"Purple Yam’s Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan have left a permanent mark on global Philippine cuisine with their tireless advocacy of using local ingredients to recreate flavors of home. Diners keep coming back for dishes like their debate-ending adobo, eggplant with burnt coconut cream, and fresh lumpia. But Romy’s kakanins in particular, often paired with homemade ice cream, have been responsible for many an out-of-state drive. I have ridden the R train nearly end-to-end for their banana leaf-lined bibingka, a baked rice cake often eaten at breakfast or on holidays that gets a luxurious update for weekend brunch with gouda and feta crowning the lightly golden crust. For something completely off-menu, call this Flatbush spot ahead of time for their tikoy - the Chinese nian gao gets a Filipino treatment with ube and is paired with champoy (dried salted plum) ice cream as a nod to the centuries-old Chinese communities of the Philippines." - paolo espanola
