"The folks behind , , and have a clear game plan: to serve regional dishes that are otherwise hard to find in New York City. It’s not necessarily a winning strategy on its own, but the fact that they’re very good at cooking these dishes has worked well for everyone involved. Naks, an East Village spot with abstract murals and banana leaf-covered tables, sticks to the same blueprint, but adds a few twists. Rather than , the food is Filipino, and, while there are a few a la carte options available in the casual bar area, the main event is an 18-course kamayan-style tasting menu. Due to the format, this place has a narrower appeal than its sister restaurants. It takes a little more willpower (and liquidity) to commit to a dinner that costs $135 before tax, tip, and drinks. But if you’re planning a big night out, and want to experience something unique and exciting—highlights, hiccups, and all—Naks will provide that. For every other occasion, the a la carte menu is just as enjoyable, and a lot more practical. The tasting menu at Naks is currently in a category of its own, and not just because it’s Filipino. (There are plenty of other around town.) Built around riffs on the chef’s childhood meals, the extensive meal is regional and idiosyncratic, with fun twists like a tart, drinkable take on balut, a scallop smothered in processed cheese, and street food-style skewers warmed on a tableside grill. You are, unfortunately, bound to forget several of the introductory small bites, in part because the last few larger dishes hoard all the attention. Two-thirds of the way through, a server will arrive with a bowl of pancit tossed with creamy cubes of liver, dump the contents on your table, and tell you to eat the warm, chewy noodles with your hands. After you’ve foraged for every last scrap, you’ll get a glistening slab of pork belly, round as a hockey puck, with skin like glass. Give it a squeeze, and you’ll see how juicy it is. The tasting is nearly worth it for those two items alone, but if it’s just a few highlights you’re after, the a la carte section works just as well. Near the bar by the entrance, in a noisy room with a handful of two-tops, you can enjoy Southern Filipino ribeye skewers and a mound of fried duck with custard-like fat. You should know, however, that the a la carte menu is neither long nor cost-effective. The small plates—around $20 each—are easy to plow through, and some dishes, like the chalky fried chicken, are surprisingly disappointing for a restaurant group that tends to hit all its shots. If it’s perfection you’re after, Naks may not be for you. The food mostly ranges from fantastic to just mildly interesting, the menus are a bit awkward, and the hand-holding speeches throughout the two-plus-hour tasting occasionally border on corny. But all of that is a little beside the point. Naks is, by design, unlike anything else. This place brings something new to the city, and that something new packs enough punchy flavor and crispy pork skin to earn itself a visit. " - Bryan Kim
