Tagpuan

Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner for 2
Price: 2600 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Ginataang langka, pork and chicken adobo, white rice, garlic rice
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: Yes

Note, actual prices are higher than listed!

I love Filipino food, since I grew up on it.  There are several Filipino restaurants in Yokosuka, but unfortunately none of them are particularly nice as they do double duty as seedy bars, so I don't get to them often.  Last night, my son and I found ourselves looking for a place to eat dinner and came across Tagpuan, which is down an alley in a slightly skeezy section of town.  It was early, so I had hopes it wouldn't be too icky inside yet, and we were greeted by an empty restaurant (this is a good thing), and though there were ash trays available, obviously there was no one there to smoke.

Mixed adobo

The menu is extensive, and also expensive.  I picked ginataang lanka, one of my favorite dishes, and Rowan decided he might be able to stomach the adobo (because there aren't any vegetables in this one, he said, unlike the adobe *I* make).  We ordered some white rice for him, and garlic rice for me.  We also had drinks (not included in the price above), specifically San Miguel beer for me (not as good as in the Philipines), and canned buko water for him (not as good as our favorite that we can buy on base).

Ginataang Langka

As is typical with these places, there isn't much in the way of actual cooking going on, the food is pre-cooked and frozen or refrigerated, to be warmed up in a hurry for beer and chu-hi guzzling customers who don't really care.  Not to say that it wasn't tasty...there was something of the flavors I miss there, but it was not exactly delicious either.  It was serviceable, but I think I'd get better flavors from a street food vendor in the Philippines (though I might also get sick!).


I really wish someone would open a *nice* Filipino restaurant here, so the food is not just associated with dives.  It doesn't need to be haute cuisine, just good home-cooked food that you can get at any number of restaurants in the Philippines.  Just one?  Please?