Tropical Hut
“Their food is turo-turo which means it's ready-made rather than cooked to order.”
“The selection at the food bar was almost entirely meat-based, but according to their catering menu they have some veggie dishes as well.”
“My friend had the beef stew (Kaldereta) and a chicken curry dish I didn't know what the name of was…”
Tropical Hut
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Accepts Apple Pay: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
5 reviews
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Random, basic and perfect. That's the three words that best describe this place.
By no means is this place a Jeepney, or for that matter, a Tito Rad's in Queens. What it reminds of is the former Elvie's Turo-Turo on 1st ave. Very basic in style, because they have concentrated their focus on the food. This style of cafe is very Filipino so the American visual senses were not thought of when designing this joint. Most Amerians will probably call this place a "dive". For us Filipino's, it's just basic. A T. V. was playing a Filipino show while my friend and I ate. The staff seemed like a family and were super friendly. I felt like I was eating at my Tita's(Aunt's) house. Win.
The food:
It's a "turo-turo" (point-point) joint so food is pre made and sitting in warming trays. There is also a separate menu that you can order a few items from. We got there close to closing time so the selection was a little picked over, but what we had was still VERY good. We each got the 2 dish combo: you pick two things and it comes with white rice. My friend had the beef stew (Kaldereta) and a chicken curry dish I didn't know what the name of was… I'm not so sure this was "traditional" Filipino but instead could be just something that was "freestyled". I had the fried milk fish (bangus) and a vegetable pinakbet (okra, bitter mellon, string beans and onions cooked with shrimp paste). We sampled each others food and both agreed it was all good in the hood. Each combo was $6 with a soda or water. Cash only after 6:30, which I found odd, but whatever.
In the end, if I'm in the area, I would come back here for cheap traditional Filipino food. It is is a taste of everyday home cooking and reminds me of my childhood growing up in a traditional Filipino house. This is a place you go to when you are on your way home from a long day of work and you don't want to cook. You may eat there or you may just take it home. It's like a diner for Filipino's. We just prefer ours with food that's already made and ready to go in our mouths in 2 minutes.
This is more of a heads-up than a review which I will do once I visit again and try more of there offerings.
I was driving to one of my bakery joints in Hackensack when I passed Tropical Hut which I have done dozens of times. But this time I saw 'Philippine Cuisine' under there sign and it was like a beacon calling my attention. Was it because I was thinking of my best Yelp buddy Leo M. who is of Philippine decent, Call it fate, destiny or what ever, but when the signs are there I don't play, of course I parked my car and went in.
As I walk in the first thing I see behind one of the display cases is chicharrones in big rectangular pieces. I don't recognizes some of the other foods other than the distinct yellow, red colors that could have most likely been handed down via our Spanish heritage, I being half Puerto Rican. I go just for the chicharrones because I also have a burger and fries in the car from Black Rebel Burger. I grab some Banana Sauce, and a sauce Leo recommended for me to try, Mang Tomas a sauce that seems everyone uses on everything.
Well the food was take out but I could not wait to get home, I ate most of the chicharrones driving home and it the went well with the Mang Tomas sauce in contrast to the heavy Garlic sauces I normally have. The chicharrone meat was tinder with a little fat but the pork skin was not only crunchy but expanded like what you see in a bag of pork pork rinds.
I need to go back and try the Laing for starters plus to tell you more about this small restaurant.
Pretty solid place for a quick lunch whenever I'm in the area. They have a small parking lot that fills up quickly during the peak hours.
One things I noticed is that everything is fairly protein heavy and the veggie options may be a bit limited.
There are two steam tables full of food. I counted at least 15~20 different items that you can choose from. Not all of them are going to be included as part of the combo though, which is understandable at that price point. Tried the pork adobo and the beef steak here, but were tender and flavored pretty well.
In terms of value, it's going to be roughly $7~$8 if you decide to go with the combo. They give you a huge amount of rice. You can also opt for take the food to go (without the rice). To go pricing is pretty decent as well.
Tropical Hut's $6.99 2 entree + rice + drink combo is da bomb!!! Murang at masarap! (Cheap & delish!) This is seriously one of the best lunch combo bargains you can find in this area and they serve super authentic Pinoy food! I've lived in Manila for more than 10 years so I can guarantee you this is as authentic as you can get! Don't let the no-frills ghetto interior discourage you from trying this place, the food is very legit and you can find almost any traditional Pinoy food ranging from kare kare, sinigang, lechon, pancit, adobo, lumpia, bulalo, sisig, you name it. You can even get desserts such as halo halo, kutsinta, polvoron, guinataang, puto, and so on which were my childhood favorites. Not everybody is fond of Pinoy food but I love it!
My personal favorites are:
1) bistek (Filipino style beef steak)
2) Sinigang (sour and savory seafood soup cooked with tangy tamarind)
3) adobong pusit (squid dish cooked with squid ink, vinegar, and lots of garlic)
4) halo halo (shaved ice dessert servied with condensed milk, sweet beans, fruits, and ice cream)
If you are going to Burger King and spend $7 on a combo meal, you might as well come here and order a tasty authentic Filipino combo meal at Tropical Hut for the same amount of money. Money well spent!
My wife and I decided to try a different Filipino restaurant in the area and I must say I wasn't too happy with this location. They offer combination choices like most filipino establishments where you may pick 2 or 3 different options from multiple food warmers. The problem here was the fact that at least 3 of the foods prepared in front of us "are not part of the combination choices" leaving my family and I limited options. What was weird as well was the choices were not separated at all and randomly placed in the warmers so you didn't even know you can pick one until you asked.
In the end, we picked BBQ sticks (which were cold), bistek (which was more fat than meat), and adobo (which was a very small portion).
We also grabbed some desserts and pan de sal (which was stale the next day). The Sans Rival was very old as well.
All in all, I will not be coming back here again.