Filipino and Italian cuisines fuse at new 70 King Market in Oshawa

The newly opened 70 King Market is now home to several new culinary experiences for Oshawa. One of the most unique of the new additions has to be Philipp’n Italian, a fusion of Filipino and Italian cuisines.

According to the restaurant’s website, the unique culinary reinterpretations resulted from a decade-long friendship between Chefs Faye and Peter. Faye cut her teeth in her family-owned Filipino restaurant The Hungry Moon in Scarborough while Peter learned the tricks of the trade in his family-run Italian restaurant ‘The Flavoured Journey in Whitby.

The pair worked together for years resulting in the unique combination of their respective cuisines. They describe their menu as “the ultimate fusion of Italian-Filipino cuisine. Delicious, one-of-a-kind dishes featuring handcrafted pasta and a unique blend of Filipino and Italian flavours like you’ve never experienced before.”

“Gamborito Fettucini” aka Palabok Fettucini via Philipp’n Italian – A buttery bisque-like shrimp and ground beef sauce tossed in in-house made fettucini pasta topped with tiger shrimp and Chicharon.

Philipp’n Italian features a menu full of dishes that combine the most iconic foods of both Italy and the Philippines. These include;

• Calderetta gnocchi
  • Italian gnocchi pasta tossed in Filipino brisket stew
• Chicken fusilli
  • Filipino kare-kare (peanut sauce) chicken serviced with Italian fusilli pasta
• Pork belly risotto
  • sweet pork and served in an Italian rice dish cooked in an adobo broth. (Adobo is the Philippine national dish)
• Milkfish risotto
  • similar to the above but served with milkfish (known as bangus in Tagalog, milkfish is the unofficial national fish)
• Vota Vota
  • a Sicilian style of calzone Chef Peter learned to make from his late Nona Tina

70 King has stood since 1929 back when it was the old Genosha Hotel. At the time, the Genosha largely brought in industrial leaders to attend General Motors conventions.

The hotel served as the city’s luxury hotel for decades hosting the likes of James Bond creator Ian Fleming and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory author Roald Dahl. (Coincidentally the two writers worked together in British Intelligence in the Second World War.)

The site was also a notable concert venue hosting Rush, Boston, Burton Cummings and many others in its prime. However, zoning by-laws changed in 2003 and forced the Genosha to close.

However, in 2017, the site was transformed into an apartment building and has just expanded into hosting the new market with a grand opening this week.

1. Philipp’n Italian