday night. We just arrived here at Kubo Wood Fired Kitchen along Robertson Quay. We took the Purple Line train from Punggol to Clark Quay. Just a few minutes walk and we're here. And Kubo is a newly opened restaurant. It's as young as Gabby, about three months old. And Kubo is Chef Kurt Sombrero's first baby here in Singapore. If you remember Chef Kurt, we have featured him from Meatsmith Little India before. He also worked for Burnt Ends, which is a Michelin star restaurant. He's been here in Singapore for eight years working with fire inside the kitchen. So he really knows how to cook with fire. That's the main concept of the restaurant. It's the heart and soul. The customized Pugon or wood fired oven that Chef Kurt has made and preferred to use. There's no gas here in this kitchen. Purely fire to cook everything. You'll see all the marination aging, fermenting, smoking, and grilling over fire here in this wood fired kitchen. I'm so excited because I know Chef Kurt is so passionate about food. And just going back to basics, province style. I think this restaurant is all about reimagining Filipino cuisine in this multicultural and diverse country here in Singapore. And I'm so excited how he will elevate Filipino dishes here in his kitchen. So let's go inside and try out his food. All right so we have ordered two snacks. We have the Inasal Midwing, which has annatto glaze and pickled green papaya. Over here is called honeycomb tripe. It's got some chick and green peas. I'll try first the honeycomb tripe because this is unique. I've never seen this before. It looks so crispy. Let's try. When it arrived, I smelled some kind of like cayenne paprika kind of rub. There's some pepper in there, a little bit of heat. It's still soft with a little bit of chew. Crunchy part is all on the exterior. And then you have that flavorful rub. This is a good snack to pair with beer or some cocktails. There's some green peas that has been fried as well. It has been puffed up. There's some sweetness in there, which is I believe coming from the honeycomb. Very addictive because you have that savory and then hint of sweetness. I think this one can replace your fries already. Really really good. It has some kind of sauce below. Maybe that's chickpeas. The color is like dark orange and it's a little spicy as well and super creamy. I think this is good for vegetarians minus the tripe. So this Inasal Midwing. Inasal I believe came from the It's been loved by all Filipinos. So they're using the mid joint. They remove all the bones except for one. And then I think they marinate it and smoke it and then finish it off in that elevated grill which they can control. This is the Inasal Midjoint Wing. This one has an annatto glaze and I believe the annatto is the food coloring that is popular in the Philippines. And of course there's some pickled green papaya on the side which is what we call achara. So let's try this Inasal Midwing first. Let me get a big piece right here. Look at that. There's a rub on top of it and then behind you will see how moist it is. It's glistening on its own fat from the chicken skin. Give it a try. My mouth is watering. I need my garlic rice right now. One garlic rice please. Oh my gosh! It feels like it's been marinated in coconut vinegar. There's some soy sauce, hint of calamansi, fragrance and flavor from the lemongrass. Mmm! Oh this is good! Most chicken Inasal I've tasted in the northern part will be like savory sweet. More on the sweet side actually. From people who grew up in the south Bacolod, in Visayas. Most of their marination really relies on the coconut vinegar which is really the soul of chicken Inasal. Super duper moist. Oh my goodness! Let me try it with the sauce. I really cannot pinpoint what this is. They might have put some annatto oil in it. I've confirmed with the staff that it's called annatto aioli. It's so light. It works well with the acidity and the beautiful marination of the meat provides a really good contrast to the Inasal. Mmm! Let's try the pickled papaya. Mmm! I'm in love with this pickle. It's got some acidity, sweetness and then there's some heat. In typical high-end restaurants they will show their wine cellars, their collection but here they will show the aged dog, prime rib. Everything has been aged in here and then pickled maybe fermented. Such a beautiful corner here at Cubo. Oh my goodness! All right third and fourth course and we're still having some snacks. So these are small courses. So we have here the chicken meatball. It has some beautiful golden organic chicken egg. There's some on top of it. Next we have here the bone marrow and it's got some corn custard and it looks like we have to try this first. So what the staff said earlier is to scrape the bone marrow. Oh look at that! Oh it's jiggly! This is a piece of heart attack. Look how beautiful that is. It's glistening. It's dripping. The oil is dripping down. Mmm! That's some crispy stuff up there. It tastes like a crispified outer part of the corn. Like the corn skin. Oh my gosh that's so fatty and meaty and super soft and it just melted in my mouth like butter. Heaven! Before I put it here I want to try the corn custard as is because I see some radish slices in here, bok choy, chilies as well. Let's check out this custard. Mmm! What? Cannot even explain. Am I eating nilaga sinigang in one? I'm tasting both in this bite. It's very hearty and comforting. Tastes so familiar and this custard silky smooth with a little bit of sweetness and then with some corn crumbs in there. You can taste the tostado flavor in that corn because it's been crispified. So let's try everything together. Cheers! Mmm! Super good. It's a harmony of flavors in my mouth. I'm tasting that savoriness from the broth with a little bit of sourness, crunch and acidity from the radish, crunch from the bok choy as well. Gives you some freshness. This is such a well-rounded dish. Oh my gosh the bone marrow so sinfully good. Such a beautiful interpretation of the Filipino cuisine of how diverse Filipino food is and how we can put Filipino food forward. This is how you reimagine Filipino food guys. Chef Kurt is doing a great job. Next we have here is the chicken meatball. This looks like a reinvented chicken meatball or embotido actually. It looks like embotido. Look at that chicken egg yo! Very creamy. It's got some duck jew on top of it. Let's get a beautiful cut here. See the cross section with the grill marks in there from the bugon. They're using a customized