Naks
Filipino restaurant · East Village ·
Filipino cuisine with bold flavors, wood-fired dishes, & kinilaw
Filipino cuisine with bold flavors, wood-fired dishes, & kinilaw
"Chef Eric Valdez channels the feelings and flavors of Filipino home cooking at this East Village spot, which is worth a visit — or a revisit for those who recall its now retired tasting menu — and now encourages mixing and matching carby, meaty, peanut-sauce-laden, stick-to-your-ribs dishes with crisp and vibrant small plates. The front room is casual, with smaller tables and a lively bar, while the back dining room is refined yet playful, all soft lighting, wood paneling, and a leafy-green mural that evokes a chic treehouse. Start with the crispy-on-the-outside, juicy-on-the-inside Kanto Fried Chicken — a must — and the light, crispy Lumpiang Hubad, where long beans, jicama, and celery slathered in peanut sauce are served so cold each forkful feels like biting into a savory popsicle. For carbs, the steamy, unctuous Adobo Rice — chicken, pork belly, and garlic rice cooked in a claypot and vigorously mixed tableside — is the pick, but the Pancit Batil Patong is also super satisfying, with slick, savory noodles cozying up to chewy bites of pork chicharron, mixed together tableside on a banana leaf. The Lechon Platter for two is a showstopper that, with a few small plates, could easily feed four, pairing generous chunks of pork belly — soft in all the right places and shatteringly crisp in all the others — with jasmine rice and a rotating cast of grilled and pickled vegetables. Insider tip: four canned beers made by Unapologetic Foods with Long Island City’s Transmitter Brewing are exclusive to the group’s eight restaurants, each with its own twist (think basmati rice in the lager or coconut in the IPA), and they pair well with the menu’s savory dishes." - Terri Ciccone
"For the Unapologetically Filipino series, a six-course dinner pairs chef Tara Monosod with Naks’ chef Eric Valdez, backed by Resy and set for Sunday and Monday, December 7 and 8, starting at $135 per person." - Melissa McCart
"The claypot adobo rice that drifted past our table smelled heavenly, but since my dining partner abstains from pork, we set our sights on the Kanto fried chicken ($16)—a pyramid of what were essentially thin, thoughtfully deboned dark‑meat tenders with a ruffled, ultra‑crisp batter. Inside this slip of a restaurant after a long day of travel, each piece was juicy and well portioned, especially good dragged through the creamy, pale‑yellow garlic aioli." - Bettina Makalintal
"Naks is another spot from the team behind Semma and Dhamaka. It has a similar regional ethos, but unlike its siblings, the East Village restaurant serves Filipino food. Now's a great time to try some smoked eggplant salad with shrimp paste, kare-kare with beef cheeks, or pork belly accompanied by liver sauce." - bryan kim
"Having moved from a tasting-menu format to an à la carte setup, the restaurant now lets groups sample more dishes; the standout was the Kanto fried chicken — boneless, extremely crispy, and remained hot and tender even after a 20-minute return for seconds. Other recommended plates include the grilled lemon soda pork belly and the clay-pot adobo rice." - Eater Staff