7 Fan-Favorite Filipino Restaurants for Filipino American History Month

In honor of Filipino American History Month and our thriving Filipino population here in Little Manila, we’re showing off the Filipino restaurants that have made their home here — and are inviting you to eat with them.

Kora

Online only, but based in Woodside - Order here

This doughnut shop sells 275 doughnuts per week, but has an 800-customer waitlist, drawn to the menu by the use of less mainstream Filipino flavors, including champorado, a chocolate porridge, itlog na pula, salted egg, and pinipig, a sweet sticky rice dish. Kimberly Camara and Kevin Borja, the founders, see their doughnuts as an introduction to the multiplicity that exists in Filipino cuisine and so far, their crash course has worked — customers keep coming back for more.

Ihawan

40-06 70th St., Woodside, NY 11377

Ihawan is the classic family-owned and operated Filipino restaurant that we all know and love in Woodside. It caters to customers hungry for nostalgia, but if you’re a newcomer to Filipino cuisine, this is an authentic experience of what dinner could look like every night. Get the ginataang langka, jackfruit with shrimp and coconut milk, for a sweet, creamy, and spicy entree, and finish off with the halo halo, the Filipino shaved ice treat that layers shaved ice, condensed milk, and other add-ins, betraying the Philippine’s many cultural and culinary influences.

Get pick-up, delivery, or dine in here.

Lahi

51-24 Van Loon Street, Elmhurst, NY 11373

At this comfy joint, the crispy rolls of lumpia, pork wrapped in thin, paper-like pastry skin, sizzling slabs of lechon kawali, deep-fried pork belly with a rich liver sauce, and creamy avocado shakes are a full meal that you’ll have to split with a friend. Although most Filipino spots are in Woodside, this hidden gem in Elmhurst will hit the spot.

Feel free to visit in-person or order online.

Papa’s Kitchen

3707 83rd St, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

Skip brunch and start your day right at Papa’s Kitchen with their selection of silogs, a breakfast dish with meats, garlic fried rice, and eggs, or their ube pancakes and mango halo halo. Nothing is over $8 and the restaurant is conveniently located in Jackson Heights with a bright, blue curbside patio that transports you to the islands from whence the cuisine came.

Get it here.

Tito Rad’s

49-10 Queens Boulevard, Woodside, NY 11377

A long week necessitates a trip to Tito Rad’s. Their adobong baboy , pork adobo, has the warm, hearty taste of dinner at grandma’s, but their modern kare-kare, oxtail and vegetables doused in peanut butter sauce, transcends its homely origins with their house-made shrimp paste. With such a flexible menu, it’s sure to satisfy every palate.

Try it here.

Kusina

69-16 Roosevelt Ave, Queens, NY 11377

Although “kusina” is the word for kitchen in Tagalog, this is less of a home-style restaurant, and more of a big, beautiful bar/bistro bringing back memories of Manila nightlife. It’s best known for its calamares gigantes, a giant squid that you eat with your eyes before your mouth and have to trim down with a pair of scissors, but you’ll find that their other seafood dishes, such as the sweet and sour escabecheng tilapia, may swim away with the top prize when you’re not looking.

Your chance to put the squid on the ‘gram is accessible here.

Purple Dough

Online only, but worth the wait!

This ube-centric bakery knows its way around a root vegetable. Deftly navigating the space between east and west, it plays on the edge of bubble tea and silvanas and doughnuts and cannolis. Although having vegetables in your ice cream sounds like a new health trend, ube has been an ubiquitous flavor in Filipino desserts since ancient times and won’t be going away any time soon.

Sweets await you here.