Chef Paolo Dungca's Kayu restaurant has reopened in Dupont Circle after closing on the H Street corridor. This new location features a streamlined, casual dining setup with a focus on a la carte dishes. Signature items like savory cassava cake and new offerings, such as pork belly with chickpeas, are included. Family-style dishes and innovative cocktails with Filipino inspiration are also on the menu. The restaurant aims to create an accessible experience for locals.
The bright 40-seat dining room and bar-with a patio on the way-doesn't have a chef's counter this go-around. Whereas the original Kayu had various prix-fixe and tasting menu options, the new version is sticking to a la carte dishes for now.
Dungca's signature savory cassava cake topped with crab fat, jamón Ibérico, and trout roe is sticking around, while other small bites will include purple ube bao bun sliders with chorizo and pickled papaya slaw.
Dungca is also reimagining a staple of his childhood, pork and beans, as pork belly with stewed chickpeas and salsa verde. "It's definitely not authentic, but we just added our own little twist to it," he says.
There’s also a ribeye that draws inspiration from the southern islands of the Philippines with a burnt coconut sauce infused with lemongrass and galangal—"something that's never really seen on Filipino menus" in the US, Dungca says.
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