It’s taken me nearly a year to visit PESO, and I’m sorry I haven’t gone sooner. Touted as the first modern Filipino restaurant in the state, I was looking forward to trying it when it soft opened last May. For Filipino food, we normally venture to a hole-in-the-wall place in Waipahu or my husband whips up something at home, and I’m pretty happy with my go-to orders: adobo, sigig, sinigang, kare kare or bulalo.

So, I was pretty stoked to see my favorites on the PESO menu (except for bulalo, which is OK because nothing can beat my sister-in-law’s recipe). However, the photos of those dishes circulating online looked different than what I’m used to seeing. It obviously wasn’t my mother-in-law’s home-cooked dishes — and that’s kind of the point. PESO aims to elevate Filipino fare, making it fun and approachable, and keeping the value to a price point comparable to any other upraised cuisine. PESO isn’t trying to compete with family-cooked meals. Rather, its putting its own spin on Filipino classics.

To get a well- picture of PESO’s offerings, I have had my eye on its Pinoymakase — an eight-course chef’s table that’s available at 6 p.m. Fridays-Sundays — to get the full experience of what the restaurant has to offer. But with an infant, that just hasn’t been possible. But brunch? Brunch is always doable. 

The first thing on the agenda was caffeine, and the PESO house latte ($6) seemed a good choice. It was probably the best iced latte I’ve had. I’d go back just for a latte to-go. It’s the perfect amount of sweet without overwhelming my taste buds, and the flavor put a smile on my face — literally. There are also vanilla, lavender and OG lattes to choose from, as well as a pandan matcha latte, but I think I’ll still stick with the PESO house latte.

The silog Filipino breakfast ($22) comes with your choice of tocino (Filipino-style bacon) or longanisa, as well as two eggs, tomatoes and garlic rice. My husband ordered it with both proteins and was raving about the homemade longanisa patties. To hear my Filipino husband give top marks to a dish not made by one of his family members is high praise.

I got myself the breakfast burrito ($14) because it comes with tortang talong (like an eggplant omelet, yum!), as well as tocino, a side slaw and garlic rice. The garlic rice really ties everything together, and it’s garlic rice, not garlic fried rice. Little chips of fried garlic accompany the starch, which satisfies my desire for crunchy textures. Getting either the Filipino breakfast or breakfast burrito without those little garlic chips seems sacrilege.

I had mixed feelings about the ube ensaymada ($8) with pecorino cheese. The texture was denser than I was expecting (I normally eat the softer, fluffier ensemadas from Zippy’s), but the butter-sugar-ube topping on the PESO version was indeed very good. I wish there was a bigger butter-pastry ratio to make the thickness more palatable. My husband did tell me that pastries are often dipped into one’s coffee — his mom likes dunking pandesal in her coffee — so maybe I was supposed to dip the ensaymada into my latte.

We also got the mamon ($8) sponge cake with yema and Parmesan cheese. Yema is sort of similar to Chantilly — yum, again! — but the Parmesan cheese was a little strange for me. It seems I was the only one, though, because my mom and husband thought it was delicious. I guess I only love Parmesan in pasta.

With everything that we ordered, the presentation was magnificent. The portions are deceptively larger than what you see (props to the excellent plating), so I left feeling rather full. I hope I can handle eating eight courses at the PESO’s Pinoymakase on our next date night — because both my husband and I can’t wait to return.