Goldilocks is celebrating their golden anniversary, fifty years of feeding families in the Philippines, and 40 years here in the USA. Their locations are expanding rapidly in the U.S., with its most recent location opening in Daly City, CA.
My fellow San Diego Filipino Blogger Network member, Deborah, and I enjoyed a tasting at the National City, CA location! We ordered a little bit of everything, saving room of course for dessert!
I first ordered a Fresh Melon with Gulaman drink that had loads of cantaloupe strings, gelatin and evaporated milk on top of the crushed ice! This was especially delicious since it was a really hot day!
We started with the Fresh Lumpia! This is one of my absolute favorite Filipino dishes. The meticulous prepping of the julienne vegetables and the care needed to create the delicate crepe wrapper intimidates me from making this at home! So when I can order it at a restaurant, I do!
Look at all the fresh veggies inside: carrots, celery, chick peas, grean beans, and jicama, mixed in with diced pork, chicken, shrimp and tofu! The crepe along with the slightly sweet peanut sauce with crushed peanut toppings created an amazing blend of textures! I could eat these all day, every day!
We also had another one of my favorites - Kare Kare!
I appreciated that the oxtail and tripe were soft and tender. Traditional cooking methods could entail hours to stew the meat and tripe. This dish also contained beef cheek, eggplant, green beans, and I want to say, bok choy. I must like peanuts since this dish is also peanut based!
Next, we tried the sizzling pork sisig, minced pork cheeks marinated with calamansi juice. The cracked egg on top was cooking in the heat of the meat when this was brought to the table. Smoke and sizzle made for a dramatic entrance when our server, Leo placed the sisig in front of us. (Smoke and Sizzle, possibly a contender for the name of the next SD restaurant, what do you think?!)
Our last savory dish was the Adobo Rice Medley. Rice topped with diced mangoes, tomatoes, lechon kawali, fried eggs and drizzled with sriracha. We chose to have the sriracha on the side. Oh my, it was sooo pretty, I didn't want to disturb the dish by digging in! Who would have thought of mango paired with rice? Well, I guess they serve pineapple with rice in Thai cuisine. This serving was huge! Just this dish alone could have fed 4 - 6 people easily. This also comes with the option of Bagoong Rice instead of Adobo.
I joked that they must have experts back in the kitchen dedicated to dicing up the fruit, meat, and veggies! Most of the dishes we ordered contained finely cut items. Here's an up-close view of the Adobo Rice Medley.
We originally came to Goldilocks on a hunt for the best halo-halo in San Diego, so we had to remember to leave room for dessert! Here is the piece de resistance.
I love the colors of this dessert! Layers of milk, crushed ice, creamy ice cream, crispy rice, melt in your mouth gelatin and leche flan, thick ube, chewy red beans,...this was another explosion of textures in your mouth! After you mix it up and eat the bits with a spoon, you could drink the rest of the dessert with a straw! Again, the number of ingredients for this colorful dessert made me come to the conclusion that Filipinos apply the "mix-mix" idea of halo-halo to almost all the dishes we tasted today.
Area Manager, Imelda "Mel" Tan, also recommended we try a new dessert item on the menu, Coco Jelly Float. If you are a coconut lover, this one's for you! This dessert has coconut four ways: Nata de Coco, Young Coconut meat, Coconut Jelly and Macapuno ice cream on top! Wow!
See the Coconut Jelly below? I REALLY enjoyed this, and dare I say it? I liked it better than the halo-halo! I am bringing my family back so they can try this dessert!
Again, you could enjoy every last yummy drop!
I noticed the table next to us was receiving order after order from our same server, Leo. I had to ask if I could take a picture of the banquet in front of them!
I asked them if they were celebrating a special occasion. It turned out it was a reunion between classmates and they chose Goldilocks as the place to meet each other! Thank you to the Maglalangs (SD locals) and Torres' (all the way from Texas!) for allowing me to capture their reunion!
I want to thank Mel for hosting Deborah and I for the tasting. We had an excellent time trying different menu items and it really felt like being a guest in her home called Goldilocks. I asked her what the most popular dish is for the restaurant and she said it was the Crispy Binagoongan. I will definitely order it next time!
Goldilocks is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and is a great place even for a light merienda! In addition, Goldilocks offers full party tray catering and bakery items. The cake displays fill three to four cabinets! Goldilocks also has a wide variety of in-store items ready to enjoy and frozen items for purchase to take home!
Experience the goodness that has made Goldilocks a favorite restaurant in the Philippines and U.S.! Let them feed your family and friends as they have been doing for 50 successful years! The National City location can be found at 1420 E. Plaza Boulevard. Let Manager Mel know that Lora sent you! Connect with them on Facebook and Twitter!
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