Filipino Restaurants in Manchester and Northwest

[lastlid]

I just came across a Filipino restaurant in Manchester called Cora's. Rang the number but the line is dead. My wife is getting withdrawal symptoms from authentic Filipino chow. Anybody know of any Filipino restaurants in Manchester or the NorthWest in general?

0161 330 4978

Ashton Under Lyne

http://www.igougo.com/photos/journal/pref/007d2142fdea4a8d9b42a8f506b1090a.jpg

[lastlid]

http://www.igougo.com/dining-reviews-b346215-Ashton-under-Lyne-Coras_Philippine_Cuisine.html

"Corazon (Cora) runs a little café in Ashton, not far from Ikea. Visiting first on a Sunday we found it fairly busy, but serving only full English breakfasts (at £3.50 these were great value, but not what we were hoping for). Talking to the chatty owner revealed that she does indeed served Filipino food, but only in the evenings. Paul, Simon and I immediately made a reservation to return the following Thursday.

Filipino cuisine is a mixture of Asian staples, Spanish tastes, and local produce. As such it is a curious half-way-house between mainland Asian (Chinese etc) and Latin American food. According to Wikipedia the culinary heart of the Philippines is Pampanga in Luzon (or so the Kapampangans claim). To our great benefit Cora herself hails from there, and the food dished up is Pampangueñan.

Inside Cora’s is like a cosy little tea-shop – though with a soundtrack of salsa and 50s rock-n-roll crooners. We were the only people there on the Thursday evening – I got the impression Cora had opened up especially for us. Already we had become friends, and it was clear that our interest in Filipino grub had made our host want to treat us to the best. We sat down with a glass of cool San Miguel lager each – who knew that it came from the Philippines? I had always assumed it was Spanish…

First course was soups. Yet again, mine failed to disappoint. I had ordered sinigang (£3.00). This soup was hot and sour. The heat came from a couple of green finger chillis; the sourness came from tamarind. The body of it was chunks of fish and sliced cabbage leaves. It smelled very fishy and had a very distinctive – but by no means unpleasant – astringency on the tastebuds. Simon meanwhile was tucking in to Sopas na Mais (£2.30), a sweetcorn soup with added prawns, and Paul was playing it safe with Sopas na Manok (£2.00), a cream of chicken soup packed with veg.

For a second course we had been encouraged to have spare ribs, a house speciality. These were much more delicately flavoured than the usual sticky barbecue or Chinese-style ribs, with a fragrant garlicky taste to them. They were so slow-cooked the meat was practically falling off the bone. We could see why these Philipino-style ribs were so popular here. They cost £3.80 a portion.

For main courses we had decided to share three between us: one pork, one beef, one chicken. We were brought plates with rice (more rice was later brought out for us without asking), and three serving bowls of meat in sauce.

The pork dish was what must be the Philippines’ national dish: pork adobo. This was strips of tenderly succulent belly pork, cooked in a sauce of vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and red wine. The meat was practically liquescent, and the light sauce was refreshingly tangy without being overpowering. Out of the three main dishes, this was my favourite. At £7.50 it was also the cheapest.

Simon’s favourite was the Calderata. Cora recommended this as our beef dish. It was a (mildly) spicy meal; the heat could not be felt on the tongue, but just as a warming sensation on the back of the throat. For £8.50 we got pieces of beef cooked in a tomato sauce with carrots and (oddly enough) peas. I really had not expected garden peas to be used; I’m not sure whether this would be a traditional Filipino recipe for Calderata, or just a dish adapted to English tastes by using whatever was freely available.

Our third dish was certainly an example of an adapted recipe and not exactly a famous staple of Filipino cooking. Chicken a-la Philippines (£8.50) was clearly an attempt to create a tropical atmosphere by cooking up chicken with typical Filipino produce: in this case pineapple and mango. Considering that I don’t particularly like fruit in main meals this was actually pretty good. There wasn’t a sweet-and-sour fight for dominance, and the sweetness was actually far milder than I expected. It would have been helpful if Paul had said that this was his favourite, but he could not make up his mind.

After packing all this away (and leaving spotlessly empty plates and dishes) Cora popped out for a chat. It turned out that she had prepared a pudding for us, something authentically Filipino. This turned out to be crème caramel. I was used to a jelly-like custard dessert prepared from a packet, but this was a denser possibly baked slice of flan topped with caramel. It was lovely that she had anticipated our needs in this way.

