Ensalada Cafe

One of my Filipino favourites! Their tocilog and bagnet dishes are superb, the kare kare and crispy pata are real highlights too. This place also does amazing Jollibee-style fried chicken and spaghetti which hits the spot when craving that type of food. Very friendly family setting and authentic dishes, a must try!

An Authentic Filipino Heirloom Cuisine in Auckland..always a pleasure to dine at Ensalada Cafe Kudos to Stella and Barry Chef owners. A must visit..

Stopped by for a late lunch around 1400. It was empty and so I was able to sit at a table and get the menu. They took my order at the table. I ordered the sizzling spicy pork sisig and the BBQ skewers.<br/ <br/ The sisig was nice. Good flavours and textures and the right amount of spiciness. The BBQ skewers were also good but aren't the best I've had since they didn't have that charcoal flavour. They were still flavourful and quite succulent (since they were cubes or meat which made them a bit different for the others). The Java rice was a bit bland and overcooked since some bits were chewy and crispy. I'm just a sucker of buko pandan since it is one of the best desserts you can eat.<br/ <br/ Food is nice and there is quite a selection of different items. It isn't very big so you might want to book if you have a large group. On a side note, it does look like they offer karaoke if you're up for it.

I think I have tried almost everything in their menu, but my personal favourites are Jolly Blair, Bagnet and Crispy Pata (yes, I am a dry-feeding person). When I was still working in Freeman’s Bay, I always went pass the place on my way to/from work and never missed a chance to eat there Friday/Saturday as a reward for a week of hard work. Being there made me feel at home.. as you can see the place is full of pictures of tourist spots in the Philippines. The staff and owners are very friendly and welcoming. And if your looking for authentic Filipino dishes Ensalada is the place to be.

Been coming here for a while and I always find it pretty homey. The service is awesome, they are so accomodating and super friendly. Being Filipino, I think I consider their food as levelled up home cooking. It’s got the familiar flavours I would find if I came to a relative’s house but with more impact. One of my favourites is beef salpicao (not pictured). But a new favourite is the bagnet kare kare. It’s such an awesome combo of two yummy dishes. You get the delicious peanut based sauce of the kare kare with crunchy skin and tender meat of bagnet. During this visit, we also had fish sarciado, bicol express and pancit. All really good but gotta give the fish sarciado a special mention, the sauce around the fish was so good and such a good leadup to the fish. For dessert, we had turon a la mode and it was delicious. Bonus points for quotables quotes that come with the dessert, thought that was crackup. Ahhh almost forgot! The iced tea is the bomb here. Definitely coming back again and again for some more delicious Filipino dishes