‘Chika,’ Sinigang steam: Seattle-based Filipino restaurateur shares recipe for success and beauty
SEATTLE, USA — “We serve masarap Filipino foods” – such is the promise of Oriental Mart Filipino Restaurant, owned and operated by Filipino-American Leila Apostol Rosas in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market.
If you do not believe the restaurant’s promise, then Rosas has another quote for you: “Maarte don’t get extra rice!”
In fact, there are so many handwritten posters peppering the “wall of shame” of Leila’s restaurant, and one signage sums them all: “Sarcasm: I sprinkle that — on everything!”
Indeed, one can taste the sourness of Leila’s sarcasm from the restaurant’s best-selling Salmon “Tips” Sinigang – a marriage between the signature sour Filipino dish and one of the things Seattle is best known for, salmon. Leila said she uses traditional “sampaloc” (tamarind) as “pang-asim” (sour soup base).
She later on pointed at her “wall of fame” of esteemed chefs and “celebrity friends from around the world” who visited her restaurant to try her food. In 2020, her diner received a James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards for America’s Classics.
“Everyone here is family,” Leila clarified that it is not sarcasm that serves as her restaurant’s secret ingredient to success for the past 55 years.
“My sister, niece, aunt work with me. And occasionally, my 95-year-old mom works with us,” she shared, “Same place, same cook (pointing at herself), same server, same everything.”
If Leila posts her menu in “bilao” (billows), she displays her being a Filipino by being family-oriented: “I work every day, except Mondays because I have lola duties,” said the “lola” (grandmother) to one “apo” (grandchild).
How it all began
Over 60 years ago, Leila’s mom, Milagros “Mila” Apostol-Rosas, started the business in the Philippines originally as a bakeshop.
“Because my mom wanted a better opportunity for the kids,” Leila said on why they moved to Seattle 60 years ago. Their bakeshop then became a grocery store in Seattle.
“I love Seattle! I won’t trade it for any other state,” she declared.
Around 55 years ago, one day, Leila’s mom told her, “I want to demonstrate cooking Filipino food,” so people can learn and buy ingredients from her.
“And this is how it started. I started demonstrating her cooking. I was giving away food for free, and then you see the same people eating (for) free, and so okay, you know, I got a (food) warmer, and that’s how it all started (to become a restaurant),” Leila shared in an interview with Philstar.com and other media.
It might seem like a walk in the park, but Leila confessed, “It was hard at first. I had to give them samples to taste and explain to them…”
But eventually, Leila won people’s hearts (and stomachs).
"It’s hard at first. We have to introduce our food to a lot of Americans and non-Americans, of course. And the way we do it, we talk to our customers... By the time they're finished with their meal, we know where they're from, how old they are, how many kids they have, what they’re doing in Seattle,” she shared, “That makes a difference when you talk to your customers. You don’t just give them the food and that’s it, thank you very much… and then it just keeps on growing and growing.”
Leila said they started their restaurant with their first dish, Chicken Adobo, which they sold for $2.99 (P171.12). Then, they expanded the menu to Chicken Adobo, rice and Pancit, which now comes as a set meal for less than $20 (P1,144.60).
“Then, we offered this set (Chicken Adobo, rice and Pancit) with Pepsi for $5 (P286.15). Without the Pepsi, it starts at $17.94 (P1,026.71),” she joked.
Saved by Sinigang
According to her, their Sinigang dish originally came with bangus (milkfish), but “it was too bony, nobody was buying it,” so she replaced the bangus with salmon.
At first, the locals also did not like the idea of eating “tips” or leftover cut-ups from salmon collars, “because it’s kind of like a waste for them,” but they eventually embraced the dish. In fact, during the interview, a local, some Filipino-Americans and even tourists were heartily sipping soup from their bowls of Sinigang!
“What a great way to use this part because before, long time ago, nobody wants to buy this part, the collars, because it's kind of a waste for them,” Rosas recalled.
“(Sinigang) is great if you have a hangover, for breastfeeding,” said Rosas. “Now, everybody wants to get the tips from the market, but they (the vendors) only save (the salmon collars) for me. They make sure I always have them (salmon collars).”
