For $10, Guerrilla Street Food’s Filipino sinigang is the most pleasantly sour stew in town

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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

Sinigang is a popular Filipino soup (the word means “stew”) characterized by its distinctive sour taste (“but pleasantly sour,” according to chef Brian Hardesty, co-owner of Guerrilla Street Food). The soup’s regional characteristics are distinguished by the souring agents used in the veggie-based broth, most often green tamarind but also green mango, gooseberries—“theoretically any fruit or vegetable in its bitter or unripe state,” says Hardesty—and any available protein and vegetable. The chef likes to simmer pork belly in the broth for four hours, then slice it in slabs, deep-fry it, and add it back to the broth, along with (on this day, anyway) shrimp, short choy, okra, purple yam, and Filipino eggplant.  The traditional accompaniment is local jasmine rice, added a spoonful at a time. Because of its “anything goes” versatility and vibrancy, sinigang is a year-round staple in the Philippines. Look for the $10 dish during the fall and winter months at all locations of Guerrilla Street Food beginning December 4.