For many years, London had few good Filipino restaurants. Sure, there were a couple of classics (such as Josephine’s, a Charlotte Street staple until it closed a couple of years ago), but even as trends for Cantonese or Thai swept the capital, Filipino food remained on the sidelines.
However, the scene has recently blossomed. Whilst relatively small in number, the capital’s crop of Filipino spots cover all bases, from homely hole-in-the-walls to high-end tasting menus. Here are five of our favourites.
Donia, Soho
Everyone’s talking about Donia. The small, modern Filipino restaurant only recently opened (in Kingly Court, of all places) but is already wowing the critics – and our specialists – with its ambition and acuity. The highlights – which you’ll no doubt soon see plastered over Instagram – include prawn and pork dumplings swimming in a buttery lime sauce and a football-shaped lamb pie oozing with tomatoey gravy. Don’t miss the sea bream. Or the halibut. Or the ube choux. Or the… You get the idea.
2.14, Top Floor, Kingly Ct, Carnaby St, Carnaby, W1B 5PW
Apoy
Fresh off the back of his year-long Sarap residency at 10 Heddon Street, Ferdinand ‘Budgie’ Montoya has opened his second London restaurant at Market Halls Oxford Circus. Inspired by Filipino street food, Apoy is much more casual than Sarap – its focus is charcoal-grilled meat, fish, and vegetable skewers. Budgie’s signature creative twist is also omnipresent – see meats marinaded in 7UP, banana ketchup, or coconut vinegar as evidence.
Apoy, 9 Holles St, W1G 0DB
Panadera
If you’ve never had Filipino baked goods before, this Filipino bakery – from the team behind Europe’s first Filipino ice cream parlour – is a good place to begin your education. Start with a sando signature milk bun, before turning your tastebuds to doughnuts stuffed with purple ube ice cream, calamansi meringue pie, and brown sugar Taho Boba.
Panadera, 83 Kentish Town Rd, NW1 8NY
Turo Turo
Put on your war paint: it’s time to gear up for a Boodle Fight. For the uninitiated, a Boodle Fight – or Kamayan – is a traditional communal feast where food is served on banana leaves and eaten with your hands. Try it at Turo Turo, a fast-growing Filipino eatery currently docked at The Queen's Head in Shoreditch. Its monthly Boodle Fights introduced the UK to long wooden tables groaning under piles of meats, sauces, and veggies with no cutlery in sight. It’s messy yet memorable – one to bring your mates to.
Turo Turo, 3rd Floor, Zebrano, 18 Greek St, W1D 4DS
Rapsa @ 100 Hoxton
Low-lit and concrete-coloured, this casual spot has an industrial chic vibe and a huge catalogue of brunches, parties, events, and Boodle Fights. Its speciality? Kinilaw – a method of preparing raw seafood that’s essentially the Filipino version of ceviche. Come here for a lunch of kinilaw poke bowls, or a classics-filled dinner of slow-roasted lechon, oxtail croquettes, and coconut rice flour cakes.
Rapsa @ 100 Hoxton, 100–102 Hoxton St, N1 6SG
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