Kanto by Tita Flips

We stop by fairly often, at least once a month, and still love this place. We order lumpia from here for any family gatherings and they get gobbled up in no time. I think you can get as good lumpia anywhere but I love to support this place because of the good customer service they offer. They made a mistake once, apologized and fixed it for me. I wish that was the kind of service offered everywhere but I’ll take it where I can get it!
The only thing stopping me from giving 5 stars is that not everything on their menu is a hit for me. But I know my favourites and I get them often :)

Excellent food. Had beef and milk fish. They were delicious. Reasonable price. The waiting time was long.

This is a review purely for their calamansi iced tea. While Kanto was not officially on our list of places to try on our downtown food trip, at $ 1.25, it made sense to try their calamansi iced tea. The picture of it was lovely as well. However, what I received when I ordered it differed drastically from what I had expected. I expected it to be made to order. To my knowledge, it doesn’t take much to make a cup of iced tea from scratch. I also expected my iced tea to have at least one slice of real calamansi in it. When I ordered, a bowl of ice was taken out, and ice was chipped into it using a kitchen knife. Perhaps chipped is not the right word. It was an ice chunk. Then, a 2L bottle (like a reused Fruite or Liptons Iced Tea bottle) was pulled out of the fridge. This bottle of tea was poured into my cup, a lid was put on, and it was handed to me. While the iced tea was fairly good (although it could have been considerably stronger on the calamanshi), and while it was alright for the price I paid, I was left feeling fairly disappointed.

So I havent had good filipino food for a while now and although La Mesa was great I couldnt compare it to typical Filipino food.
When I saw this place online I knew I was going to order a ton of things in one go so I set a date for it with my SO. When the time came, we werent disappointed. In fact, we held up quite a line with the amount of items we ordered haha! The food was abundant and delicious. Everything from the rice reminded me of home cooked meals at home. I loooooveee their cassava cake. It was so moist and tasty not gummy like most. Their lechon was still crunchy and had flavor. Their Iced tea was good too! I mostly find these sweet but theirs was homemade.
I couldnt find any fault in any of the dishes. And theyre such a good price too! Im glad I live pretty far from them or else Id probably be gaining even more weight…
Thank you Tita! =D

FOOD:
— BEST Dinuguan ever in Toronto and I think even in Philippines (it’s that authentic).
— Palabok is good, needs a lil improvement to become great.
— Pork lumpia/​rolls is also good, also needs a lil improvement to become great. Make sure to eat this while it’s hot.
— Tapsilog is just okay, I’ve tasted better ones in Philippines.
— Sisig fries tastes good but TOO OILY and fatty. Fries are like coated with a lil bit of flour I think so it’s crispy. The sisig needs improvement, like more soy sauce and onions, reduce pork belly parts and replace it with lean meat.
SERVICE:
Service is great, very friendly and warm (in person and over the phone).
AMBIANCE:
It’s like a food truck (kinda), so it’s best for take-​out food.
RECOMMENDATION:
Just because of the Dinuguan, I am a big fan!

I tried the tapsilog. It’s marinated to perfection. Salty, tender beef over rice, with a fried egg and papaya slaw. Tried the sisig fries and they were so addictive. The service was great also. Will definitely go back!

Given it’s a food stall on the street with just one lady preparing the food (most of the time), it might take quite sometime for your order to be ready. However the food is not «street food» nor re-​heat in the microwave at all! Everything is made to order, very tasty with generous portion and of course, cheap!
–Lechon Kawali — $ 7.50:
The lechon kawali is pork belly pan fried until skin is crispy. Although this was supposed to be served with garlic rice and papaya slaw, I actually didn’t get the slaws at all (I checked after I got home). In addition, I wish the garlic flavor in the rice was stronger, as I lovedddd the one I had at Lamesa. With that said, the pork belly was succulent and super crispy. It actually reminds me of the Chinese version, but I find the Chinese version is more salty compared to lechon. I thought the lechon sauce was okay, it was a bit sweet and sour so it wouldn’t be my choice of sauce for this dish. I think a spicy sauce or fish sauce would go well with the lechon ;).
–Balut — $ 2.50/each:
Well, Balut is not for the faint-​hearted, but I have had it multiple times in Vietnam when I was a kid.
*Time for a balut education: it’s a common and popular street food in the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam. Apparently some people believe balut is an aphrodisiac, but I don’t know, I eat it because it’s delicious. Yes essentially you are eating a developing duck fetus. Is it wrong? Up to you, I’m Asian, don’t ask me that question. Depends on the «age» of the duck fetus, you can sometimes see the entire duck embryo with the feathers/​wings/​eyes of the duck.
The eggs are hard-​boiled, so you are supposed to peel the shells and slurp the juices inside the egg! Before you eat, put a pinch of salt (provided with the balut) and enjoy the egg!
My best description of the egg is that the yolk has a custard texture, whereas the white part is very soft and felt like eating a liver. Honestly it just tastes like a regular boiled egg, except balut has a rich duck broth.
–Palabok — $ 5.75:
Despite how the dish resembles pad thai, the taste is extremely different. Again, where is my egg slices! I didn’t want to ask as I had to wait 40 minutes for this dish, and my friend have already gotten her orders from Gushi.
Despite being a noodle dish, the cornstarch noodles were light and not too filling at all! I believe they boiled the noodles and tossed with the sauce and other ingredients. I found the flavors to be really balanced, not too salty nor too sour. While some might find the sauce to be a bit. saucy (lol), overtime I realized that is how Filipino food is supposed to be like, so I don’t mind at all. Although it added some texture, I don’t think the pork cracklings were needed as it didn’t go well with the shrimps. I had pieces of the cracklings stuck on my teeth (lol), and it just added no flavor to the palabok.

