Gammad Oriental Store and Restaurant

Look, I’m a Filipino American and to be honest I never eat a lot of it but when it’s available I do eat it. I am also very picky at the same time. I’ve had their chicken bicol express and beef kaldereta and to be honest it’s some of the best I’ve had and I don’t say that much. I live in Los Angeles you have your barrio fiestas, dj bibinkahan and all the chains you can imagine. But this is a small home town store/​eatery outside of Austin owned by a hardworking family. Come check them out!

Will try this soon.

So i came to austin for a roadtrip. I was happy to find out this place on Unilocal with great reviews. I got the chicken curry and beef caldereta. I couldnt eat all the food and threw it in the trash because it was super greasy. You could easily tell the caldereta looks like a soup based not thick; no flavor your mouth is greasy as hell. And the chicken curry is lacking coconut milk and just a mediocre. I probably have a different taste bud. Im comin from hawaii and san diego with the best fil cooking. I guess i have too much expectation.

Good Filipino Food! Love the buffet style dishes and varieties.
Been trying to find a good Filipino place since moving from San Jose, CA and so far this is the best compared to Little Mama’s and Mang Dedoy’s.
End the meal with some halo-​halo, you won’t regret.

I wanted to like this place, I really did. There is a shortage of good Filipino food in Austin.
The place is tiny, typical of most Filipino stores in the area. There is a grocery and a restaurant section.
I ordered the pork adobo and the caldereta to go. The portions were generous and it was all about $ 7, and came with a side of rice. They do take credit cards, which is nice.
It all starts to go downhill once I try the food. I almost wish I had eaten there because when I opened the to go containers, the dishes were so oily and greasy that it all came pouring out. So disappointing. I used more than like 8 napkins to sop up the oil.
I’m basing my reviews on what I tried, but I may go back to try something else. Right now, though, my stomach turns every time I think about all the grease.
Guest I’ll just drive back to my mom’s house when I want really good Filipino food.

I love this lil Filipino spot ! Filipino cuisine is near & dear to my heart! it is the motherland you know: P
if you’re new to Filipino food, I always recommend the pork adobo or the caldareta or menudo! their ingredients are a little bit more familiar to the average American tastebud, but if you’re down for some adventure the dinuguan & pinakbet are killer !!!
definitely try the Halo Halo in the summer time. It’s my favorite (ice cream dessert)
they also have a great lil grocery section if you need some Asian groceries that HEB & other grocers don’t carry !
The family that owns this spot is sooo sweet & friendly!

Had lunch here today with mom after attending Mass in Pflugerville, celebrating the Immaculate Conception. Google somehow messed up the street address but we finally made it.
We shared white rice, their version of Bicol Express, and dinuguan. Yet another home style cooking with no unnecessary flavor fanciness. The homy ambience adds to one’s content. They have TFC on tv while you enjoy your meal.
We had their version of halo-​halo and it was delicious.
They have not just a grocery store but oriental gift items as well as picture frames and Philippine wood framed mirrors.
I think the eating area sits no more than 20, thus cozy enough. I consider the eating area reminiscent of carinderias.
Another great place for Pinoy shopping and food in the Austin area.

If you are Filipino, or an Honorary One like I am, and you come here, you’ll feel right at home. It’s literally like walking into your Aunties house and your uncle shoves a bunch of food on a plate and hands it to you.
We didn’t come here to eat a meal but for some Halo Halo and it tasted perfectly fine to me.
Maybe the only weird part was uncle was watching me eat the whole time. But what can I say. With my good looks I tend to have that effect on people. lol
But yeah we’ll be back. I’m pretty sure my mother in law will want to eat here when she visits.

The people are really nice here. Some Asian markets make Caucasians feel like outsiders. The market is well stocked for how small it is, and the food is good. We ordered the chicken curry (because they were out of chicken Adobo), the Lumpia (egg rolls) and pancit. It was all very good, but I still wish I could have tried the Adobo. Everything is served in to go containers so if you don’t finish it, it’s easy to take with you. Place is not extremely cozy but the food is worth a try.

