NYCReview
photo credit: Noah Devereaux
Mama Fina's House Of Sisig
Included In
A lot has changed since the first caveperson made fire. For starters, we call our caves “apartments” now, and “friction and twig” sounds more like the name of a digital branding agency than basic survival necessities. But innovations aside, coming together for big meaty dinner is still just as satisfying in our modern lives as we imagine it was back in the caves. There are fancy steakhouses to fulfill this primal need, but there’s also Mama Fina’s. It’s a casual Filipino restaurant in the East Village where you should have a communal meat experience involving some excellent pork sisig.
The real charm of Mama Fina’s lies in the delicious Filipino food. So the fact that you order your dinner at a counter, and that the all-wooden dining room feels a little bit like a Renaissance Faire cafeteria and plays the song “Footloose” every hour, is beside the point. Show up with a few people who like each other as well as the idea of spending a couple of hours eating skillets of meat and drinking beer in a garlic steam room, and you’ll have a great time. This is the kind of place where you could probably stand up to give a toast after more than a few San Miguels, and absolutely no one would care.
photo credit: Noah Devereaux
And like choosing curtains to go with your bedding, ordering at Mama Fina’s is an exercise in complementing the sisig - a Filipino dish that’s a hash of chopped-up meat, crispy skin, and fat, all served in a sizzling skillet. The classic pork is by far our favorite. It’s sort of like pork potpourri, with pieces of meat that are crispy and crunchy, along with chopped red onions and more garlic than is acceptable in most social situations. If you don’t eat pork, they have a really great milkfish option (called bangus) that tastes creamy and remarkably meaty. Order a couple of different types of the sisig, along with the fried lumpia shanghai, bistek marinated in onions, and the halo-halo for dessert.
photo credit: Noah Devereaux
At Mama Fina’s, you’ll get to experience the same kind of fundamental joy humans have historically felt while sharing meat. Only with bottles of San Miguel, chopped-up pork, and the ability to take the subway home to your climate-controlled cave.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Noah Devereaux
Pork Sisig
photo credit: Noah Devereaux
Bangus Sisig
Garlic Rice
photo credit: Noah Devereaux
Lumpia Shanghai
Laing
photo credit: Noah Devereaux
Bistek
Palabok
Spaghetti With Fried Chicken Wings
photo credit: Noah Devereaux