MFK BY AYSEE MODERN FILIPINO KITCHEN

This Orange County Filipino Restaurant Fought Flames to Save the Family Empire | Eater LA

"After an explosion tore through the Anaheim location in September 2020 — an incident later attributed by the Orange County fire marshal to spontaneous combustion from cooking oils trapped in towel fibers — MFK by Aysee regrouped and reinvented itself in Bellflower. I describe it as a reborn, fast-casual take on the original concept, one that leans into a grill-focused menu with plated versions of familiar Filipino dishes such as barbecued pork belly, bangus (milk fish), garlicky chicken adobo, pancit noodles, and lumpia; it operates daily from lunch through dinner. The fire and the strange premonition about smudging the space are part of the restaurant’s story, but so is the family legacy behind it: Henry Pineda opened the first U.S. outpost after training in several Southern California kitchens and persuading his grandmother to let him add the Aysee name to his Modern Filipino Kitchen venture." - Anne Marie Panoringan