(Is it working? :P)

Moving on…

It was late last Saturday when Mom finally got up to Indy. Dad and the little bro came up earlier because Dad had some business to do. Once we were all together we had that one problem that always seems to rattle everyone: What do we eat? I reluctantly hopped onto Yelp because no one wanted to look up something to eat. Don’t think that we don’t know where to eat; we actually know of a number of places to go to, but it was late and we didn’t want to go to the nearest burger joint for dinner.

Scrolling through the list of restaurants that were open until about 11pm, I came upon Rook. I remembered hearing about it from Mom who told me that a number of Filipinos from the hometown showing interest in it. Actually, they were in Indy driving around trying to find out but they never did or could? Something like that. But they were talking about it and Momma heard it.

Fortunately we didn’t get lost because they have me! The gal who travels around Indy when she’s bored.

Or craving.

Or intentionally gets lost.

Why on earth would I do that? Well, that’s a story for another time. ;P

So we find Rook in Fletcher Place. It’s a small restaurant attached to a what looked like an office space. The interior, once inside, is said to match that of an “Asian street market” with a mural composed of Asian images. If we were to take a moment to talk about the brush stroke, it’s similar to that of what you would see in old Chinese or Japanese paintings.

I’m so in love with the lights!

There’s a lovely string of lights overhead that reminds me of the markets back home–yes, I mean Asia. The lights connect to telephone poles that go across the ceiling, bringing back memories of a Filipino movie series that I used to watch as a kid called Home Along Da Riles. Ah, Sir Dolphy…

See the telephone line? ^_^

It’s a small space, and I’ve read on Yelp that some people didn’t like how noisy it can get in there even if there are only two groups in the restaurant. That made me giggle. The shop is meant to mimic back home and back home street shops are noisy, crowded, and small. If you want space, pay the extra dollar to go to an upscale restaurant where you would pay more money for the same food you could get for less at a street vendor.

That said, the place was small with a lot of shared space among the tables. Dad was a little surprised at that when we walked in but didn’t care about it once we sat down near the kitchen/register. He and Mom understood the idea behind it after taking a brief look around. Dad had a good chuckle from it!

So, with that long introduction under my belt, let’s get to the food! Ah~now I’m hungry.

Small portion of their simple menu

I liked the simplicity of the menu. No frills, no confusion. It made it easier on our half-asleep, half-I’m-going-to-kill-someone-because-I’m-so-hungry minds. We kept our drinks simple: Dad and the bro on H2O, Mom on sweet tea, and I ventured out to try the La Croix Coconut Sparkling Water. I’ll keep my comments on it until after I talk about the food.

Let’s begin with Dad’s meal because it only seems right–c’mon, head of the family and all? 😀

Rook’s duck adobo

Dad was going to get a banh mi, but Jae (my baby bro) got it. There were two flavours, so I’m wondering why Dad didn’t order the other…? Anyways. He got the duck adobo. According to their menu, it’s duck cooked adobo style with baby kale, roasted kabocha squash, cipollini onions, and fried egg served on top of a local bakery’s toasted bread. Dad added the sriracha to one, play around with his food artistically and two, add some spice because we like it hot.

For the most part, the three of us (Jae excluded) spoke in Tagalog (I spoke in a broken form since it’s been years since I last spoke) when we were there, so I’m doing some translations from what I can remember…

Dad’s comments on his duck adobo:

It tastes fine but it’s a little [what he means here is that it was really] salty. The chef needs to remember that duck easily absorbs all of the flavours easily.

Overall, he liked it knowing full well that whatever was served at the restaurant was an Asian fusion.

As for Momma hen…well, let’s just say her eyes popped a bit when she saw her tortang eggplant.

Rook’s tortang eggplant

Mom loves eggplant omelet–or eggplant dipped in egg and then cooked. She loves making it at home in grand batches, so not just one or three eggplants, try about six or seven. (Yeah, yeah, that’s a grand batch in my case.) For a family of four, that’s quite a bit, especially when only about two or three of us will eat it. It lasts us quite a bit.

Back to the food: When Mom got her order, her eyes widened when she realised that was it for her order. She seriously asked where her ulam was–or Tagalog for main dish. We tend to use ulam and kanin (rice) interchangeably, so what she meant here was rice since it’s the traditional staple in our diet. When no rice came (we didn’t bother asking, either), she went ahead and tried it. She enjoyed the simple flavour and that it was a little spicy from the sriracha kewpie. The orange cubes were pickled sweet potato and the accompanying brown sauce hoisin. I didn’t try, but she said it was good–even with the spicy element since she doesn’t like spicy.

Rook’s raven banh mi

Jae ordered the banh mi raven style. There were two versions with two different proteins: raven style was a banh mi made with bulgogi (Korean marinated beef) while the rainbird style was tandoori-spiced tofu. The bread came from the same local bakery as Dad’s toast. Jae had no comment; he just devoured the sandwich and licked his fingers. Because he ate it just like that, our picky eater, it’s safe to say that it was good!

Rook’s pig face hash

And now my dish… Okay. So I ordered the pig face hash knowing full well that it would be a little salty from the pork cracklings or chicharon. I was thankful my dish came with rice and surprised that the little red rings were spicy, pickled peppers! I thought they were going to be sweet peppers but they were spicy. Either way, a pleasant surprise they were!

With my first spoonful in my mouth, my taste buds were instantly set off: I told Mom that it was maalat (ma-ah-laht, or salty). It was very salty. I liked the taste of everything together, but it was so salty! I soldiered through the dish and finished it.

We finished our meal and ordered one serving of turon, sweet plantain wrapped in an egg roll sheet sometimes with jackfruit and then fried, normally drizzled with honey or molasses in the end. Our turon was served in a cup of buko (coconut) ice cream with fresh shredded coconut in it. Oh my gosh. Of all the things we ate that night, that was the best! The ice cream tasted like it was homemade and the turon was on point. (Honestly, if you screw up turon get out of the kitchen. But that’s me being biased because I love that stuff!) Despite it being $4 for one serving, Dad said he would come back to Rook just for that because it’s the best we’ve had here in Indy and in Chicago.

If we were to take a moment to compare our main dishes to what we normally order in Chicago, Chicago would trump Indy–even the other Filipino restaurant in Indy would trump it. When it comes to turon with ice cream–well, Rook wins!

La Croix’s coconut sparkling water

Now, if you guys were wondering why I never took a swig of my drink whilst eating my dish, well, let me start with this: WHO IS CRAZY ENOUGH TO DRINK THIS? WHAT ON EARTH? WHO’S IDEA WAS IT TO CONCOCT COCONUT SPARKLING WATER?

Yep. I wasn’t a fan. I tried to drink the whole thing but I couldn’t. I ended up drinking some of Mom’s sweet tea by Honest.

That’s it for now, guys!

Ah, before I forget–you can check out Rook’s site to see their menu and learn about the shop at RookIndy.com. You can also follow them on Instagram to view drool-worthy photos! And, one last thing, if you check out their Twitter, you can find out they’re daily specials.

I hoped you enjoyed this review. I am not in any way affiliated to any of the brands/restaurants I mentioned, nor was I asked by them to write this (if you couldn’t tell already).

Have a great Friday!

xoxo
SamiJoie

You can find Rook in Fletcher Place or, specifically, 719 Virginia Ave. Indianapolis.