brick oven here. Cheers! Mmm! You have that savory, soft, well-flavored, well-seasoned chicken meatball that tastes so homey. It tastes so Filipino. Like this is something that I grew up eating. It has this beautiful creamy organic chicken egg. Then you have that savory umami packed duck jew. This is super duper good. Looks nothing like home but tastes like home man. Gotta try this chicken meatball. Super good! All right so we've come to the appetizer part. Appetizer number one. This is called sisig. It's served with flatbread and salted egg. I'm not sure where the salted egg is. Let's mix it all up. It's piping hot. This is their version of the sizzling sisig. Look at the sizzling plate. Look at that quail egg. Let's try to take a big bite. Sisig with the quail egg. Cheers! I'm tasting so many different flavors and textures right now. You have the crispy sisig. There's some chewiness and some gelatinous pieces. Flavor is salty and it's balanced by the acidity from the and then there's some fresh touch and crunchy texture from the bell peppers. You have the creaminess from the quail egg and then fresh herby taste from the cilantro. This is a perfect beer food. But you know what? I've never had sisig with a flatbread. So why not have the first experience here at Ubo. Let's put some quail egg on top there. Break it in half. This is how sisig looks like on a flatbread. Sisig cheers! This is phenomenal sisig. I've never imagined sisig on a flatbread. I mean I can't imagine it on a taco. Well it's a little bit similar but this flatbread is freshly made as well. So good! The texture goes well with this savory, salty and calamansi packed sisig. If other people would say Andi rice on a sisig, I think I'm gonna have Andi flatbread on this sisig. So freaking delicious! Yummy! So let's add some more of that dakju which looks like there's some chilies and onion maybe. Put it on top. Look at that! So beautiful! Cheers! So good! I have no words. The main course has arrived and this is the house aged duck. There's some pineapple juice and timut peppers. I believe that timut peppers are a type of Sichuan peppers that are coming from Nepal. So they're like the Nepalese version of Sichuan peppers. So very unique. This specific duck is the one hanging there, the duck breast that they've been aging for seven days at least. And this specific dish is served with a balisong. Look at this balisong. Balisong is mostly made in Batangas which is in the southern part of Manila. They use this knife specifically for this house aged duck. Let me just show you. Oh my goodness! Look at that! Let's put some dakju. Let's try it. It tastes exactly like Christmas in one bite. Family gathered in front of me. We're all eating together in this beautiful moment and then we're having a delicious Filipino food feast. It's super duper tasty. You have that umami flavor from the aging. The skin is super duper flavorful and it goes well with this pineapple juice which is a little sweet and salty. I've never had this before. That is spicy. That's the timut peppers. It has that numbing feeling similar to Sichuan peppers. Smoky. There's a deep flavor in that pepper. Delicious. To go with this freshly cooked broccoli. Let's try everything together. Look how just perfectly cooked that is with the pineapple juice, with the timut peppers. This is the perfect bite of your life. This might have been the best duck dish I've ever had so far. That's how delicious it is. But you know what? I will keep coming back for more chicken in a salad. Every single strand of this meat is super flavorful. It's packed with that beautiful coconut vinegar marinade. Most importantly, the chicken skin. It gives a beautiful contrast of sourness to the fatty, savory, salty skin. Come to Kubo. Don't miss this. Please put this on top of your list. Drink. Who is it? So they have an interesting drink called Pinky Promise. It's got some balsamic vinegar, fresh lemon, and raspberries. Are you ready? Yes. The raspberries are so yummy. It's super refreshing. I can taste the sourness from the lemon and from the raspberry. Then there's sourness from the balsamic vinegar which is super different, super unique. I've never had balsamic vinegar on any kind of drinks before. There's like a big block of ice in the middle of this. It's stuffed with these frozen raspberries. It's so sour, yummy, and good, and cold. Dessert time. So we have here what they call the Halo-Halo. So this Halo-Halo has this purple yam sorbetes which is like ube ice cream with coconut and meringue. You see that meringue? This dessert is personally made by Chef Kurt. Torch the coconut, also the meringue. That's why the ice cream is a little bit melting right now. Cheers! I love the mix of the coconut flavor with the ube. Let's get the corn and mungo. The flavors of Halo-Halo are elevated and more sophisticated. Through the torching, you can really smell and taste that in every bite. There's some coconut pieces in there. It really makes a huge difference. And this is the final dessert, turon. This turon has some roasted banana, fruit jam, and coconut butterscotch. I'm assuming the roasted banana is inside. Let me try that first. Beautiful golden brown outside. And I think this is the coconut butterscotch. Let's get a little bit more of it. Cheers! Mmm! I'm back home. You can taste the beautiful flavor. The banana is not too sweet actually. It's balanced by the sweetness coming from the jackfruit jam and then creaminess from the coconut butterscotch. Oh man! I love the flavor of the langka together with that not so sweet banana and that creamy coconut butterscotch. I'm so happy right now. I'm not gonna say it's close to home but it's really home. I'm home right now. This is something that most if not all Filipinos love. What an amazing feast here at Hugo Woodfire Kitchen. Which was your favorite Kayla? The strawberry juice. It's a raspberry. And the raspberry juice with a very big ice. That chicken inasal out of this world. You should get that guys. It's super duper delicious. I'm just loving the vibe here. Chef Kurt has been very busy in the kitchen because there's so many people. I'm just very happy to see Filipino people doing their passion in other countries. Pursuing their love. So if you want to try their food, please come here at Hugo Woodfire Restaurant along Robertson Quay. I'll put the link in the description box below so you can try. Yeah that's it for today's video. Thank you so much for watching. See you again here in Singapore. Bye!