In our furious pursuit of gastronomic excellence ahead of our Top 10 Best Places to Eat in February, we’ve decided to visit a fast food joint in Elephant and Castle. Filishack is a Filipino street food outfit in Sayer St. The tale begins with two brothers and a food truck situated outside Peckham library in 2014. After seven years of serving Fili burritos to passing pedestrians they opened their first bricks and mortar in 2021 followed our branch in 2024. 2025 has even seen them opening at White City, which we hear is a shopping mall. Or something.
Joining us was our in house Ombudsman Diane, who selected a burrito on the basis that she enjoys Mexican food and wanted to see if the Filipino take on a burrito was any different. Diane proclaimed regally, after her signature hair flick, “while this conforms approximately to the size and shape of a Chipotle style mega-burrito (burritos are not a particularly Mexican thing but Diane didn’t need to know this), this Filipino burrito has a distinctly different flavour profile”. Diane put this down to her choice of chicken adobo filling. Generous chicken thigh pieces were smothered in a prolific spicy sauce with a slight vinegar and soy kick. If that sounds odd, it’s actually delicious. Some salad and garlic rice filled out the burrito but it was the abundant chicken adobo that dominated.
Your scribe opted for the grilled chicken inasal ricebox. Inasal is a Filipino chicken that’s been marinated for hours giving it a distinct orange hue and a citrussy, almost lemongrass hit. You can choose from a range of salad additions including onion, cucumber, and lettuce. And of course the sauce on top is king, and a yougurt/garlic was chosen. Everything mixed together swimmingly and was almost too much to consume. At £7.95 for a medium box or burrito, this is very reasonable. Going for the large is unnecessary unless you haven’t eaten in a couple of days or have a tapeworm. And if you want to research ‘inasal’ by Googling, try to be VERY careful how you spell ‘inasal’ as the results might be more than you bargained for.
Looking into our cracked Observer crystal ball, we have a feeling that once the shopping centre opens the rents in Sayer Street with skyrocket, pricing out small businesses such as Filishack. But of course, if having two outlets of ‘Joe and the Juice’ in the same street is your vision of paradise then you might just be in luck.
