Kasa and Kin casual Filipino restaurant
Kasa and Kin is the casual offshoot of Romula Cafe in Kensington. Serving a Filipino menu unlike anything we have seen in London before.
As you enter, you will see the Panaderia bakery counter with a multi coloured display of the famous breads, like they sell at Romulo. The open kitchen is dominated by a live fire cooking station, which dictates a large section of the menu, specifically, the Pinoy Grill. Although the furniture and use of primary colours makes it seem like a fast food restaurant, the food they deliver is far from that.
On a weekend afternoon, there is a steady stream of Filipino diners, which to me is a signal of great food and hospitality.
Filipino cuisine is still very new to me and we order with some guidance from our server. Starting with a very refined looking salmon kilaw, a cured fish dish like ceviche. The fish is cured by calamansi juice, a lime which is also used to make a delicious iced calamansi drink.
Ready my review of Romulo Cafe here.
From the Pinoy Grill, we ordered the very tender octopus on a bed of spiced chorizo. This was followed by a variety of skewers, squid, pork belly and aubergine.
All these were cooked on the BBQ grill, giving it a delightfully smoky char to all these dishes.
The Spanish influence on the menu can be seen in the names of the dishes but they are executed in an entirely unique Filipino way. Normally, adobo is a stew made with vinegar and soy sauce but here they have done their Vegetable Adobo in a different way, drizzled with a reduced adobo sauce. It is absolutely delicious.
Lechon is one of their most popular celebration dishes. It is either done as a whole roasted pig or in a roll, not unlike porchetta. Here the roast pork is served in slices with an accompanying sauce.
To drink, there are a variety of tropical flavoured cocktails but I opted for an icy cold glass of calamansi juice.
With the grilled dishes, they serve it with a selection of flavoured salt, nicely modelled here by our smiling server.
The most vibrant ingredient in Filipino food is the purple sweet potato, ube. It is used in the bread, in cakes and even ice cream (which you can conveniently buy in Manila airport’s departure area).
Here they have used it to make this Ube Tsunami cheesecake. It is a bit of theatre that you should definitely indulge in when you visit. Alternatively, on a hot day, opt for one of the shaved ice desserts, Iskambrol.
Kasa and Kin is a fabulous concept, serving really fab contemporary Filipino food. What a great dining experience and I will be back to sample other dishes like Kare Kare that we missed.
Kasa and Kin
EatCookExplore was a guest of Kasa and Kin
