New Openings: Lola’s Foodhaus

Fusion menus are making a come-back in Mississauga with a number of recently opened restaurants in the city boasting unique fusion menus which fit nicely into the diversity of Mississauga’s population. 

Lola’s Foodhaus is a new Filipino-fusion restaurant which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and offers weekend karaoke and DJ nights. Lola’s is currently in its soft launch phase with an up coming grand opening date to be announced. It’s located in a busy plaza along Dixie Rd. at Eglinton Ave. E and took over the Mario San Francescos Ristorante (which relocated to a plaza nearby). 

Proprietor, Pete Carin, is a CGA by trade but when the company he worked for wanted to send him to Calgary, he declined. A good friend and his restaurant’s manager, Adie Dela Cruz, collaborated to build the concept and it’s their first restaurant together. Carin brings the financial background to the table and Dela Cruz brings front of house experience having worked in the industry. 

Lola is a Filipino term for grandmother and the restaurant’s name is a tribute to Carin’s grandmothers and all grandmothers who are traditionally the best cooks in the family. 

Chef Donderick Magampon’s menu is a fusion of his experience and growth as a chef first taking inspiration from his own lola who taught him about Filipino cuisine at a young age. Chef Magampon is a George Brown Culinary Management graduate and has worked his way as a young chef at a few large scale food service establishments, independent local restaurants such as Ten Restaurant and Wine Bar. He has also managed a few noteworthy fast food chains including The Burger’s Priest. 

Menu: Chef Magampon’s seasonal menu is designed to reflect the traditional flavours of Filipino cuisine influenced with Eurpoean ingredients and techniques taken from his culinary experience. He creates a version of the Filipino national dish called adobo made with chicken and served with an Asian inspired risotto. You will also find popular street eats such as lumpia Shanghai (Filipino spring rolls made with ground pork and a vegetarian option) and Magampon’s secret recipe for Filipino BBQ pork skewers which is marinated for two days and served with a house-made BBQ sauce. Filipino BBQ pork is traditionally a savory and sweet marinade which pairs well with pork. 

Kwek-kwek is another popular dish found in the street food scene in the Philippines. It’s a deep-fried battered quail egg and Chef Magampon’s version will be served as a sampler with three different (rotating) house-made sauces (sweet chili, spicy mayo and soy vinaigrette). You will also find a number of other hearty Filipino dishes such as braised beef kare kare (a classic Filipino stew made with a rich peanut sauce). 

The desserts on the menu include house-made Filipino inspired crème brûlée flavoured with traditional Filipino ingredients such as purple yam, taro and mango (crème brûlée is similar to a popular Filipino dessert called leche flan). Turon is an all around favorite made with sliced bananas wrapped in spring roll wrapper and deep fried – his version will include chocolate. 

What’s Up and Coming? Website, new menus, breakfast daily, and weekend brunch. Lola’s will host Latin Thursdays which include one hour of Latin dance lessons to start the night. Friday and Saturday nights will be Karaoke and DJ nights. Karaoke will be available from 6 pm to 10 pm following the DJ until close.

Seats:  60+ 
Patio: no
Licensed: Yes

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1. Lola’s Foodhaus