Tasty filipino food in the 707 Dundas strip of food stands. The iced tea is good as well!

I first saw their stall at Front York and Spadina weeks ago. I finally decided to give it a try today coz the smell of the barbecue was pretty enticing. I’m so disappointed though because the staff especially the lady has no personality at all, did not smile, did not greet us nor thank us after buying their food. What a very bad customer service. It’s like dealing with a robot. The food taste was okey nothing special as well. No more repeat transaction that’s for sure.

We came here as part of a Market 707 and Kensington eating spree — so we only got to try their sisig fries.
The sisig fries was basically a bed of fries served with some lechon and mayo on top. Their online menu says there should also be a bed of offal meat below the lechon, but we didn’t get any of that in our order. Overall it was an okay dish, but nothing to write home about. The fries and lechon were crispy — it would have been better if the lechon was in bigger chunks though.

I accidentally stumbled upon this adorable food stand on my way to Chinatown. I’d been craving lumpia and halo halo for a while, so this was a very unexpected find. I ordered the halo halo, lumpia, and turon, and they were all great. I was especially happy with the halo halo, which came in a gigantic container. Everything was well made.

The little shops at Market 707 are food stalls serving top notch, often ethnic, dishes with top flavor at reasonable prices.
Kanto is probably one of the originals with a Filipino menu ran by a Mother and daughter duo from Manila. What they brought over was a taste of the place they came from, the flavors of Asian and Spanish influences.
The mother is there every day, I see her each time I visit while Diona is usually working on catering or preparing for festivals elsewhere, close by.
The food is always made to order, so you know it’s fresh. I always crave the Lechon Kawali (fried pork chunks with crackling skin) on garlic rice with pickled veg and sauce. An unbeatable combination of tender, succulent, crispy goodness. Only around $ 7.50! I would also encourage you to try their Lumpia (spring rolls) and Sig Sig fries, which are fries dressed to the max with chopped up pork, sauces, and other accessories. On Friday’s they have a special dinner deal where you can have a bit of everything with unlimited garlic rice.
I enjoy every item on the menu and one day, just maybe, I’ll even try the Belut (duck egg with fetus). One day…

Reviewed Dish: Palabok (Noodles with an egg on top)
Reviewed during: Mon — Fri Lunch time
Service Speed: ³⁄₅
Cooking speed: ³⁄₅
Food Quality: ³⁄₅
Food Quantity: ²⁄₅
Price: ³⁄₅
Cleanness: ³⁄₅
Repeat: Repeat for a snack, but not for a full size lunch
It took them a while a get the noddle ready. It came in a smaller container than I expected. Unfortunately it wasn’t very flavorful. It’s good for a snack, but not for a full meal.

Great food! Very homestyle… The caveat is you can’t be in a rush when you come here — it must be kept in mind that there’s one person cooking (it’s a food stall, people!) about a dozen orders at once (during their rushes).
My faves are pretty much the whole menu.

