New Voices in Cuisine
Right now, some of the most exciting Filipino cooking comes out of a hotel restaurant in Old Town Portland, a 14-seat dining room in Marikina, a long-table supper club that settled in La Union, and an East Village bar that opened at the end of October. These are the cooks, bakers, and bartenders DIWA is watching, Philippines-based and Filipino American, each with the one thing we’d order first.
Dining rooms worth planning a trip around, from a food cart turned restaurant in Old Town Portland to a solo chef in Parañaque and a two-star kitchen in Chicago.
Featured in Chefs & Restaurants
Pamana
Ethan and Geri Leung · Portland, OR
Ethan and Geri Leung got their start with Baon Kainan, the Filipino food cart they opened in 2021. In 2025 the cart became Pamana, a full restaurant inside The Hoxton in Old Town, and its name means inheritance, or legacy. The married couple still work both the floor and the line.
Ethan was a design engineer before he cooked full-time, and he trained in Seattle kitchens. Now Pamana is opening a second, smaller room in Northeast Portland, in the former Expatriate space on NE 30th Avenue, built around dinner with Oregon and AAPI-owned wines. Brunch and events stay at The Hoxton.
At the table The new room keeps Expatriate’s skylight and adds natural wood, repurposed building materials, Pamana’s blues and greens with an orange accent, and family photos on the walls.
Order this Brunch at The Hoxton, 5 NW 4th Ave. Then come back for lumpia, sisig, or kinilaw at dinner in Northeast Portland.
Also in Chefs & Restaurants
- DigámoMarikina City, Philippines
Francis Lacson cooks the food of his Capiz hometown for 14 guests at a time, in a dining room modeled on the dirty kitchen, and in October 2026 the Michelin Guide Philippines gave him its Young Chef Award.
Order this: linagpang, his grandfather’s soup of grilled native chicken soured with libas leaves.
Website (opens in a new tab)@digamo.mnl on Instagram (opens in a new tab)
- Restaurant NaidesSan Francisco, CA
Patrick Gabon’s Filipino tasting menu is built on California produce, and the Michelin Guide added the restaurant in March 2026.
Order this: the rice cake with pork rillette and lardo.
Website (opens in a new tab)@restaurantnaides on Instagram (opens in a new tab)
- Kamayan ATLDoraville, GA
Mia Orino and Carlo Gan, 2026 James Beard semifinalists for Best Chef: Southeast, serve kamayan feasts, the shared meal eaten by hand, inside a replica bahay kubo that seats 20.
Order this: the kamayan feast. Book a table on OpenTable.
Website (opens in a new tab)@kamayan_atl on Instagram (opens in a new tab)
- KasamaChicago, IL
Tim Flores and Genie Kwon’s restaurant earned its second Michelin star in November 2025, and by day it runs as a counter-service bakery.
Order this: the mussel and wild mushroom adobo.
Website (opens in a new tab)@kasamachicago on Instagram (opens in a new tab)
- TadhanàMakati, Philippines
Frances Tariga opened a Manila Tadhanà after her New York restaurant of the same name, and the Michelin Guide Philippines named it Opening of the Year in October 2026.
Order this: the tinapay, a tinigib cornbread with tinapa mousse.
- LinamnamParañaque, Philippines
Don Baldosano serves 10 guests at a time in what was once his childhood bedroom, and Linamnam kept its Michelin star in October 2026.
Order this: sunog na kanin, the burnt rice he has kept on every menu.
Website (opens in a new tab)@linamnam_mnl on Instagram (opens in a new tab)
Supper clubs, residencies, and market stalls, including one long-table dinner that found a permanent home this year.
Featured in Pop-ups
Una
Joaquin Carsi-Cruz and Alana Ver · San Juan, La Union, Philippines
Lasa Supper Club started in Manila during the pandemic as long-table dinners for 12 to 20 guests, cooked by chef Joaquin Carsi-Cruz alongside his mother, Ging Carsi Cruz. In January 2026, those dinners found a permanent home as Una, inside the Salt Boutique Hotel in San Juan, La Union.
