We can describe them as a “one-stop shop” where one finds everything he needs.
Aside from regular restaurants, where there is dining in and takeout stuff, there is a section for grocery items—mostly goods from the Philippines.
That’s good because these Filipino goods are seldom found in some groceries in Toronto.
There is also a way to send money to the Philippines through money remittance; we cannot help it because extending help to our relatives back home is necessary for all Filipinos living abroad. It’s part of the culture to extend assistance to our extended families for the tuition of our sisters and brothers, living allowances for parents, mortgage payments, bank loans etc.
On the sidewalls of these restaurants, posters about condos for sale in Pasay, Makati, Manila and other cities are prominently displayed; most probably, the restaurants’ owners are doubling as real estate agents to augment their income.
Having this money remittance in some eateries is practical and handy because you can easily send some money back home after finishing your lunch, dinner, or a Halo Halo and Bibingka snack.
Since these restaurants are virtually the meeting place of Pinoys, in one corner, one finds the various calling cards of accountants, real estate brokers, caregivers, and small appliance repair, so if you need the services of these people, all you have to do is get one of these cards and call them.
For the news in the community, these eateries serve as outlets for distributing Filipino newspapers.
While dining in these restaurants, you cannot help but be reminded as if you were back home enjoying your favourite adobo, kaldereta, Kare-Kare, Bopis, Tortang Talong, Pata, Panga, chicharron, lumpia, binagoongan, and Ginataang Baboy.
Seeing those paintings on the walls depicting the ” bukid,” Mayon Volcano, the sunset of Manila Bay, photos of the jeepneys, and carabao, you probably would be thinking of visiting home.
Then, after dining in and you remember that you will be sending some canned goods, clothes, shoes, school supplies, and small appliances to your families back home, look around you, and you will find some balikbayans boxes ready for pick-up.
These restaurants’ multi-faceted services, from diners to grocery stores, real estate brokers, and even outlets for paying your electric and phone bills back home, show our ‘sari store mentality.
We have quite a good number of Filipino restaurants that have mushroomed in Toronto.
It’s a challenge now for Filipino people in business to branch out to big malls to make our famous cuisine visible to others.
Toronto is the best place to showcase our cuisine because of its immense cultural diversity.
Well, our dishes will surely attract these diverse people around us because these dishes are a fusion of different cultures: Spanish, American, Chinese and Malay; and they have been influenced both by the East and the West—500 long years under Spain as a colony and another 100 years under the Americans.
These unique and authentic Pinoy dishes such as adobo, Lechon Kawali, Beef Caldereta, Laing, Poschero, Morcon, Chicken Inasal, Sisig, Paksiw na Pata, Pork Asado, Kare-Kare, Inihaw ng Panga will surely whet the appetite of other people who want to try them.
Aside from these dishes, these people can also try our desserts such as Halo-Halo, Suman and Puto at Kutsinta, Ube cake, Maruya, Banana Cue, Leche Plan, Taho and Sago.
Since most people go to these malls not only to shop and loaf but also to dine and snack—with these Filipino food stalls strategically set up at these shopping malls, we have the best chance to show off our culture through these mouth-watering dishes.