Kaya

Kaya is fine dining that’s not stuffy—it’s more like being at your chef friend’s apartment rather than a white-tablecloth affair with tuxedo-clad waiters. No one will give you the side eye here for wearing a T-shirt, but it is the type of place where you need a reservation. Once you’re in, focus on the chef’s nightly menu: five courses that might include adobo with local mushrooms or fried fish sinigang in a clay pot whose lid, coated with tamarind miso paste, becomes the bowl. If you can’t get in, they do reserve a couple tables for walk-ins where you can order a la carte and have Happy Hour specials daily from 5-6pm.