We ventured here on a Wednesday night after work (and just before they closed at 7pm).
It took maybe 30 minutes for our order to be ready… which is understandable given it’s a shipping container with just one lady cooking in it… but we were the only people there so I imagine if it was busier the wait could be quite long.
The lumpia was delicious (and only $ 4 for 10)…crisp and flavoursome. Tasted just like my mother in laws! Lechon was essentially crispy pork belly… it would be cool if they had a whole pig and it was just pork from that… but nevertheless, it was great.
Sisig Fries… while very tasty, the sisig wasn’t much like real sisig… it was lechon used as the pork instead of ground pork bits and pieces. Good — but an entirely different dish.
Pork Tocino was good too — pork was tasty and moist. This and the lechon came with garlic rice which was cooked perfectly.
The amount of food we got for $ 23 was crazy… very good value. Can’t wait to go back and try the pancit.
Check this place out!

Kanto by Tita Flips does have a homely feel.
I have my fair share of Filipino food but mostly from various food court stalls and fast food like take out places. I don’t have much expectations from a food stall on the street, as I am expecting the same pre cooked food under heat lamp or something just heat up in the microwave.
Tosi Log ($ 6) combo with a drink — Filipino Cured Meat, Garlic Fried Rice, Fried Egg and Pickled Vegetables. Though not the most amazing thing I had but is decent and tasty at that price point. Portion is quite adequate as a meal. Calamansi Iced Tea reminds me of the Chinese sour plum drinks that helps in digestion, but calamansi seems to have other health benefits.
Lola like lady which prepared our order is super nice.
We were there for late lunch so there was no other people and our food was ready in 10 minute or so.
I love the set up and the whole concept of these food stalls. I wish there will be more popping up around downtown area. They just remind me of the food scene in Portland, OR.

Yes they do run out of things, but they aren’t McDs and they are stuck in a space-​premium shipping container. People need to stop huffing and puffing about them running out of stuff.
Great quality stuff, lovely people. Dig in!

Let me just say this first, the food is great and the prices are amazing for the amount of food you get. I ordered Lechon on rice, Tapsilog, and 10 (mini) lumpias = $ 18. That’s pretty awesome!
Now, on to the bad. I went there on a Saturday around 6pm. Placed my order at 6:10pm, waited for almost an hour, and finally got all my orders at 7pm. I wish I was kidding, but I’m not. It took 50 minutes to get my food. There were 4 groups before me and from the looks on their faces, they had been waiting for a while too.
That’s my only beef with this place. Aren’t food carts supposed to serve quick meals? Oh well… :(

We trekked to 707 Market from U of T to give these stalls a try and I went with Kanto. Once I saw the menu I knew it was where I’d be eating.
The cook/​server was extremely — *extremely* — friendly. I ordered the sisig fries (topped with grilled and marinated pig offal topped with crispy pork belly topped with spicy mayo topped with sriracha topped with scallions and crackling). They were SO good. The toppings alone would have been enough but the fries themselves were also extremely light and crispy, rather than being heavy or greasy.
This stall is *not* fast food. I waited around 15 – 20 minutes while it was made fresh for me. While I was waiting a new batch of Turon, which are these delicious, sweet, sticky, ripe plantain filled spring rolls, came up. Once I saw them I couldn’t resist (and they’re so cheap!) so I bought them (including an extra she threw in for me) to snack on while she cooked my fries and man were they ever good. Wrapped some up to bring to the boyfriend and he concurs.
I wasn’t brave enough to try it, but this stall also has Balut — which is a duck embryo. My cousin has just returned from a year in Southeast Asia and loves them, so maybe I’ll psych myself up for it another time, because I wouldn’t hesitate to eat here again.
I loved this — but it’s getting cold. It would be cool (or rather, warm) if there was an inside eating area available at 707 Market. Of course the stalls themselves don’t have much control over that.

I travelled a great distance to get to this food stall because I was amazed at their «sisig» fries (fried pig offal on fries), which was tasty and dreamy, during the T&T Night Market festival and my mouth was watering to try their «palabok» (shrimp rice noodles). So I made my way to this food stall and the lady who took my order told me that she will cook the food fresh and for someone waiting for freshly cooked food from a street vendor, that means long wait. I waited 30 mins for my food. Since there was outdoor seating and the weather was nice I decided to wait. I also ordered the «turon» (sweet plantain deep fried spring rolls). The service from the cook/​attendant was warm and friendly.
But when I finally got the food, I was sorely disappointed. The food lacked taste and for a street vendor with no other attraction but its food this is disastrous. I really want to endorse them for braving the food market but they have to get the taste perfectly. The noodles lacked the briny taste of dried shrimp and had an anaemic watery taste to it. Same with the spring rolls, which fell flat with a bitter starchy taste for using unripened plantain. So I leave this food stall with a good lesson learnt to never eat street vendor foods unless it came with a great endorsement from Unilocal