Pig and Khao Review: Brunch at Pig and Khao
Oh man, there was a piece out there by a print media food writer and I really wanted to write a rant-y response the truth is who wants to read that? Let’s talk about Filipino food in New York City. Specifically let’s talk about Pig and Khao in the Lower East Side. Restaurants in that one to two star range is in my sweet spot. By that I mean it’s actually affordable to normal people, even tourists. If you are interested in their brunch menu, you could eat through all the savory items on the menu if you just go with some friends. Together with Jonathan and his fam, and a couple of their friends, we tried most of their brunch selection.
The khao soi featured red curry, coconut milk, chicken, egg noodles, pickled mustard greens, and shallots. It’s difficult to meet a khao soi dish that I don’t love, because spicy curry noodles with crispy bits rarely go wrong. The rendition at Pig and Khao was up to par.
The quail dish was just OK because they took a fried bird and added some sauce. Anytime you have fried things and you add sauce on top, it tends to make the crispy bits into the soggy bits. This wasn’t as memorable as the other dishes.
The sisig was delicious. Just as good as those you may find at another Filipino restaurant in NY, Maharlika. For those unfamiliar with sizzling sisig, it’s a dish made from pig head parts, and done up with crispy bits and usually an egg. Goes super nicely with a side of garlic fried rice.
The grilled sardines were nice. They came with a dipping sauce that was largely unnecessary because grilled sardines are always good on their own. It also came with a side salad of tomatoes and cucumbers.
The bahn xeo was good. It was the first time I tried bahn xeo. I guess it’s like a crepe with things in it and you can eat it like a lettuce wrap. I love eating shrimp ever since a quack allergist I saw last month told me I’m allergic to shellfish. Good thing I’m going to die eating shrimp, crab, and lobster.
The Chinese sausage salad basically was just a salad with some Chinese sausage on it. For a brunch dish I would say this was very light. Something like sizzling sisig is more satisfying. If you HAVE TO get a salad, get the grilled pork jowl salad.
Green papaya salad was perfectly acceptable. Probably just as good as any other place in NYC that has it, although I think the way that this dish could blow your mind is very limited. Therefore this was just OK.
What’s nice about the grilled pork jowl salad was that it came with cracklings/chicharron and watermelon. The pieces of pork jowl were aight too but really I just loved the combo of pork rinds with watermelon. Delicious.
The Longonissa sausage was also good. Anytime you can get a variation of the sausage that’s not ‘breakfast’ or ‘Italian’, I think you should jump on it. Because in the states, it seems like all people know are bratwurst, sausage from Mickey D’s, and Italian sweet/spicy sausage. There’s looooots of other ones out there, all worth trying.
So as you can see, if you go with six people, you can knock out most of of the savory things on the Pig and Khao brunch menu. We skipped the sweet options like pain perdu, which I guess they put up there because all brunch menus need a pancake/waffle thing on the menu. Blame the weaklings for that. If you go to Pig and Khao for brunch, stick to sizzling sisig, khao soi, bahn zeo, longonissa sausage, and the pork jowl + watermelon salad.
Pig and Khao68 Clinton St.New York, NY 10002212-920-4485