I came a little late so it was understandable the food was on the salty side from sitting on the steam table all day. However, considering how un-​picky I am, I still think the food is delicious and will definitely come back on a earlier time to try it out fresh. For the price of around 6 bucks I get to 2 entrees and one side of white rice is such a amazing deal!

The name is misleading as this is a FIlipino spot and a good one at that!
It handles a whole lot of things beyond «store» and «restaurant».
My attention though was squarely on two things — grocery and restaurant.
It has probably the best selection of Filipino foods in the city. I found several brands and varieties of canned corned beef, Magic Sarap seasoning, siapao, a big variety of frozen veg, and a host of other items I cannot find elsewhere, or are very limited in supply. There is limited fresh produce.
Apart from grocery, they also have souvenir type stuff like t-​shirts, flags, etc., and clothing and a Buddhist-​looking room with lots of stock to choose from. Like when you need a PH flag pendant for your rearview mirror, where else can you go? Or a golden Buddha?
Restaurant is cafeteria-​like. They prepare a number of dishes per day and you choose from among the offerings. They had pork adobo — a Filipino staple — and a host of other things to choose from. There are about 10 tables and there’s no table service… get what you want from the counter.
The food is precisely Filipino. If you don’t know this cuisine, it can be extremely greasy. Some dishes use canned or frozen ingredients… the cuisine is sort of like a better version of Hawaiian… still greasy and processed but with more fresh ingredients.
They also seem to handle shipping, travel, and any number of other services to/​from PH.
Friendly place. Priced fairly. Tight space. Not very attractive but give them a chance.
It’s the kind of place you ought to sit and be though. It’s easy enough to run in and out but the soul of the place is spending a bit of time to either learn a new culture or savor one you already know.
Try it!

This little gem is both a store and buffet style restaurant. The folks working behind the counters were sweet, accommodating, and welcoming.
The food was good. Nothing as good as a home cooked meal will ever be, let’s face it: every filipino’s mom makes the best adobo, lumpia, kare-​kare, etc and my mom definitely does. ;) We ordered chicken curry, chicken adobo, caldereta, lumpia, and some other goodies that I’ve forgotten about. The meat chunks were a little fatty for me and the food overall lacked salt/​soy sauce/​fish sauce/​msg (yes, msg). BUT the portions are hearty and it’s super cheap. Plus they had filipino pantry staples and snacks along with halo halo so it’s all good to me.

This isn’t a place that I would’ve driven by and said «oh, let’s eat there». But I found it here on Unilocal when looking for Filipino food. I had the beef pot roast with rice. AMAZING. And the little lady serving the food was so sweet. I’ll definitely come back & recommend to my friends!

Oh my goodness that food is good! And not at all expensive. I am luck enough to work right next door so I can walk over there anytime I want. The owners are so nice — yummy!

I ate lumpia… it was good.

Great Filipino food! Haven’t had authentic Filipino since San Diego. The Turon was a guilty pleasure. The beef was spot on and the spicy chicken cooked in coconut milk delicious. The customer service reminded me of motherly love. I will definitely add this place to one of my favs.

Food here is some of the best Filipino food I have ever had. Don’t let the exterior or interior of this place turn you away. The food is excellent.

Tried the beef with potatoes, beef with potatoes and carrots in it. Both tasted like pot roast. Very good though. I loved the taste of Pancit. Pork adobo, and rice were also good. I also tasted some kind of pork in a coconut milk sauce. Didn’t like that. The lady who made my plate and was very nice and she let me taste everything before I bought it. I will be coming back.

When looked at through the Filipino-​food-​in-​Austin lens, this is indeed «as good as it gets!»
Credentials: From SF Bay Area /​San Diego.

