Chaaste Family Market is in a mini-mall on the corner of Allen and Locust (just below the 210). It has its own lot though parking can be limited there.
It's a modest Filipino food market but the other half has a small steam-tray setup with about 6-8 different vegetable and protein dishes, plus rice, pancit, and lumpia. The menu is set for a la carte orders of single dishes but they do offer an off-menu, $18 "lunch box" which is a to-go box with either pancit or rice and then two portions from the steam table. It's a decent amount of food; a single lunch box could easily feed two. Here's what I got:
- Pancit. In hindsight, maybe rice would have paired better with the two proteins I selected but I hadn't had pancit in a while so, why not? It was fine as a "staple starch". No rating.
- Beef stew. You get a mix of big chunks of beef plus potato and carrot. Also fine; some of the beef chunks were softer than others which suggests that the beef could have been braised longer to ensure each bite was tender but nothing here approached "overcooked and dry" at all. As to my previous point: this would have been better over rice and that's my bad. 6.5/10
- Pork adobo. Similar to the beef stew, you get these big chunks of meat; in this case, pork belly with the skin still attached. Kind of the same deal with the beef chunks: some of the bites here were more tender than others and while the pork skin helps add some softness, I also thought the pork would have benefitted from a longer braise to ensure a uniform tenderness across all bites, not just some. The spike of the vinegar isn't as aggressive as other adobos I've had but it adds some additional depth though I thought the pork itself could have been seasoned better. 6/10
Overall: I could see how they'd be a good option for catering needs but personally, I'd prefer a sit-down restaurant for Filipino food with more options. Glad I tried this place because I had been curious but I don't see myself going back.
by soulsides
Dining and Cooking