Manila Kantina sits along Flagler Street in Downtown Miami, and from the sidewalk it looks like a grocery store — which it is, stocked with Filipino pantry staples like pancit noodles, bagoong jars, and bibingka mixes. Past the shelves, it's also a sit-down restaurant, serving Filipino dishes buffet-style most days of the week.
The daily spread includes chicken adobo, dinuguan (pork blood stew), chop suey, lechon kawali, fried lumpia, and pinakbet. Halo-halo is on the menu too, topped with mango ice cream in place of the more typical ube. The kitchen is run by a mother-and-son duo, Judith and Noi Blasco, with help from a family friend they call their Miami nanay, Lynda. Judith previously worked as a chef at a Chinese restaurant in Brickell.
Inside, the room leans personal rather than polished — Bible passages hang as wall art and Christian worship music plays in the background — with a handful of tables outside as well.
The daily spread includes chicken adobo, dinuguan (pork blood stew), chop suey, lechon kawali, fried lumpia, and pinakbet. Halo-halo is on the menu too, topped with mango ice cream in place of the more typical ube. The kitchen is run by a mother-and-son duo, Judith and Noi Blasco, with help from a family friend they call their Miami nanay, Lynda. Judith previously worked as a chef at a Chinese restaurant in Brickell.
Inside, the room leans personal rather than polished — Bible passages hang as wall art and Christian worship music plays in the background — with a handful of tables outside as well.