You’ll never lose your Filipino identity if you live in West Covina.
Island Pacific -- rumored to be owned by an "Erap crony" -- is one of the two major Filipino supermarkets.
At the cross-street of Azusa Avenue and Amar Road is Manila Way — a public street entering and going around West Covina’s “Filipino Center.” Here you’ll find everything Filipino — from the Pinoy supermarkets (Seafood City and Island Pacific) to small sari-sari-like stores. From car brokers to balut makers. From beauty parlors run by the typical Pinoy gays, with Pinay manicuristas. From Filipino doctors and dentists to air cargo companies. From Filipino bank-owned money remittance services to turo-turos. On some weekends, you’ll even see a sidewalk barbecue stand set up in front of Island Pacific.
Now we segue into Filipino food…
All-time favorite lechon kawali.
You’ll never miss Pinoy food if you live in West Covina. There’s Toto’s Lechon Manok, which now serves much more than the broasted chicken its name implies; Toto’s is now a full-fledged turo-turo with dishes like calamares, inihaw na liempo, daing na bangus and inihaw na bangus, ampalaya, lechon kawali…you name it.
Champorado't tuyo...sarap.
Have a yen for a heavy breakfast? Bamboo Bistro serves a buffet breakfast everyday with traditional all-Filipino breakfast food – lugaw, champorado, tuyo, daing, longganisa, tocino, eggs, sinangag, tomato with itlog na pula, and more. Surprise, surprise…their coffee creamer is evaporated milk served the old way — two little holes on the rim of the can. (All I didn’t see were the twirled slips of paper used to plug the holes and keep the air away from the milk.)
Good old fashioned lechon.
Have a sudden craving for lechon skin even on a weekday? Go to the food corner inside the east entrance of Island Pacific and order a lunch combo — rice and fair share of lechon meat AND skin served with the all-too-familiar Mang Tomas-like sauce. You might even get distracted by the barbecue plates at Tony’s (first counter upon entrance) — two sticks of chicken or pork, sweet sauce, Java rice, and achara…reminiscent of Aristocrat on Roxas Boulevard.
You’ll never lose your Filipino identity in West Covina. You’ll never lose weight either…
