Restaurant Naides – 2/22/2026

I've been hearing a lot of hype about this place on reddit recently so I thought I would try it out since i love being part of the hivemind. I wouldn't say that filipino food is one of my favorite cuisines and I really haven't had it too much in general, so I tried to go with an open mind.

Before I begin talking about the food, I just wanted to say the service is exceptional. Easily at least a 1 star level, and perhaps even a 2 star. It was great talking to the chefs, hosts, and Celine at the front of the house. When I said that I was not super comfortable with extremely sour courses, she comped me one of the non-alcholic beverage pairings so I had something to pair with that course (more on this later).

Food:

• Lumpia (5/10) – banana miso / pickled jackfruit / nashi pear.
  • As much as I loved lumpia normally, this one was a bit too sour for my liking.
• Okoy (6.5/10) – mung bean / prawn tartare/ pickled wild roses
  • I really liked the use of acidity in this dish compared to the first bite. Tart was flaky and mung bean was very smooth, vegetables were herbaceous and shrimp tartare was shrimpy (in a good way).
• Puto (7.5/10) – pork rilette / lardo/ wild unripe berries
  • My favorite of the small bites. Steamed fluffy rice cake was very soft and light and acted as a good base, the unripe berries added a nice tartness, and the lardo had a nice mouth feel and saltiness. Great combination of flavors and textures.
• Kinilaw (6.5/10) – cured trout / fermented coconut/ pine
  • Cured trout kind of tasted like smoked salmon (in a good way). Honestly did not care too much about the rice and coconut on the inside. Wasn't a bad dish, but not my favorite.
• Bagoong (7/10) – chayote / duck cracklings / moringa leaf
  • Bit of a muted flavor at first, but the flavors start to merge and work together as you keep eating it. You need to have duck cracklings in each bite since they add saltines to elevate the overall flavor profile. The caviar added a bit of that too.
• Sinigang (7/10) without pairing, (7.5/10) with N/A beverage pairing – abalone / dry-aged beef broth / yam leaf emulsion
  • The dry-aged beef broth had a super rich and meaty flavor. Celine warned me that this dish would be pretty sour, but honestly it wasn't too bad for me since it was sour and savory (instead of just sour). The abalone was super tender, but not sure if it was the right meat to pair with the beef broth? The N/A pairing was a sweet drink that helped cut the sour aftertaste of the sinigang and leave you with just the pleasant flavor of the beef broth.
• Pandesal (8/10) – brioche / chicken sisig & liver / atchara
  • I love bread courses and this one did not disappoint! I liked that it wasn't just bread and butter like it usually is, but it definitely made eating this a lot more messy since you have to assemble each bite. Chicken sisig added a nice saltiness, pickles added some light acidity to cut through this, and the liver was super super creamy and delicious. Brioche itself was super light and fluffy and i loved this course.
• Adobo (8.5/10) – 14-day aged duck / soy jus / horseradish
  • Super fucking good. I loved the aged flavor of the duck and the skin was super crispy. The adobo soy jus was really flavor and paired really well with the duck meat. My only nitpick was that the horseradish cream was pretty small and did not add much, but it tasted good. I would have liked maybe a slightly stronger horseradish taste.
• Tusok-tusok (7.5/10) – duck let & thigh / grilled pineapple / sabayon
  • I enjoyed the bites of duck meats – super tender and flavorful. The sabayon was nice and creamy but I would have liked maybe a bit more acidity added into it (apparently there was pineapple vinegar in it, but I could not taste this). I was not a fan of the flower bouquet as it was a bit bitter.
• Pili Nut (8.5/10) – polvoron / sweet potato / batak pepper
  • There was a bit of chocolate fudge underneath all of the toppings and it paired nicely with the nuttiness of the pili nut. The shortbread was a great texture and mouthfeel overall. This was a perfect amount of sweetness. Delicious one-biter.
• Kanin (7.5/10) – fermented & toasted rice / physalis
  • This was an ice cream dish with a hot cinnamon rice milk drink. Good contrast of sweet, peppery, cold, hot, thick, creamy when you eat both parts together. I wish the ice cream part was a little bit sweeter and the bottom jam was less tangy(?). The drink was very warm and comforting, delicious.
• Calamansi brulee (6/10)
  • More tart/bitter than sweet, i thought it was ok
• Tanduay gum (5/10)
  • Pretty strong alcohol flavor, thought it was ok as well.

Overall. I thought the dishes were all really refined and were flavor forward. I'm sure other people who like filipino food and flavors more generally would be able to appreciate these courses more than I did, but I still enjoyed my meal. Would definitely recommend!