New Openings: Berto’s Cuisine
Published November 19, 2015 at 10:49 pm
There have been a handful of restaurants popping up in the city offering a fresh new take on the food I grew up with – Filipino cuisine.
Berto’s Cuisine is another one to add to the list – it’s a quaint, family run Filipino restaurant which recently opened its doors in Mississauga. Berto is a shortened version of Edilberto and chosen as the name of the restaurant because it was the only name out of the six restaurant partners which was the most “Filipino” stated Oswald Morales Martel the executive chef and co-owner. “My name is an (old) English name” says Chef Martel, which doesn’t have the same ring as Berto’s.
There’s nothing like a home cooked Filipino meal and Berto’s offers a lot of the classics including a few specialties and signature dishes.
The space offers a modern take on Filipino decor and tradition with bamboo elements, a large mural of images of women performing a popular Filipino folk dance called Pandanggo Sa Ilaw (a dance of lights also known as “candle dance” where dancers balance candles on their heads and on the back of each hand), a large black and white canvas which features images of Philippines, and a wall of plates and wooden forks and spoons.
Large wooden forks and spoons are found in many Filipino homes as wall decor, and while the ones at Berto’s aren’t as large as the ones I remember having in our home as a child, they are still representative of tradition, health and prosperity.
Why did you choose Mississauga? There is a large Filipino community in Mississauga (approximately 40,000 according to the latest census in 2011) and the location is close to residential neighbourhoods and schools.
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Grand opening Date: The restaurant is open for business and the grand opening date to be announced.
What was in the space before you took it over? Halal meat shop
Unique for: Signature dishes including beef pares silog as seen in the cover shot (tender cubes of beef brisket cooked in various spices served with fried rice and egg) and chicken inasal (grilled marinated chicken served with fried rice and egg as seen above). Both dishes are popular in the Philippines and there are specific eateries which only serve these dishes. Silogs are a simple and hearty Filipino breakfast dish which can be enjoyed as a meal anytime of the day. Silog is a suffix which refers to the fried rice (sinangag) and egg(s) (itlog) which accompany a type of protein such as chicken, or beef. There are many varieties of silog and Berto’s offers seven on their all day silog menu.
Menu: There are eight daily specials which include a variety of dishes including these signature staples: lomi (small pieces of meat and egg noodles in a soup stock), palabok (rice noodles in a shrimp sauce topped with ingredients such as shrimp, ground pork, fried tofu, and pork cracklings), chicken/beef mami (chicken or beef noodle soup served with boiled eggs and other toppings), lugaw (rice porridge served with meat, similar to congee). You will also find a lot of Filipino favorites such as adobo, kare-kare, menudo, sisig, fried tilapia, pinakbet, sotanghon, crispy pata, halo-halo, sago gulaman, They also offer party trays!
Karioka – a sweet, crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle specialty dessert made with glutinous sweet rice flour and coated with carmelized sugar (popular in the street food scene in Philippines).
What’s Up and Coming? Grand opening, website, changes to menu. The hours may also change and they may offer the space for private bookings after 6 pm on Sundays.
Seats: 22
Patio: No
Licensed: No but possibly in the future.
Type of Restaurant: Quick-service.
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