Laing (shredded taro leaves cooked in coconut milk & spices)
by Celia Sin-Tien Cheng
October 21, 2005
KRYSTAL’S CAFÉ
69-02 Roosevelt Ave
@ 54th St
Queens, NY 11377
718-898-1900
Note: Since the publication of this article, the East Village branch of Krystal’s is closed. Check out the Woodside restaurant instead.
Talk about unassuming. Krystal’s Café is one of those authentic, casual ethnic eateries — Philippine cuisine to be precise — that you just don’t expect to find in the East Village of Manhattan. The restaurant is easy to miss if you don’t know about it because it is also a bakery and is disguised by the cakes in the front window display. Once inside, there is a small bar and a showcase of cakes and Filipino sweets. In the back is the dining area, and it’s actually much larger than I expected. The crowd is predominantly Filipino, a good sign, and when you take a look at the menu you know that it is catered to natives.
One suggestion I have is to go with a larger party so that you can get a good variety of foods to taste and not waste. My friend and I were only two, so we tried the Sizzling Sisig (finely chopped pork belly with egg and special spices), Laing (shredded taro leaves cooked in coconut milk and spices), Chicken Adobo (chicken marinated in garlic, vinegar and soy sauce), and Kare-kare (oxtail cooked with special peanut sauce and vegetables).
Laing was my favorite dish as the taro leaves were soft and tasty from the coconut milk — one of my favorite things. But all the dishes were very unique and delicious. The Sizzling Sisig arrived on a sizzling-hot plate with a raw egg in the middle, which cooked on the plate while we mixed it with the pork belly and siling labuyo — Filipino chili peppers — and these latter totally completed the dish. Kare-kare is a traditional Filipino dish, I learned. The peanut sauce tastes like peanut butter but it’s neither sweet nor savory and has a lighter texture than I had anticipated. All the dishes go exceedingly well with rice.
I’m looking forward to trying other dishes and the sweets at Krystal’s. The service is very friendly but there is not much décor or ambiance to speak of. The good news is, prices are reasonable, and they deliver!
Also in East Village, Filipino, Vegetables
