Purple Yam
Has it really been six months since I wrote about food on my blog? I blame www.eatclub.wordpress.com since I’ve been writing there and not here. Anyway, consider these posts as rare gems; I only blog when I find things really, really interesting.
I went to Purple Yam on Memorial Day since I figured eating at a Filipino restaurant would be appropriate if I’m missing out on barbecue. First oddity I noticed is that there are quite a few Korean dishes on there. I later learned that the restaurant is known for its expansive menu and fusion tendencies. While reviews can help you steer clear of bad choices, I’m glad I didn’t read anything about the restaurant beforehand because I would’ve been a lot more selective and less adventurous.
My friend and I settled on the shrimp and scallion pancake (it screams Korean), adobo chicken and Korean meatballs. (I didn’t even know Koreans had meatballs but here it was, so I had to get it.) The scallion and shrimp pancake was similar to the Korean “pajun”, except it was a bit thicker. So far so good.
The adobo chicken was pretty good; I honestly have nothing to compare it to since I don’t eat adobo on a regular basis. I found it a little sour but it was enjoyable with the rice.
The Korean meatballs were served on a yam baguette with a side of 1 mm cubic radish kimchi and hot pepper sauce. It was pretty good but pretty greasy. I’m not sure what was so Korean about it, save for the kimchi condiment. I opted not to use the hot red pepper sauce because it overpowered the sandwich. Overall, it was good but it seems much more like an experimental item than a mainstay on a menu.
The second oddity I must mention here is that none of the plates and silverware matched. They looked like dishes they picked up at a garage sale. But when I noticed that the patron next to me also had one pink chopstick and one beige chopstick, I figured that this rag-tag look was intentional. Check out the chips on pot of adobo chicken and the missing handle. If anything I found it more off-putting than endearing but when it comes to Filipino food, I feel like it’s more about the comfort than presentation.
For dessert, I ordered a scoop of the banana rum and coffee ice cream, both of which were excellent. The banana rum had chocolate chips in it and the coffee ice cream was as rich as your morning espresso. Of course we had to try the halo halo. I found the best part to be the flan and the purple yam ice cream; such an awesome combo. I didn’t find the rest of it that great; I’ve had better with Korean “pat bing soo” and I think you would too, with its crazy variety of fruits, red bean and different toppings like Fruity Pebbles.
I would definitely like to go back to Purple Yam and try all the other appetizing items I missed like the different lumpiyas and the pancit. And I’d definitely have to go back just to order the flan with a nice heaping of purple yam ice cream for dessert.
Tags: asian fusion, brooklyn, Filipino, purple yam