The cooking comes from Northern Luzon: kiniing, the smoked and salted pork of the Benguet mountains, tapuy from Baguio, and basi wine from Ilocos Sur.
At the table Dishes arrive in palayok, clay pots made by potters in Bacnotan. Architect Brian Ver designed the interiors, and Alana Ver, who leads creative direction, shaped the brand and the space with Silver Fruit Design Studio.
Order this The litson baka-dobo palayok. Reservations are on OpenTable.
Reserve (opens in a new tab)@restaurant.una on Instagram (opens in a new tab)
Also in Pop-ups
- Got Your BackLong Beach, CA
Brennan Villarreal and Sasha Schoen run a Monday and Tuesday dinner residency at Selva, with a menu that changes every month.
Order this: the adobo steak frites, whenever it’s on.
Website (opens in a new tab)@gotyourbacklb on Instagram (opens in a new tab)
- Kuya’s CookingCambridge, MA
Aldrin Agas, whose father cooked for sailors in the U.S. Navy, lays lechon and adobo out on banana leaves for his kamayan dinners in Cambridge.
Order this: a seat at the next Kamayan Dining Experience. RSVPs open on his site.
Website (opens in a new tab)@kuyascooking on Instagram (opens in a new tab)
- ManilaBoyDes Moines, IA
Earvin Idio has sold Filipino street food at the Des Moines Downtown Farmers’ Market since 2018, and in 2025 ManilaBoy added a second booth.
Order this: the breakfast sandwich with sweet garlic sausage.
- Baguio Mountain ManBaguio City, Philippines
Chavi Romawac, formerly of the band Session Road, runs reservation-only Cordillera private dinners with Millie Romawac, and in April 2026 he gave cooking demonstrations at the Mangan Taku food fair in Baguio.
Order this: a seat at one of their forest fire dinners, by reservation.
- Butter Bandit BakerySeattle, WA
A queer, Filipino-owned bakery that pops up at Seattle markets and art walks, including the Talipapa Market Cultural Festival at the Filipino Community Center in September.
Order this: the ube macapuno cookie.
Website (opens in a new tab)@butterbanditbakery on Instagram (opens in a new tab)
Pandesal, kakanin, and pastry cases, from a Makati takeout window to a Las Vegas bakeshop that opens one day a week.
Featured in Bakers & Sweets
Shop Halo Halo
Geleen Abenoja · Portland, OR
Geleen Abenoja is a self-taught baker who learned traditional Filipino desserts from her grandmother and her mom while helping out at big family gatherings around Seattle. Before the pandemic, she was the dessert chef at Jade Rabbit.
In August 2025, she closed Shop Halo Halo’s Woodstock storefront, in part because it sat far from the Filipino communities in Beaverton and Gresham, and kept baking through pop-ups. Now Shop Halo Halo has a storefront again, at Union Way in the Pearl District, with Philippine specialty coffee from Barkada Coffee, and her ube crinkle cookie is still the bestseller.
Order this The ube cheese pandesal, with an ube crinkle cookie for later. Find the shop at 1022 W. Burnside St., Unit N.
Website (opens in a new tab)@shop_halo_halo on Instagram (opens in a new tab)
Also in Bakers & Sweets
- Auro ChocolateDavao City and Metro Manila, Philippines
Mark Ocampo and Kelly Go’s bean-to-bar brand won five awards at the 2026 Asia-Pacific International Chocolate Awards, then made a chocolate balut egg for its Filipino Street Food collection.
Order this: anything from that collection, if you’re in the Philippines. Auro delivers there only.
- KORASunnyside, Queens, NY
Kimberly Camara and Kevin Borja’s bakery earned a Recommended review from Time Out New York in March 2026.
Order this: the ensaymada croissant.
Website (opens in a new tab)@fromkora on Instagram (opens in a new tab)
- MILKFISH BakeshopLas Vegas, NV
Kimmie McIntosh’s bakeshop opens one day a week, and in 2026 she was a James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker.
