Maketto

Maketto started as a boutique clothing store bolted to a bistro, and the sneakers and coffee table books still sit on shelves around the dining room. That's history now, not the point. The point is Taiwanese and Cambodian cooking that pulls from wherever it wants without losing its center — dumplings and noodles built on Southeast Asian flavors, with references that swing as far as Japan and New Orleans and still land coherently on the plate.

The twice-fried chicken is the thing to order, and it's the kind of specialty that justifies the label: shatter-crisp skin, meat that stays right. Small and medium plates move fast and hit hard, built for a table that wants to share instead of commit to one dish.

Daytime, the room turns into a working coffee bar with actual table service, pandan lattes going out to strollers and laptops alike. That range — morning coffee shop to serious dinner kitchen — could easily produce a place that's mediocre at both. Maketto isn't. Four Bib Gourmand nods across recent years back up what the food already proves: this is a kitchen that stayed sharp long after the concept around it changed.