KUBO

You're walking past the Great Northern Mall on Great Victoria Street and you catch the smell of garlic and vinegar hitting you from Kubo's kitchen. This is Filipino food stripped back to what matters: bold, funky, unapologetic flavours that don't need any softening for local palates. The space feels lived-in rather than fussy, the kind of spot where you can tell the owners actually care about nailing the food instead of playing restaurant. Everything lands: the sisig sizzles when it arrives, the lumpia are properly crisp, and their adobo tastes like someone's mum made it, in the best possible way.