Most food stops along Highway 101 are predictable. Coffee. Burgers. Something eaten in the car because there is still another hour to drive.
Near Larkfield, there is a better reason to pull off the highway.
Tambayan Filipino Eatery sits at 600 Larkfield Center in Santa Rosa. As far as I can find, it is the city’s only dedicated Filipino restaurant. The cooking is home-style, the room is casual, and the menu may be unfamiliar if your experience with Filipino food begins and ends with lumpia.
Order the lumpia.
Then order something you have to ask about.
I stopped trying to read the menu as a checklist. One plate brought vinegar and garlic; another arrived with a brittle, fried edge and a rich center. Coconut softened the heat elsewhere. The pleasure was in letting those opposites interrupt one another.
Leave more room than you think
Halo-Halo arrives looking like several desserts accidentally landed in the same glass. Crushed ice, evaporated milk, coconut, sweet beans, fruit jelly and purple ube ice cream. Cold, creamy, chewy, soft and crunchy, sometimes in the same spoonful.
The name means “mix-mix” in Tagalog. The instruction is built in.
The first time, I tried eating it layer by layer. That misses the point. You have to reach the bottom, bring everything upward and let the colors run together. Every spoon comes out slightly different. One is mostly ice and milk. The next has beans or coconut. Then ube takes over.
It should be confusing. That is part of the pleasure.
Sonoma Magazine has called Tambayan’s version the best Halo-Halo in Sonoma County, and it is easy to understand why people remember it. Plenty of desserts are sweet and cold. Halo-Halo keeps changing while you eat it.
If you are driving Highway 101 and searching for Filipino food in Santa Rosa, Tambayan is worth the stop. Add lumpia for the table, ask the staff what they would choose that day and leave enough room for the glass at the end. You are not expected to understand the whole menu before you sit down.
Just do not leave after the main course.
The most interesting introduction to Filipino food in Santa Rosa may be waiting at the bottom of a glass.