Epic Grill Silogs

I have been to this place many times and always enjoyed it. I don't eat pusit, but I changed my mind after tasting theirs. It's also just great to know there is a Filipino resto in the neighborhood serving my fave silogs. However, the best experience I had so far was when my niece and I went to this place right after picking her up from school. They were already closing, but the owners still let us in. The husband also made onion rings for my niece even though they were already closing their kitchen. And while my niece was enjoying her super delicious onion rings, the wife gave us a slice of her special ube sans rival on the house! And yes, it was really good!

Great selection, wonderful staff and service and the food is outstanding. If you leave hungry then you must be sick because the portions are generous.

From all over, folks arrive here, in the middle of nowhere, for authentic Filipino breakfasts. I love that the current proprietors have preserved the old school counter and stools and even the stainless steel menu holders. Chairs are covered with plastic like Grandma used to do but it does not detract from the comfort of the place. A typical Filipino breakfast includes a couple of eggs, garlic fried rice and a meat or fish on the side. My Filipina partner chose the dried squid. I could smell it coming from several tables away and was ready to flee. To my delight, it was close to tasting like bacon (the experience was like Durian; smells awful, tastes wonderful). Filipinos often do not reconstitute dried fish (unlike bacala or dried mushrooms) so the flavour of the squid is powerful. I had the deep fried pork belly (not for my health obviously) and smoked fish. The pork was amazing. The fish does not come gutted as  I am used to but my Filipina made short work of the head et al. I enjoyed the rest (careful with the bones). We ordered San Rival to go (yes, it is just what your high school French tells you). A delicious Filipino desert cake. I can't exactly tell you what we are dealing with here other than buttercream, layers, meringue, cashews...need I say more? it is wonderful. Try it! Friendly folks and very nice service.

• located in a residential area at Queensborough; the only resto at least around this area
• lots of free parking along the street
• this place used to be an old Chinese restaurant; interior is not enticing at all. Falling apart long table, chairs are covered in plastic, just like in the Philippines where everything is covered in plastic to protect from dust and dirt
• Good, friendly service; nice people working here
• SiLog (SInangag - fried rice; itLOG - egg) This is a typical breakfast or even lunch meal everywhere you go in the Philippines.
• I find the garlic fried rice lacking flavour, I would personally ask for the cook/chef to add more garlic next time, like a lot more! Good amount of rice though if you are a carb lover lol
• Egg - perfectly cooked just the way I like it, over easy; good job on this!
• Bang is short for Bangus, Milkfish. Warning: it is not bone and headless, although the fish bones are tiny, its still easy to eat. The flavour is bland for me, if its me, I'd probably marinate it longer with more acidic vinegar & garlic
• Tocino: marinated pork in sugar, salt & salt peter; actually has perfect balance of flavour
• Reuben sandwich: 3/5 not so good, this is not a place for sandwiches my friends
• Sansrival: cashews + egg whites + sugar make up the layers & butter in between. This is my favourite dessert of all time. It is not very sweet which I prefer. You can pre order this.
- 12 inch round: $55
- 6 inch round : $20
- 1 huge slice: $8
• I asked the owner for Puto bumbong which she is considering during Christmas season, sweet!
• for 2 people: $30 with dessert no drinks

Epic Grill Silogs is located in New Westminster near Queensborough Landing by the outlet shops. Hidden away in the residential area is this Filipino restaurant specializing in silogs and sansrival. The space is large and can fit small to large groups. It was definitely busy when we came here. There was a long line up to get a table and an even longer wait to get your order. We waited a very very long time…because we were determined to try the silogs.

It's the holiday season, which means we'll be spending a lot of time on the road shopping and playing the role of Santa.  After my late morning appointment with the Chinese herbalist, Buddha Boy and I, along with BabyE, battled the traffic through Queensborough and made our way to...umm...Epic Grill Silogs?

Weeks ago, there was a post on its FB page informing a temporary closure while the restaurant undergoes a change of ownership.  The post stated that the restaurant would either be back in action on December 15th or until further notice.  As promised, it returned on December 15th.
(Note: The post regarding temporary closure has been deleted by its page admin.)

Despite the outside yellow awning that says "Newen Cafe - Chinese & Canadian Food", there's really nothing on the menu that indicates westernized "Chinese" food.  Other than a few selections of sandwiches, burgers and "Canadian Breakfast", the orange sign posted on the window pretty much summed up its main offering, silogs.

So what are silogs?

It's a Filipino-style breakfast with savory meats served with over-easy eggs and garlic fried rice.  The suffix, silog, was an invented combo of sinangag (fried rice) and itlog (eggs).  Some of the common mixes are tapsilog (dried/cured meat), tosilog (tocino), bangsilog (milkfish), lechonsilog (crispy pork belly), SPAMsilog, etc.

