Hapag Ihaw-Ihaw

The last time I tried a Filipino restaurant, Max’s on Kingsway, I walked away disappointed and vowed never to eat there again. So, I was a bit weary about trying out this place, which is two blocks from our home. I noticed the Unilocal rating was 4 stars, which persuaded me to give Filipino cuisine another try. Glad I did.
This tiny, hole-​in-​the-​wall is clean and bright. There might only be enough space for about 16 – 20 patrons. A banner on the window indicated that it was their 2^nd anniversary this week, entitling us to 15% off the bill. Bonus!
My wife ordered the BBQ chicken on rice which tasted a lot like Teriyaki chicken. It was served with pickled cucumber which my wife enjoyed. Serving size was adequate, and chicken was well glazed with sauce. Nothing spectacular, but a solid meal.
I ordered the deep-​fried pork hock which comes in small, medium and large sizes. The small size, at $ 12, was large enough for the two of us. The skin was crispy on the outside, the meat was tender in the center and the surface meat was crunchy and savory. The serving size was generous which made me wonder how much bigger the large serving would have been. Best of all, they provided a vinegar/​soy sauce dip which was absolutely tangy and made the pork meat really pop in my mouth.
I would have liked to try the soups and noodles, but we were quite full after our meal. We’ll have to come back to sample some other items from the menu. Our bill came to $ 18 with the 15% discount. I would have been happy paying full price so I left a nice tip.

I really enjoyed this place. The food was delicious. Their menu is quite small and limited (which made me want to order everything) but what they do have is delicious. The staff is really friendly and the restaurant is very clean. We ordered the kare kare, sizzling sisig, bbq and crispy pata and enjoyed it all. I would definitely be back here.

Delicious Filipino BBQ. They don’t serve all types of Filipino food but they do serve sinigang and I must say its one of the best in terms of restaurant quality sinigang. They don’t skimp on the meat and its not just fat like they serve at pinpins and its not super sour.

I haven’t had much luck with Filipino food in Vancouver. It’s hit and miss with quality and service. But, I have a feeling Hapag is going to be my go-​to spot.
The skewers were good, the pork better than the chicken, and I’d probably ask for more BBQ sauce next time. It came with rice, a simple but crisp salad and some refreshing cucumber slices in vinegar. Good value for $ 8.50.
I added a side of pork sinigang which was a good call. It’s a fair sized serving for $ 3.50, with tender pork and balanced broth. I much prefer it to Pinpin’s which I find too salty and lacking the right greens.
Lumpia Shanghai was fresh and crispy but can’t compete with Mom’s.
I’d put this in the same dining category as Hawkers. Nothing too fancy, but good quality and value, focused menu, and family run. Also a much nicer dining room and service.
Looking forward to trying the rest of the menu.

Really not sure what to expect from Filipino BBQ, but was pleasant surprised.
Parking is available on the side streets.
The inside is more like a café or someone’s dining room than a restaurant, but is clean and quiet. Very homely.
Staff are very friendly.
They had a sisig special the day we went — something about sizzling pig brain and snout. Unfortunately my friends weren’t adventurous enough to try.
Most of the dishes are easily shared, but some of them seem like they were more geared towards individual portions. Something to keep in mind.
Lumpia Shanghai — shrimp and pork spring rolls. Nice and thin. Served with sweet chili dipping sauce.
Lumpiang gulay — vegetarian spring rolls. Also very tasty.
Miki pansit — pork and shrimp vermicelli. A bit difficult to serve as everything clumped together. Taste was mediocre, but maybe it’s because I’m used to the Chinese-​style vermicelli.
Filipino — BBQ — 3 skewers with rice. Quite good, though this one is a bit difficult to share.
Pork bones sinigang (soup) — nice and thin broth. Pork bones are nice and big.
Crispy pata (pork hock) — special mention. They deep fry the crap out of this thing. It’s a bit heavy on the bones, but when eaten fresh, this dish is truly beautiful. The tangy sauce enhances the flavour more. As an added bonus, one gets a quick anatomy lesson on a certain pig appendage.
Our bill was about $ 80 feeding 6 people. Not bad at all!
The only downside to this place? It closes early, even on Fridays (2030). Not a complaint, but something to keep in mind. Go early.
Will definitely be back. Recommended.

I went in Tuesday at 130 and there was 2 other people in the restaurant. It’s a small space but cute and welcoming. I ordered the lunch special of bihon noodles with fried lumpia for $ 6.50. The food was very tasty. The lumpia are smaller than I am used to but tasted great. They are served with a spicy vinegar which is delicious. The portion was slightly small but it filled me up and tasted great. Next time I’ll try the BBQ pork with halo halo for dessert.

5 star skewers! Thanks to Simon K & Wendy Y, I stopped by this small yet clean & modern hole in the wall for some delicious Filipino BBQ skewers.
$ 2.50 a skewer, minimum order of 2 — juicy & tasty. Give all 3 a try, I liked the pork & chicken inasal (subtle lemongrass flavours) the most. Comes with a small side of pickled cucumber & onions.
Also had an order of the Lumpia — pretty good spring rolls, cute and tightly rolled.
The pancit wasn’t my favourite — we had the chicken with rice noodles and I ended up adding fish sauce & lemon to give it more flavour. Sliced carrots & cabbages just aren’t my thing on noodles.
Overall I’d definitely come back for more of those skewers and to try the pata!