TL, DR:
A mom and pop at it’s finest. As a native of the Philippines, eating here was like being back in my mother’s kitchen. The groceries they stocked here were also from the homeland! They even have Chippy yo! Minimum charge for credit cards is $ 15.
Long:
I didn’t even think about looking for a Filipino spot in Austin until a person who was operating the machine taking my platelets told me about it! He told me to check out this place, and lo and behold, it was 5 minutes from my apartment! JACKPOT! The building is very non-​descript and you’ll miss it easily if you’re not paying attention. Look for the Gammad Oriental Store sign and pull in. The facility is separated into two parts, one being the grocery (on the left as you walk in) and the restaurant (on the right).
Walk up the ordering window and let the gluttony begin! They usually have menu items ready to go but they have a few items that you will need to order in advance (at least 45 minutes) to enjoy. Heck, you can call in your entire order and have it ready for you by the time you pull up!
Order these in advance: Pancit Palabok (awesome rice noodles), Lichon Kawali (Fried Pork Goodness) and Lumpiang Shanghai (Pork Spring Rolls). If you’re feeling adventurous, try the fried fish!
In my past visits, I’ve had the following and they were all so good!
Beef Mechado (Tender!)
Beef Kaldereta (Tender!)
Pinakbet (Awesome veggies!)
Pork Adobo (Melt in your mouth)
Halo Halo (Famous Filipino Dessert!)
Serve all the dishes above on a bed of white rice and your tummy will thank you. Also, everything fried is the Filipino way. Promise! My stomach is making obscene noises writing this. LORD HELP ME.

I’ve been meaning to try this place for a long time, but I’ve always been on the other side of the expressway. I don’t know what led me to trying the food a few weeks ago, but I must say — I feel like I betrayed my mothers cooking — it was pretty damn good. I had the menudo and the pork adobo. I was kind of in trouble since I actually don’t eat a lot of pork and actively avoid beef (as cows enjoy jazz music), I’ll make pork exceptions for Filipino food. The Turon was awesome and I spied halo-​halo on the table next to me. I eventually got around to trying the halo-​halo which was awesome!
Some people might complain about the atmosphere, but the thing is not that the atmosphere is lacking, but it’s TOO authentic. Having a nice older Filipino lady wanting to feed you constantly (check), Filipino channel blaring in the back (check), a variety of mismatched decorations with the price tags still on — yes, I know they’re for sale (check) anyone who wants more «atmosphere» for a Filipino restaurant is really just asking for a Jollibee.

Two things that we like most — Fried Daing na Galungong and Lechon Kawali. You can always call them when you’re ~10−20mins away and ask them them to prepare lechon kawali or you want a fried fish off the frying pan. And now they have Purefoods Corned Beef!
If you feel you want to try something bizarre, they also have boiled unhatched ducklings or simply known as balut to Pinoys like me.
Also, staff are very helpful and friendly.

Excellent caldereta (beef stew). Friendly folks. Best place to buy pancit noodles in town.

Growing up in a military family, I was exposed to a number of different cuisines. I kind of really super love Filipino food. Lumpia, pancit, pork adobo, etc. I will get full out Oliver «Please, sir, I’d like some more» on you in a second.
The shop side looked good. That day’s buffet side left a few things to be desired. I asked for something and my request was declined, which kind of upset me. I’ll give it another go sometime in the future because their reputation is pretty good. Until then, I’m just satisfied with the store aspect. They’ve got quite a selection of ramen, they sell pre-​made lumpia, and a variety of other goods. It’s definitely worth it in that respect.

I used to live off Parmer and probably drove past this place 1000 times without realizing there was a little restaurant in there. Some of my co-​workers discovered this place and are regulars. They talked this place up and I was intrigued to try it out. Their favorite thing to get is the whole Tilapia, for which they call ahead so the owner can fry them up ahead of time. The Tilapia comes with rice and is covered in a nice sauce with peppers, onions, and spices.
They also offer several other things like stewed beef and pork. The owner was very generous with our helpings and was very attentive to our group. Overall, everyone in the group left full and happy — great value for a home cooked meal.