Whether it is to provide comfort amid the autumn cold or Seattle’s “always raining” weather, the Sinigang, undoubtedly, has become the restaurant’s star – so much so that it comes in set meals like Salmon “Tips” Sinigang, rice and Pancit; and Pork Sinigang, Rice and Pancit for $19 (P1,087.37).
There are other set meals and specialties, of course: Chili Beef, rice and Pancit for $22.99 (P1,315.72); Dinuguan, rice and Pancit for $19.99 (P1,144.03); and Bulacan X-press, rice and Pancit for $18.99 (P1,086.80).
The bestsellers among these, she said, differ from time to time: sometimes, she would sell more Adobo or Longganisa, but their customers’ ultimate “go-to” is still the Sinigang.
But Sinigang is not only a bestseller; it is a beauty secret for Leila as well: “I’m old, I just don’t look (like) it… Well, when the Sinigang starts boiling, so it opens all my pores, it takes all my toxins and zits. So that’s it, Sinigang, steam Sinigang!”
She shares her “fountain of youth” with diners, with this statement poster as testament: “Just one bite of Leila’s cooking and you will live longer.”
“But you can’t rush it, or else, I have a sign here that says, ‘If you’re in a hurry, I’m not, so don’t rush me’,” quipped Leila, pointing at one of her store’s statement posters.
For Philstar.com and her other guests from the media and Philippine Airlines, Leila served a special spread of Salmon Sinigang, fried salmon collars, Gourmet Chicken, Longganisa and passionfruit guava juice from Hawaii.
“This is not Filipino Longganisa,” she clarified. “This is USA Longganisa,” she said of her version.
When asked why she called it “Seattle Longganisa,” she simply said: "Because it's from Seattle," drawing laughter from the press.
Slay it in Seattle
Every day, Leila and her restaurant get their fish fresh straight from the fish market. After the fish store’s traditional fish throwing, the fish is delivered to Leila every morning. She clarified, though, that she does not buy the fish that got thrown in the daily throwing ceremony.
“I buy my vegetables only next door, so actually, I don’t get to leave my kitchen,” she added.
In fact, Rosas is sure that she will not leave her kitchen for as long as it takes.
“Oh no! This is okay na ‘to, tama na! This is it! No expansion!” she declared.
Because locals know that her restaurant has history, locals refer visitors to check out her joint.
“We don’t advertise. What happens is people bring their friends, their family. It’s all word of mouth. That’s how we get all our customers.”
According to her, even non-Filipinos “appreciate” her cooking “because we cook it like (we do) at home, like when you go to my home, that’s exactly the food that you can get.”
“We’re not fancy. It’s not fine dining. It’s just ‘fun’ dining,” she stressed, “I love what I do. I love to cook, I love talking to people, and that’s what makes them come back. And not just tourists, they support us - people from the market, people from around here, they support us every day, and not just in summer or winter.”
Rosas also credited her “kababayans” for their success, advising fellow Filipinos who want to also make it big in the US to “Be kind to your fellow Filipinos and they will come back and support you.”
“I mean, we’re nice, we’re not suplada people,” she assured her “kababayans” who would like to ask for her advice or support.
When asked if still goes home to the Philippines, the Malolos, Bulacan native said: “I go home every single year, February, March. I close my kitchen for two months. I go home to the Philippines and yes, we are flying Philippine Airlines (PAL) next year, yehey! And I could business-class! Yey!”
PAL now flies from Manila to Seattle and vice versa three times a week, every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
When her customers ask, “Ate Lei, why are you closing for two months?” she would tell them, “I’m going home. That’s a good reason for adventure!”
“I love going to all these restaurants, try their food. Sometimes, in the Philippines, they make it too salty, too sweet, and so I kind of balance the food and make sure it’s okay so it can work on the palate… and I don’t use MSG (monosodium glutamate).”
When a local asked her for hotdogs and marshmallows, she told the local she would make him a set of skewered hotdogs and marshmallows arranged in a cabbage – the one Filipinos serve in fiestas in the Philippines – “It’s the same thing,” she assured the American customer.
For this, we have to agree with one of the restaurant posters that says, “Ate Lei, you slay!”
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Editor's note: The tour to Seattle was hosted by Philippine Airlines to promote tourism in the area. At no stage does the host organization have a say on the stories generated from the coverage, interviews conducted, publication date and story treatment. Content is produced solely by Philstar.com following editorial guidelines.
