Bistro Luneta

615 3rd Ave, San Mateo, CA

(650) 344-0041
http://www.bistroluneta.com/

I always wanted to try a Filipino restaurant and just so happened to stumble upon Bistro Luneta online. It serves Filipino inspired Asian fusion cuisine.

Luneta Sampler - Shanghai Pouches, Manila Pork BBQ, Crispy Tokwa, and Bangus Maki

I am a sucker for variety, so it was nice to order a sampler to tried four of the many appetizers Luneta has to offer. The Shanghai Pouches are crispy minced pork pouches with sari-sari sauce. It reminded me of fried wontons. It was okay, nothing too unique about it. The Manila Pork BBQ is street-style marinated pork skewers with pickled green papaya. The pork is quite tender and flavorful. The Crispy Tokwa are crusted soft tofu soy-vinegar sauce. This appetizer reminded me of lightly battered Japanese's adagashi tofu. But different  in that it comes with a thicker saltier sauce. I really liked it. The size of the tofu was a perfect bite. Bangus Maki was the most unique of all. It consists of milkfish with diced tomato, onion, and salted duck egg sushi roll. Even though it sounded unique, it tasted just like deep fried sushi with fish in it. I could taste the deep fried seaweed and fish but couldn't really taste the salted duck egg.

Escabeche - Seared Tilapia with julienned vegetables in sweet tangy sauce

I ordered fish because I love fish. The fish was seared nicely, golden brown outside and tender inside. The sweet tangy sauce was indeed sweet and tangy, but very thick and salty at the same time. I had to scoop some to the side of my plate, and a lot of it got onto the fish already, so it was hard to get rid of. I could not have be able to eat it if it wasn't for the rice.  

Chicken Inasal - Vinegar marinated grilled chicken with greens and pickled-papaya

I had a little bit of the Chicken Inasal, and it was okay. It was cooked perfectly, very tender and juicy, but again, it was very salty.

Rib Eye Salpicao - Grilled Rib Eye with Deep Fried Potato

Usually diced up beef tasted very rough, but this wasn't the case. It was very tender and delicious. Though, I think it would be nice to serve this with rice or mash potato instead because beef and fried potatoes are both very heavy food.

Luneta Chicken Adobo - Whole Poussin chicken with roasted garlic and mashed potato

I never tried chicken adobo but I always wanted to. I know it is braise diced up chicken with onions and herbs served over rice. But knowing Luneta is a fusion place, I did not complain when I see a whole chicken. What I need to complain about though is...one word...salty.

Bistro Luneta is a very nice restaurant interior design wise and service wise, but I did not enjoy most of the dishes I had because it was so salty. The waiter had to keep coming back to fill my glass of water. Maybe it's just the night I went or maybe that's how it usually is. But yes, with my curious, I yelped the place afterward and realized a lot of the yelpers thought their dishes were salty too. After that, I don't know if I want to come back to this place...maybe.