Jordan’s been on a bit of a cultural discovery journey lately trying to invite in more of his Filipino heritage. He’s been trying to learn Tagolog, and he’s been learning about/watching the careers of some local Filipino chefs.

Recently – he took an interest in the doings of one local chef – Phillip Esteban – who is a key participant in the newer food hall in National City – the Market @ 8th.

We headed over to the food hall after some holiday returns on a rainy day for lunch before heading home.

Food halls are always such a weird experience for me. Even before COVID made it extra weird, I never knew where to sit or where to eat. Something about the multitude of options just ends in stress.

In any event, this food hall was really cute and spread out and had a lot of delicious smelling options. It was super cold and rainy the day we went, so there was no way I wasn’t going to get ramen from Weapon Ramen.

https://www.instagram.com/weaponramen/

We also stopped at the little plant and book shop inside the market and Jordan grabbed himself a new cookbook (Filipinx: Heritage Recipes from the Diaspora). I grabbed myself a new plant for my office (a Silver Wing Begonia).

Overall, a lovely stop!