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| - I've been wanting to try out the Kamayan Feast for quite some time since I saw how amazing the food looked, and I've finally gathered a group of friends to try out the restaurant with me.
Environment:
The restaurant is located right off the Sherborne Subway Station. I've never been to the area before and I was expecting a downtown Toronto vibe, but then when I got out of the station I was a bit turned off by how "sketchy" the area seemed. Even though the Bloor-Yonge intersection is only a subway station away, the Sherborne area felt really quiet in comparison. The houses seem a little run down with graffiti on the walls, and one of my friend told me this is not an area you want to be in at night because there have been shootings :/
Onto the restaurant itself. Tinuno is actually a very small family-owned restaurant with very limited seating. We called for reservation ahead of time so we were able to secure our spot, but they had to turn away some people because they were super packed on the Friday night. Other than our group of 7, they also had another group of 14, and then another group of 10, who ended up had to sit upstairs because the downstairs area was overfilled with customers. Even though the restaurant was clean and all, it was really tight due to the over-booking, which led to a not-so-good dining experience.
Food:
Our group ordered the Kamayan Feast to share among us. They first layer the table with banana leaves imported directly from the Philippines to complete the authentic dining experience. Then they provided us each a portion of their mango salad with oranges as appetizers. After that, they layered the garlic rice bedding across the middle of the table, then piled up the meats and veggies.
For $15 per person we got grilled Bangus fish fillet (their local fish from the Philippines), grilled whole Tilapia, grilled calamari, pork belly, BBQ pork skewers, mussels, shrimps, eggplants, and okras. For that kind of price it's pretty worth it and a lot of the meats were seafood. I really liked the fish, pork belly, and especially the really flavourful BBQ pork skewers.
One of my friend had been to Tinuno before and she commented that when she was here in a party of 3, they got more food to share among them. Later on I noticed that when I looked around as well, as the 2 people tables got more food per person on average. At our table, it was basically survival of the fittest, in which we fought over who gets what pieces of meat and the person who seated themselves strategically at the table and ate the fast was the champion.
Service:
We arrived at around 6:45pm for our 7pm reservation, but we didn't get seated until around 7:20pm because they were overbooked and were overwhelmed with the amount of traffic. After they seated the other 14-person group, the waiters pulled out more tables to set our table up, and I was amazed at how quickly they were able to arrange everything.
Even though the waiters were clearly overwhelmed, they remained composed and handled the situation very well, without being frustrated toward the customers. Our waitress was really welcoming and she explained to us the origins of some the ingredients. Even though the traditional way of eating Filipino food is to use your hands (they provide the gloves), they can also accommodate those who prefer chopsticks or forks.
Overall, I had a great experience at Tinuno, as the food was delicious and it was plentiful for me that left me satisfied after our meal. I would consider returning, but definitely at a less busy time and with a much smaller group.
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