My significant other and I came here thanks to an Asian magazine we picked up from Sol Y Limon. It’s weird because I’ve never seen this food magazine before but it featured some hard core Asian food from Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean, to Pilipino, which was why we had to check out. In the article, the featured crispy pata was too hard to resist.
I called prior to coming here since the article said crispy pata requires a day of advanced notice/​order. The girl on the phone was friendly and said yes they still had some so my significant other and I rushed over.
We ordered a large pata ($ 15), a chicken skewer, a pork skewer, a side salad, a noodle dish combing pancit noodles and mung bean vermicelli stir fried with shrimps, squid, shredded cabbage, carrots, pork, and pork liver.
The pancit arrived first. It was wetter than what I expected especially when it was not meant to be saucy. Other wise, the flavor was good. A good squirt of lemon wedge included on the plate brighten the noodles. And of course, adding chili powder to noodle dishes like this always elevates the taste. The mung bean vermicelli was a tad soft but overall, not bad.
The chicken and pork skewers came next. The pork was definitely juicier and more flavorful than the chicken. Chicken could use a little more marinade. The pork had great char and was glazed with a coat of sweetener. Devilishly good! The side of pickled cucumber was delicious.
The side salad, which was comprised of tomato, romaine lettuce, and thinly sliced red onions was surprisingly refreshing. The salad dressing was sweet and sour. This wasn’t on the menu as they were out of the daikon salad I originally wanted to order.
The star of the meal was of course, the crispy pata! The pork hock skin was fried to yes, perfection! The skin and meat were removed/​deboned separately. The skin, which was considerately carved in bite size pieces was the BOMB. Fried skin was crispy, not oily or greasy what so ever. The meat was tender and soft, but not fall-​off-​the-​bone soft. The seasoning was just right. I don’t like my food salty. The black dipping sauce, with hints of vinegar (I could be wrong) was not as sour as I thought. It was sweet and paired very well with the pork. This pata just became my ultimate beer food. This is some dangerous munch. I think if I had to choose between fried chicken and fried pork hock I would choose the latter.
The bill came to just over $ 30 with left over crispy pata to take home (which was still good the next day) and enough pancit for breakfast.
Oh and I must point out the kitchen is SUPER clean and so is the washroom. Our waitress was very friendly, helpful, and considerate. She gave us extra napkins to wipe our hands when she delivered the pata.
I am one very happy camper.

Authentic, Filipino home cooking. I took some of my coworkers here who wanted to try some new Filipino dishes and I was glad that this was the place I ended up bringing them to.
They of course wanted some of the items they were used to, like the barbeque skewers and the lumpia. Lumpia came out piping hot and fresh with a side of chilli dipping sauce. The skewers were juicy and packed with flavour.
For something new for them to try, I decided to order crispy pata (cause who doesn’t like deep fried food and crispy skin?) and pork sinigang. The sinigang tasted just like how my mom makes it, good citrusy flavour and tender fall off the bone meat. The crispy pata was definitely the winner here. It was freshly made, and the skin was so crisp! We ended up having some leftover of the crispy pata and took it to my parents. As soon as they tasted it, they ended up ordering for takeout!
I’ve found that Filipino restaurants here don’t place a huge importance on service, but the service here was very friendly. One of the owners, I think the mother, had come out to ask how we liked the food. Another table had ordered the special, the sisig. The table who ordered it were not Filipino, and the cook came to ask if they were familiar with the dish first and made sure that it was something they want to try out. Traditional sisig is made out of the pigs face (ears and snouts included) as well as chicken liver, so it’s definitely a dish that not everyone may want to try out. I thought this was great service on their part.

Small, family run business with friendly service and good, authentic Filipino cuisine. I came here with my family and we tried a variety of items:
Grilled Skewers (chicken, pork and chicken inasal) — Juicy, tender and flavourful. A must order.
Pancit — Very flavorful, but a little wetter than i’m used to.
Lumpia Shanghai — Nice amount of filling, hot and crispy, not too greasy.
Sizzling Sisig — Minced pork and crackling, served hot on a cast iron plate. Very good.

When it comes to Bbq, Hapag is the place. These guys know how to balance flavours. Honestly, I’ve tried numerous Bbq places but Hapag stands out. They use quality meats and stir up a concoction of different seasonings that brings out this authentic Filipino bbq flavour (a good balance of sweet and salty). Yum! If you haven’t tried Filipino bbq before then I highly recommend you trying this restaurant out. My other favourites are their crispy pata, lumpiang gulay, miki and all their delicious desserts! It’s all about flavour, flavour, flavour with Hapag. Another plus for them is their affordable prices !! You get a generous serving of delicious and good quality food for cheap … it’s a good deal !! It’s hard not to fill up with this kind of deal but make sure you leave some room for desserts, you won’t regret it. :)