Lamesa Filipino Kitchen - Toronto

We decided to try Filipino cuisine and picked this restaurant based on recommendations from Trip Advisor. It is a cozy establishment, so it's best to make a reservation in advance. Our server was extremely welcoming and helpful. We enjoyed nearly all the dishes we ordered, with a personal preference for the vegetable options.

I first passed by Lamesa Filipino Kitchen around 4 years ago, during the end of my last visit to Toronto. I made a mental note to visit next time I was in town, and now I'm finally here. Although I haven't had much experience with Filipino cuisine, I am a fan of Asian food in general. The dishes here offer a refined take on traditional Pinoy flavors.

I had a fun Kamayan dinner here with a friend. I had called ahead for a reservation for this special dinner that they only serve on Sundays, they were almost fully booked but they did manage to fit us in. The service for this dinner was quite unique, with each item served and described individually all on large banana leaves and eaten with your fingers. We had fun picking through all the items with many different flavours and textures (see the item list on the menu). The only item that we didn't like, and both of us agreed, was the fish. A great new experience.

Lamesa means table, so the full name means… table filipino kitchen? Anyways. They served some pretty tasty food with romantic lighting, moody ambiance. We had this coconut fried polenta as a garnish for their fish (above, the polenta is that rectangular prism supporting the fish), and I fell in love with the restaurant then. I wish we could’ve just ordered that on its own. The polenta deserves a 5/5. We also had this pork (above), and it was just OK. Chinese pork siu yok is better, just because it’s oiler and juicier. We ended the meal with the ube dessert at the top of the page, which was quite refreshing.

I like to keep my food adventures random and a little bit to chance. When I hit Toronto last week, I decided to check what were some of the closest Filipino restaurants within decent walking distance from my hotel. As I was in town for work it would definitely have to be a dinner spot. I found three relatively easily, which surprised me given I was downtown. I normally don’t read other food blogs so as not to taint my taste buds with others opinions, but don’t mind word of mouth recoms. I asked MaryAnne, someone more familiar with Toronto than I, which of the three to try. She actually hadn’t gone to any of them but had heard good things about La Mesa, which has a “Filipino-inspired” menu. We went with that. We further pursued this food adventure by finding folks to join in the journey and we ended up with an interesting group of six, with André, Anne-Marie, Deanna, and Raphaëlle rounding off our group.