Purple Yam
Filipino restaurant · Flatbush
1314 Cortelyou Rd, Brooklyn, NY 11226
Highlights
This beloved Pan-Asian eatery dazzles with its inventive Filipino dishes and vibrant atmosphere, celebrated by locals until its recent farewell.
This beloved Pan-Asian eatery dazzles with its inventive Filipino dishes and vibrant atmosphere, celebrated by locals until its recent farewell.
"A Filipino institution of Ditmas Park since 2009, known for its modern Filipino cuisine. Co-owners Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan retired, marking the end of an era." - Emma Orlow
"Purple Yam is a Filipino restaurant in New York City, known for its innovative take on traditional Filipino dishes with additional Asian influences. The restaurant emphasizes education through its dishes, showcasing both traditional and reimagined Filipino cuisine. It is celebrated for its hospitality and for staying true to Filipino culinary traditions while also incorporating global flavors." - Michael He
"You’ll find a bunch of Filipino, Korean, and Chinese mash-ups at this Ditmas Park restaurant, but focus on the Filipino dishes, like tocino, beef tapa, chicken adobo, or lechon kawali. They also make their own ice cream and sorbet, and their champurrado deserves an award for best dessert porridge in Brooklyn, or maybe on earth. It’s fun to sit in front of the open kitchen inside and watch them work, but we prefer the private oasis of their small, bamboo-lined backyard. " - neha talreja, nikko duren
"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
"A pioneer in New York, Chef Dorotan describes Purple Yam as, “a Filipino restaurant with some other Asian influences. It's our own style, but we respect our age-old tradition.”" - Michael He
