Hapag Ihaw Ihaw

We love their BBQ, crispy pata, beef caldereta, bulalo, sans rival and buko pandan. I have tried other Filipino restaurants/fast food in Vancouver, and Hapag is the best! Highly recommend.

We arrived hungry at Hapag Ihaw-Ihaw which is always a good plan if you are eating Filipino food. We started with 4 skewers 2 of pork intestine and 2 of barbeque. Their barbeque is traditionally on the sweet side. The intestines were surprisingly crispy which made us think that they had been deep-fried before or after grilling? It was a great way to overcome those hunger pangs. We had one combo meal which is a very good deal at $7.50. Of the options, we chose Chicken Inasal which is marinated and grilled boneless chicken thigh. This was an incredibly tender piece of chicken and very tasty but missing were the telltale grill marks....hmm. It came with rice and a bit of a salad from which I removed a fairly brown piece of lettuce. This happens sometimes and it's not a federal affair. I always love Crispy Pata, marinated and deep-fried pork hock with a vinegar dipping sauce. This one was exceptionally good with very crispy skin and a large amount of surprisingly lean and flavourful meat. This was the medium size (they were out of small) at $16 which is a good price. A lot of people could share this and we did have quite a bit left over to take home. Another Filipino classic dish is Sisig. This dish arrived so hotly that it was actually spitting at me! Pork jowl seasoned with vinegar, calamansi and chilis, onions garlic and chicken liver, all grilled and served on a hot platter. This was an excellent version (again, we had quite a bit left over)! We had a side salad (yes, they do have vegetables on the menu) that was very good. Roasted smokey eggplant with tomatoes and onions, a salt-preserved egg and shrimp paste on the side. I admit that even now, I still find some Filipino flavours challenging (including shrimp paste) but this was a delicious mix and the shrimp paste in small amounts lent a salty oceany salty flavour that was very enjoyable.Hapag Ihaw-Ihaw is a small restaurant. At 24-26 seats (?) it was full by noon on Saturday with people waiting outside. Simple and comfortable enough, and decorated with the lovely art of Filipino - Canadian artist, Raymon V. Maliwat.Everyone was very hospitable and the service was efficient. The food was very good and though we spent close to $60 including tax and tips, we order more than normal people do and take home leftovers. Two people could get combinations and comfortably dine for $20 or $30 easily.

Decor was basic, service was friendly, but the star was the food. Crispy Pata is very very good; tender pork hocks with a crackly skin. Tasty as is, but dipped in the vinegar sauce, it's amazing.  Be prepared to use your fingers, though, knives and forks are next to useless on this dish. Sisig is chopped up pork jowls and ears served on a sizzling iron plate. If you're adventurous, give it a try... it's not as terrifying as it sounds. With all that meat, we needed some vegetables, but were not confident we could finish another full dish, so we opted for the Lumpiang Gulay, or vegetable spring rolls. This was the only mediocre part of our meal. Cabbage carrots, leeks and tofu. Nothing special that you wouldn't find anywhere else. If it were me, I would offer some sort of vegetable side dish to the menu to go with all the heavy porkiness.

Absolutely delicious food. The sisig and crispy pata in particular are must try! Service is great, and the food is worth it for their portion.

came by for a pickup to this place that i've been always curious about and yes definitely ordered the pork sisig for filipino food :D. so went inside place was not packed, maybe due to it's near closing time, the place is small, fit around hmmm 30-40 ppl max, then went home with 1 big take out box of rice and 1 sisig pork, the smell once i opened it, man... the sweet smell of pork and the savoury of the fatty part of pork is released. and maybe a just a tad bit strong in smell but at the same time i was hungry so i was pleased with it, and there was also the egg that is stirred with the sisig pork, and i squished the lemon to neutralize the greasy part with acidity and a lil bit of sourness. 

first bite, you can definitely tell the fatty part and the meat was meshed together perfectly, and the seasoning of the sisig is just right, definitely juicy and the flavours brings out the best of the pork, along with the richness of the egg that is stirred, and to tone down the richness the lemon is a must.

i was able to finish it, but at the end i'm a little bit bored of the flavour, maybe due to it's too strong, but it's definitely alright. overall i think it's a good dish, but it's better to share the dish. will try other items for this location next time

Went there for dinner and we really like the grilled squid but I wasn't big fan for site fry noodles. The dessert cake is so good and it is to die for. I was supposed to share the cake with my husband but I ended up eating all of it. We tried pork hocks the second time but we didn't like it. The pork hocks did not have much flavour without the sauce and they are quite dry. I like their kebabs and grilled squid. Their flan is alright but they are bit stiffer texture than on flans I had eaten in the past. The customer service is very friendly there.