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Pinoy turo-turo in Seattle wins prestigious America's Classics award
A Filipino-owned restaurant and grocery at Pike Place Market in Seattle was awarded the prestigious America's Classics Award, the James Beard Foundation announced on Tuesday.
Known for its salmon tamarind soup (sinigang), marinated chicken (adobo), pork sausages (longganisa), pork-blood stew (dinuguan), and Filipino-style fried noodles (pancit), Oriental Mart is a 47-year-old community food place beloved by market goers.
Leila Rosas, a self-taught cook, has been working every day at the Oriental Mart for the past four decades. She told The Seattle Times that she and her family never thought that they would receive a food award for a "restaurant that was just a hole in the wall."
What's unique about Leila's restaurant is that there is no set menu, true to the local turo-turo style.
Oriental Mart has about five to seven different dishes everyday, and these are "assembled to the whim of Leila so that she doesn't get bored."
Among her recommendations for first-time customers is her, "Do you trust me plate?" which features a hot serving of pork, fish and other sides.
"I cook what I want so that I don’t get tired of cooking the same thing every day,” Leila said.
Oriental Mart was also featured in PBS' No Passport Required: Seattle segment which aired in December 2019.
It is one of the six food places which received the James Beard America's Classics Award this year.
The award recognizes restaurants "that served quality food and reflected the character of their respective communities." —Angelica Y. Yang/MGP, GMA News