First came my order of Calamansi Juice.  Prior to stirring, I took sips of the top and bottom layers.  The top was a mix of water and lime while the bottom was calamansi syrup.  Since no utensils were provided, it was quite the work to blend the two layers with a low-quality soft straw.

Nonetheless, this was delightful and refreshing...even on a chilly day.

Since it was our first exposure to silogs, we wanted to try as many meats as possible.  Buddha Boy suggested to go for Combo #2 and opted for Tosilog (tocino), Chopsilog (pork chop) and Lechonsilog (crispy pork belly).

Tocino was delicious.  It was slices of pork belly cured with a sweet mixture of salt, sugar, water, wine and food coloring.

The flavorless pork chop was disappointing.  Not only it was a bit dry and a tad hard to chew, uneven coating of batter also delivered an odd textural bite.

We enjoyed the crispy pork belly, aka lechon.  The skin was crispy and the meat was moist with a tender crunch.  The cut had a higher fat ratio, just the way how pork belly should be.

The garlic fried rice was, just as the name suggested, garlicky.  Parts of the rice were dry while parts of the rice were still stuck in chunks.  The rice was lukewarm.

Two over-easy eggs, as requested by Buddha Boy, were done well.

Two dips were included.  The tangy and sweet lechon sauce had a distinctive liver savoriness with a mellow tone of garlic that lingered.  The vinegar dip, on the other hand, had only the sour taste and lacked pungent dimensions.

Side Note:
I have hard feelings toward, and disgusted by, those people who would order pork belly dishes then complain nonstop about how fatty the meats were.
YOU know YOU ordered PORK BELLY right?  Point made.

Buddha Boy added an order of Spring Rolls (lumpia).  Each roll was tightly wrapped with meaty pork filling that was lightly seasoned.  The outer coats of these rolls were pleasantly fried to crisp.  The dip was similar to Thai sweet chili sauce.

Since we didn't really order enough for the two of us, I had the perfect reason to order a dessert.  The Ube Halaya Flan was house-made flan with mashed purple yam.  The mashed ube had a gritty texture but maintained its peculiar fragrance.  The flan was rustic and overly sweet.

The restaurant, run by a Filipino family, has a diner setting but it did not feel warm or homey.  Service was friendly but inattentive.  Upon entering the restaurant, we were not greeted nor instructed so we weren't sure whether we had to wait to be seated or seat ourselves.  We ended up doing the latter   After going through the wall menu, it took a while to wave down a server to take our orders.  When we decided to add a dessert, it also took a while for service.  During our visit, the crew hung out in the back (kitchen) most of the time.

While we did enjoy the food, we were a bit choked with its pricing and portion ratios.

You see, a single meat silog plate is $9.95CAD and a three-meat combo is $19.95CAD.  With such a big difference between the two prices, wouldn't it be safe for us to expect that the three-meat combo would be, at least, double in size?  Double the rice?  Double the egg?  Double the meat?.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

After seeing what other tables had with their one-meat plates, we were discouraged.  The three-meat combo, served on a square plate, had similar servings of rice and same amount of eggs.  The meat?  While the portion was more than the one-choice round plates, it was certainly not doubled.  The three-meat combo was not a better bang for the buck.

In conclusion, we will visit again as we did enjoy the simplicity of silog breakfasts.  However, with unbalanced prices, we would only order single-meat silog plates.

Perfect Filipino brunch served in a family-run restaurant in New West. Eggs, garlic rice and your choice of meats and fish make for a satisfying meal. Dessert also offered as a bonus.

A terrific place to go with the people you love, whether it's to eat familiar favourites or introduce a beginner to all the Filipino staples. Grab a kalamansi juice to refresh yourself or cut through the post-pata coma. Warm, friendly, bilingual service. Great selection. If you're not feeling the usual noise of a Filipino dining room, go after 1 and there will be several 4-tops available. Best bangus in the city, hands down. I've taken half a dozen beginners to Epic Grill Silogs and every single one tried something completely new to them and went home completely satisfied. Even fussy eaters will find their mouths too full of garlic rice to complain.

It's Filipino food so expect rice! It is going to be a heavy meal so I recommend going for brunch or lunch. It's pretty busy when we went there but the service was great still. Generous serving and good value. It's the kind of place where you eat and go as it does get packed and can have quite a line waiting outside. For safe food options, aside from the obvious ones like bacon and spam, I recommend lechon, tapa and tocino (on the sweeter side but tastes great with their vinegar or hot sauce). Parking can be a hassle if you go at a busy time since it's in a residential area.

Always a great time at Epic Grill with my family! I always get the same thing (lechon kawali, tapa with garlic fried rice). This picture was taken the last time we were there (March 20th). Yummy food and great service!