Filberto’s in Bank’s Food Hall makes Filipino food that will make your mouth water

Settled right next to the Chattahoochee River in downtown Columbus lies Banks Food Hall, which houses some of the best food from every corner of the world.

If you walk to the back of the food hall in dark red letters you’ll read “Filberto’s Authentic Filipino Cuisine.”

The first time I decided to eat here, I had never had Filipino food even once in my life, but I was curious to see what flavors I would experience. I decided to order the Palabok, which I will never regret. The Palabok could best be described as a noodle dish packed with the flavor of the shrimp/soy sauce cooked into the noodles with a hint of ginger poking it head through every now and then.

The dish was topped with crispy chicharrones, green onion and a boiled egg cut in half sitting atop.

The second time I went I decided to get the Bistek Tagalog which is by far the best use of sirloin I’ve ever experienced in my life. These strips of sirloin are slow cooked in soy sauce and calamansi juice to where the meat sometimes fell apart as I tried to pick it up with my fork. Onions caramelized in the same sauce combination brought a welcome zing to the beef.

The Tagalog was served along white sticky rice, pancit and lumpia. The rice gave a nice balance to the sodium filled beef that worked well when paired together. The stir fried pancit had a nice flavor with cabbage undertones most likely due to the cabbage in the thin hair-like noodles.

However, the lumpia steal the show. In what I can best describe as an egg roll with incredibly seasoned meat served alongside a sweet and spicy sauce that isn’t needed but well worth the try.

Overall, I’ll be back time and again to try everything they have on their menu that changes daily.

Editor’s note: Ledger-Enquirer breaking news reporter Kelby Hutchison is our staff foodie and will occasionally write reviews of local restaurants. If you have a suggestion, e-mail him a khutchison@ledger-enquirer.com.

This story was originally published December 15, 2022 at 5:00 AM.