May Rosal My husband and I recently dined at Bag of Beans Eastlake, and we were genuinely impressed. Despite the poor reviews when they first opened, our experience was the complete opposite.
We ordered kare-kare, lechon kawali, and lumpia shanghai. The kare-kare was flavorful with just the right amount of sauce—not drowning, but enough to enjoy every bite. The meat was tender, generous in portion, and not oily. Definitely worth the price.
The lechon kawali came with lechon sauce and atchara. It was juicy, tasty, and had a perfect balance of fat. The skin was crunchy but still easy on the teeth—if you know what I mean!
The lumpia shanghai was not like other lumpia that have a lot of wrapper and barely any meat. This one had a decent amount of filling and was packed with flavor.
For dessert, we had turon with ice cream. It was addicting! The turon had cream cheese inside, and the sweetness of the banana and caramelized sugar blended beautifully with the saltiness of the cream cheese. Add a scoop of ice cream to each bite and it’s like all the flavors just marry perfectly.
Service was excellent—our waiter, Alfonso (or at least his name started with an A… LOL), was very attentive and friendly. The food came out quickly, and the ambiance was cozy and inviting.
We also bought Spanish bread and pandesal to go. The Spanish bread was delicious, but the pandesal could use a little improvement.
Overall, we’re giving Bag of Beans Eastlake a solid five stars. The restaurant, including the bathroom, is clean. Also, food was high quality, not greasy, and worth the price. No post-meal headaches here!
We’ll definitely be back to try more dishes. I just hope they add more traditional Filipino items to the menu—like real halo-halo and bibingka, not just cocktails inspired by them. It would be great to see classics like sisig too.
Highly recommended!