I don’t think Nelly has had a legitimate radio hit since 2005, yet Goldilocks in Carson is playing “Ride With Me” like it just hit #1 on the Billboard chart. They’re also playing Ne-Yo and Ashanti. I’d love to say the music was part of a Throwback Thursday or a Flashback Friday playlist, but it was Saturday. This was my first time at the restaurant and I was sitting alone waiting for the owner to come by my table. Just an aside, nothing makes you look more like a loner than sitting by yourself, looking for someone, while mumbling the lyrics to Nelly. Thankfully, the owner came by before the second verse and suggested a few items on the menu. With little control over this order, I knew my dinner could either turn out in my favor or turn my stomach. Shooting for the former.

It didn’t take long for the first items to make their way to the table, and the starter was a drink. To be honest, any meal that doesn’t begin with a drink of any sort is no meal that I want to be a part of. With that in mind, the Sago’t Gulaman ($3.99) would be the intro to the meal. A glass of incredibly sweet and sugary water was full of tapioca pearls and gelatin cubes. Drizzled with caramel and topped with crushed ice, the popular Filipino drink was good. The tapioca as pearls (in comparison to boba) was less slimy or slippery. I liked these because they have a much nicer texture that doesn’t come with the oozing consistency that boba has. Overall, I really enjoyed the drink. However, it can be a lot to take in if you don’t like too much sugar. If that’s the case, let the shaved ice melt a bit or stir it up and it’ll be easier for you to drink. 

The first plate to the table was the Pancit Palabok ($7.99). This dish was comprised of rice noodles with shrimp and garlic sauce, tofu, diced pork, ground chicharon, smoked fish flakes, green onions, fried garlic, and topped with a sliced boiled egg. Reading the description alone, it sounded like a lot. Seeing it on the other hand, it appeared very manageable and that it wouldn’t be overwhelming. After tasting it, it was clear that the combination of all the ingredients worked very well together. The rice noodles were almost weightless. The lemon added a pleasant citrus taste when mixed in with the sauce that only enhanced the flavor a bit more than you would expect. From there, you could tell there the chef did a nice job at finely chopping the meat that it almost came off like a super meat that the FDA hasn’t discovered yet, and hopefully they don’t.With all of the pork, chicharon, and fish flakes I wasn’t even concerned that it also had tofu. While I don’t care for it, I didn’t make an effort to get rid of it either. If you want an analogy, consider the plate to be like a party of all the cool kids in school and then out of no where you see someone the nerdy kid got in. “Who invited Dunster??” You could kick him out but since he’s already there he might as well stay. Tofu, is Dunster.

The second entrée was the Crispy Binagoongan with Eggplant ($13.99). This dish took bagoong (shrimp paste) and paired it with sautéed crispy pork bits, diced tomatoes, and fresh mangoes over eggplant. If you’re looking at a menu and you see the words “crispy pork bits” on an item, that may be the best thing for you to order. In each piece of pork you can taste that it has been sautéed to its perfect core without loosing the tenderness of the meat itself. Once you begin to taste many of the small chunks of pork, you’ll find that it has a good amount of saltiness to it that is aligned nicely with the mangoes and tomatoes. The open eggplant becomes almost hidden underneath all the fruit, meat, and vegetables, but once you’re able to sink you fork into it you’ll find that the smooth texture encases the meat nicely. I’d suggest you add a side of white rice to it to bring it all together and to balance all the flavors.

To end the lunch was dessert. An entire frozen Brazo de Mercedes ($7) now sat in front of me. How I imagined I would eat all of this after two full plates was not going to happen. Instead, I took small slices and enjoyed them slowly. The dessert itself is a rolled meringue that can be filled with a variety of different custards. This one was filled with mango which gave the egg based dessert a pop of flavor. While I was initially taken aback by the brazo because it was so cold and weightless yet looked like it would be heavy and dense, I liked how simple it was. It didn’t taste too sugary and the texture was very smooth that I really had to put it in a class of its own. A class that I almost devoured when I had it at home.

Dining at Goldilocks brought delicious plates of Filipino food that I haven’t tried before. I liked that I got to see the bright colors of each plate, to taste the distinct flavors in each bite, and to feel the varying textures that came with each item. I’m very glad that I got to experience food that drew from a vibrant culture in every single plate—even if Nelly was the soundtrack the entire time.

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Address: 100 W. Carson Street Carson, CA 90745
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