Animae in San Diego

 Animae is the best restaurant I've eaten at this year.  The food was outstanding!  We started with two non-alcoholic calamansi collins.  These were delicious.  It was fizzy, slightly sweet and sour.  A calamansi is a citrus hybrid, more common in the Philippines than the U.S.  For a starter, we split the lechon kawali.  This is roast pork bites and figs on a vinegary apple sauce.  I thought it was a very original dish.  The fruit and vinegar complemented the fatty pork very well.

For main courses, I had the chicken inasal.  This was a nice BBQ chicken on turmeric rice with pickled vegetables.  My friends had scallop crispy noodles and the branzino.  I didn't get a bite.  😐😐The portions were a nice size and everyone was very happy.

For dessert, we had the matcha crepes with a strawberry sauce.  This was a big portion and was amazing!  It was rich and not overly sweet.

This is a very pretty restaurant.  The cuisine is Filipino-inspired with a nice selection of American-style steaks and Japanese wagyu steaks.  The decor is old Hollywood with some Asian touches.  It is very elegant with a lot of black with gold accents.  It is on Pacific Highway and there is construction across the street.  We easily found on-street parking.