Manila Good-Ha!!!: My First Filipino Breakfast

Filipino Nostalgia

It's funny how you don't realize just how delicious some things are in life until you really think back on them and reminisce. It is only through that hazy nostalgia that the then-unappreciated grace is fully admired...and missed.

Not too long ago, I had the for granted pleasure of being introduced to my first Filipino breakfast. And since first bite, it was instant affection.


Topsilog: My Filipino Breakfast I Took For Granted

The dish was topsilog, a simple and satisfying meal revolving around the salty, vinegar-cured, spiced thin beef strips known as Tapa. The typical breakfast is served with soft-fried eggs along with a healthy amount of unseasoned garlic-fried rice. It was a breakfast unlike any other I've had before, exceeding all my self-set weird breakfast standards. The jerky-like strips were highly flavorful and the fried eggs were warm and consoling. The rice was bland but I did not care. I knew it was meant to be like that and bite after bite--I slowly learned to appreciate its acquired toasty simplicity without falling to my soy/fish sauce dousing habits. I liked it, a lot.


Dasilog

It was the little things that this little quirky Filipino breakfast eatery had that really drew me in. Things like catering to my seafood slanted cravings by also having Dasilog, almost the exact same thing but with blackened fish instead of beef. They even had some nice tofu and greens sometimes in addition to 5-6 different renditions of pork something.

I still chuckle when I think of the name of the place, "Good-Ha!!!". Its ambiance was comforting with its colorful walls and patrons of only humble Filipino elders.



I haven't experienced any breakfast like this one since then and so far, don't know if I'll find any other like it...


Manila Good-Ha!!!
231 S Vermont Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90004
(213) 387-2492

Around $5 for complete Topsilog breakfast