A Hand-to-Mouth Filipino Kamayan Feast {Tinuno}

It's been a while since I last shared my food excursions. Recently, I tried Kamayan feast for the first time at Tinuno Filipino restaurant and just have to share with you what that experience was like! Because if I don't blog about it, it didn't happen, right?

What is the Kamayan Feast?

For those of you who have never heard of Kamayan feast, it is a traditional Filipino family style meal eaten with your hands. The food is also served over banana leaves. That's right. No, plates, no cutlery. The simplest way to appreciate food!

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Tinuno Filipino Restaurant in Downtown Toronto

Living in a multicultural city like Toronto gives me lots of opportunities to try out cuisines from different parts of the world without travelling overseas. Although I'd love to visit the Philippines one day and experience what's there, I'm happy to settle with what's offered to me in my city for the time being.

The restaurant is packed on a Saturday night with lots of groups and couples filling the space. The feast seems to be a popular choice for birthday parties as well. Because at a cost of only $15 per person, you'd get a decent portion to have you feeling full at the end of the meal. And not to mention, it's also a great feast to share and bond with friends. Although the Kamayan feast is the only item available on their menu you could also add extra items such as milkfish, roasted pork, drinks, desserts at an additional cost. And of course, I tried them all out. Because that's how I roll.

Like the name, Tinuno suggests, everything here is cooked off from a grill. Banana leaves are spread across the table in front of you. Staffs would then add a bed of garlic rice over the leaves and layer a variety of grilled seafood and meat skewers on top. There's a selection of everything including squid, tilapia, pork, mussels, eggplant, okra, pork skewers, shrimps and mango salad. So imagine having this with a large group, it would be one huge and impressive spread to look at! At first, I expected this to be gimmicky, but the food was actually pretty tasty especially when they were fresh off the grill. I'd recommend adding sriracha sauce and vinegar to enhance the flavour even more.

Kamayan feast Toronto

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2-person's portion Kamayan feast with seafood and meat skewers over a bed of garlic rice

Roasted pork

A Hand-to-Mouth Experience

I remember when I was growing up, eating food with my hands was a big no-no. I was taught to be lady-like and how to use chopsticks properly at the dining table. So the fact that I get to break free from all those rules in public as an adult gives me joy. I didn't have to care about being proper. And I quite enjoyed the primitive state of eating food with my hands. It was a down to earth and authentic experience.

If you haven’t had a chance to try Kamayan feast, I would encourage you to give this unique dining experience a try! It's a great feast to share and to bond with friends and family.

Fun eat-with-your-hands Filipino food experience

Tinuno
31 Howard Street, Toronto, M4X 1J6


Check out 5 Restaurants for a Filipino Kamayan Feast in Toronto.

Check out my posts on other unique dining experiences!

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