Order this: the Ube Jammy cookie.
- Panaderya ToyoMakati, Philippines
From Jordy and May Navarra, the couple behind Toyo Eatery, the panaderya came back in June 2026 as a takeout window, after three years away.
Order this: the potpot pandesal, Monday through Saturday from 8:30 a.m. until it sells out.
- Pambansang KakaninMoncada, Tarlac, Philippines
Marie Ygana-Magbanua and Cherrie Gallardo-Quilloy make more than 35 kinds of kakanin, the Filipino rice and root-crop sweets, and it all began with Cherrie’s puto Moncada in her Tarlac hometown.
Order this: the puto Moncada that started it.
Cocktail bars and coffee roasters working with calamansi, mango, and beans grown in the Philippine highlands.
Featured in Bars & Drinks
June Baby
Roxanne Diaz Bangalan, Darwin Pornel, and Ben Rojo · East Village, New York, NY
Roxanne Diaz Bangalan, Darwin Pornel, and Ben Rojo first worked together as 4 Wheel Tricycle, then ran Noche Buena, their roaming Christmas bar, before regrouping as June Baby in 2025.
On October 28, 2026, June Baby opened its doors at 197 Second Avenue, and Time Out New York called it the city’s first Filipino American cocktail bar. It’s open Tuesday through Sunday, 4 pm to midnight.
At the table Camille Esquivel de la Fé and Adela Locsin of SQVL worked with the founders on the design, Tatsuya Kurihara made the logo and visual identity, and the walls show work by Filipino artists in the U.S. and abroad. The back bar draws on the rice terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras.
Order this The Calamansi Hi-Ball.
Also in Bars & Drinks
- Problem ChildMakati, Philippines
Opened by Kevin Corales, Wendy Esteban, and Patrick Leyble, Problem Child came in at No. 44 on Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2026, the only Philippine bar in the top 50. Its menu and room change color every three months.
Order this: the Negroni made with mango distillate and guava and pineapple Campari.
- Fat CatMakati, Philippines
Self-taught bartender Ron Cruz, Fat Cat’s co-founder, was named World Class Philippines Bartender of the Year in June 2026, and the room plays vinyl in the spirit of a Japanese jazz kissaten.
Order this: a drink from “A Sip Through the Arcana,” a tarot menu of 22 cocktails.
Website (opens in a new tab)@fat.cat.ph on Instagram (opens in a new tab)
- Kalsada CoffeeBenguet and Bukidnon, Philippines
Founder Carmel Laurino was born in the Philippines and raised in the Pacific Northwest. Kalsada works with farming communities in Benguet and Bukidnon, and in June 2026 it released the first harvest from its trial farm.
Order this: the Sitio Belis Catimor, a bag named “Trial and (hopefully less) Error.”
Website (opens in a new tab)@kalsadacoffee on Instagram (opens in a new tab)
- Kalesa CoffeeNorth Portland, OR
Leilani, Tim, and Keanu named their North Portland café for the kalesa, the horse-drawn carriage once reserved for the colonial elite.
Order this: the cold brew with ube cream, Tuesday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Website (opens in a new tab)@kalesacoffee on Instagram (opens in a new tab)
- Pacific Cocktail HavenSan Francisco, CA
Kevin Diedrich’s menu leans on calamansi, guava, and tea, and the bar placed No. 41 on North America’s 50 Best Bars 2026.
Order this: the Thrilla in Manila, with bourbon, coconut cream, calamansi, and shiso.
Website (opens in a new tab)@pch_sf on Instagram (opens in a new tab)
Keep exploring New Voices
See all Voices →Get the next list before it goes public
We add new cooks, bakers, and bartenders a few times a year. Join The Loom, DIWA’s free newsletter, with the form just below, and the next names reach your inbox before they reach this page.
Want to go further? Become a DIWA Founding Member by November 30 and help us keep finding the people worth a detour. See DIWA Membership