"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
"Brunch might be our favorite meal at this East Village Filipino restaurant from the team behind Semma. People sing along to old-school Pinoy hip-hop tracks and make their way through multicolored cocktail samplers. The breakfast platters come with garlic rice, fried egg, fried tofu, pickled papaya, and your choice of vegetable or protein (the juicy pork longganisa is great), plus a rich, savory bone broth. It’s hard to choose between crab omelette and lumpiang gulay, but make sure to get a salted egg pancake for the table." - bryan kim, willa moore, molly fitzpatrick, will hartman, sonal shah
"Imagine the sun, but in pancake form. Warm and creamy, bright and a little citrusy—that’s Naks’ brunch-only pancake. The thick disc is drizzled first with citrus butter, then salted egg cream, and it’s juicy and crisp around the edges, and fluffy but not dry in the middle. Get one for the table for a very good morning." - molly fitzpatrick, sonal shah, kenny yang, carina finn koeppicus
"This Filipino restaurant is an example of a restaurateur applying an established model—centered on spotlighting less-familiar regional cuisines and strong branding—to a new cultural cuisine, signaling how groups can both diversify offerings and leverage operational know-how." - Jaya Saxena