The final bill for the three of us, including drinks, came to £50.50. We actually left £60 we were so happy with the warmth and hospitality we had received from Cora. We also left with intentions to revisit some other time: Paul for the Sunday English breakfast, and me to bring my Filipino auntie. I felt that we had been treated to an authentic meal from the Philippines, and with an authentically generous Philippines welcome. It was unexpected to find this place out in Ashton, but for the spare ribs and pork adobo in particular I feel that it deserves to become much better known among Manchester’s foodies."

[joebloggs]

a meeting place from the 'dark side' :rolleyes:
hope your OK Dom :D

[lastlid]

a meeting place from the 'dark side' :rolleyes:
hope your OK Dom :D

Sorry. How do you mean? Dom? Dark side?

[lastlid]

I have been scouring around for a Filipino restaurant to take the mrs to when we travel across from IOM in a few weeks. Came across this one. Rang the number but it was dead.

[lastlid]

I dont know the dudes in the picture......just a pic I dragged up from the internet.

[joebloggs]

I dont know the dudes in the picture......just a pic I dragged up from the internet.

I've never been to Cora's, thou some ex-members on here met there at least once,

only time a went to Ashton was to buy dodgy cd's for the psx many years ago :rolleyes:

maybe Cora has closed down :Erm: I'm sure Filipino stores must struggle to make money, never mind a cafe :NoNo:

have you been to the little filipino store in Eccles indoor market lastlid ?

[lastlid]

Maybe you can enlighten me further Joe.........

You know the guys in the pic?

[lastlid]

have you been to the little filipino store in Eccles indoor market lastlid ?

:icon_lol:

As I am on the IOM I am virtually captive until I can stump up the £200 quid it takes to get my car across to Liverpool or Heysham. I dont get across often and less so last year as I used my vacation up going to Phils. When I am there I am not there for long, so dont normally have time to mess around. This time I will have a bit more time and want to treat my wife to some Phils food at a Phils restaurant if I can. I saw this and thought "great" as there seems little else about.....

.....looks like it might be a failed business venture?

I never really spent much time in Eccles even though I lived in Stretford for 20 years. But it wasn't a food store I was after. I think it will have to be China Town for the mrs, I am afraid.

[lastlid]

We have a restaurant on the IOM called The New Manila Cafe and Restaurant. Owned by a Filipina but she serves mainly Thai food cos that is what most folk on the island want. She started serving Phils food but it didnt go down well with the natives here.

[joebloggs]

well in Eccles there was a very large Asian food store which sold a lot of Filipino food, as well as Indian, Thai etc, it lasted a year or so. The lady that owned the Filipino store in Eccles had a shop for a while, im sure the cost of running the shop and I would have thought there wasn't a great demand for Filipino food by the locals, (even thou 100+ Filipino nurses/care home workers work at Hope Hospital, she moved back into the Indoor Market, I don't know how they make enough money to survive :cwm24:

but good luck to them :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[lastlid]

well in Eccles there was a very large Asian food store which sold a lot of Filipino food, as well as Indian, Thai etc, it lasted a year or so. The lady that owned the Filipino store in Eccles had a shop for a while, im sure the cost of running the shop and I would have thought there wasn't a great demand for Filipino food by the locals, (even thou 100+ Filipino nurses/care home workers work at Hope Hospital, she moved back into the Indoor Market, I don't know how they make enough money to survive :cwm24: but good luck to them :xxgrinning--00xx3:

I understand where your coming from. Theres a lot of Filipinos on the IOM but evidently they dont want to eat at a Filipino restaurant here either. Presumably prefer to cook their own own? So the owner had to adapt her business accordingly, evidently and go Thai.

[joebloggs]

yes many Brits know Thai food but have not tired Filipino food, when ever I've been to the store in Eccles it appears to me only Filipino's go in the store and not many if any British locals do.

[joebloggs]

New Manila Cafe and Restaurant. IOM

:xxgrinning--00xx3: many sole traders shops have sadly gone now from Eccles ( I remember as a youngster there would be 100s around eccles, not many left now :cwm24:. supermarkets have killed them off :cwm24:

[lastlid]

New Manila Cafe and Restaurant IOM

[lastlid]

:xxgrinning--00xx3: many sole traders shops have sadly gone now from Eccles ( I remember as a youngster there would be 100s around eccles, not many left now :cwm24:. supermarkets have killed them off :cwm24:

Urmston was going that way too.

[lastlid]

yes many Brits know Thai food but have not tired Filipino food, when ever I've been to the store in Eccles it appears to me only Filipino's go in the store and not many if any British locals do.

My ex wife used to use the Asian shops etc in Chorlton a lot (shes a scot)....

[joebloggs]

Urmston was going that way too.

The place I was born - Davyhulme :xxgrinning--00xx3: