Hi, everyone! Guess what?!

After weeks of searching for a Filipino restaurant close by, Koji and I finally found a small restaurant just 15 minutes (by train) from our station. We were skeptical at first, because it was small (15 customers max), run by two Filipino women (one from Cavite & the other from Mindanao), and didn't have its own website, merely mentioned in someone's blog. The name of the restaurant was "Ate". Still, the menu had a good variety of foods so I ordered for the both of us.

- Kare-kare
- Pinakbet
- Pancit Bihon
- Acharang Papaya
- Rice

I wanted to order Sinagang and Dinuguan too, but there were only the two of us and we weren't sure of the portions. (Especially when I told Koji about the contents of Dinuguan, he said "Next time, I promise." lol) To our surprise though, for the low prices the portions were VERY big! (I almost wanted to ask for a doggy bag at the end, but Koji loved everything and we managed to scarf everything down. lol) Because it's so close, we promised to go back and try other items on the menu. The Kare-kare and Pinakbet were fantastic!

I was especially happy because Koji took a liking to everything we ate. In Tokyo, there are several Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, and other Asian restaurants that we often go to, and I didn't want him to think that the lack of Filipino restaurants was due to a conflict with Japanese palates.

We were stuffed on the way home!