Adobong Manok sa Gata
$26Chicken thigh braised in cane vinegar and soy, finished with coconut cream, bay and a lot of cracked pepper.
Charcoal, vinegar, coconut and calamansi — cooked the way our lolas taught us, plated the way we eat now. Come hungry; we cook for the whole table.
Restoran started as a Sunday habit. Twelve people around a table too small for them, a pot of adobo that had been on the stove since morning, and an argument about whether it needed more vinegar. It always needed more vinegar.
We cook regional Filipino food with the technique we picked up in other people's kitchens and the seasoning we grew up with. Nothing here is fusion. It's the food our families make, given the room and the sourcing it always deserved.
“Kain na tayo.” — let's eat.
Sour, salty, fatty, sweet — usually all four at once, and always something sharp cutting through the middle. That's the shape of a Filipino plate.
Chicken thigh braised in cane vinegar and soy, finished with coconut cream, bay and a lot of cracked pepper.
Pork jowl, chopped fine, hot cast iron, chilli, calamansi and an egg you stir in yourself at the table.
Oxtail and tripe in toasted peanut and annatto, four hours down. Bagoong on the side — it needs it.
Annatto, lemongrass and calamansi, over binchōtan. Served with the chicken-oil rice, as it should be.
Spot prawns in a tamarind broth we keep aggressively sour. Kangkong, radish, long beans, plenty of steam.
Nine layers, one spoon, no instructions. Ube halaya, leche flan, sweet beans, pinipig, evaporated milk.
Banana leaves down the length of the table, everything laid on top — garlic rice, inihaw na liempo, grilled squid, prawns, salted egg and tomato, mangoes to finish. You eat with your hands, together, until the leaf is empty. Minimum four guests, 48 hours' notice.
Grew up in Iloilo, trained in Vancouver, spent eight years cooking someone else's food before opening a room for her own.
Runs the ihawan. Believes charcoal is a seasoning and that most people pull their pork belly off far too early.
Built the lambanog and amaro list. Will find you a table if there is any table to be found.
Warm light, hard surfaces, a room built for the volume Filipino dinners actually reach.
Two blocks off Main, the door with the orange awning. Look for the smoke.
Book up to 60 days ahead. Parties of 7+ and all kamayan tables go through the office.
Seasonal menu changes, kamayan dates, and the occasional lechon that needs eating. We won't sell your address to anyone.
You're on the list. Salamat!