Restaurant Opening
Popular Richardson pop-up blossoms into full Filipino restaurant
A new restaurant opening in Richardson will feature a cuisine we do not see enough of: Filipino food. The restaurant is Koya's Place, and will open at 300 N. Coit Rd., north of Belt Line Road.
The restaurant is the outgrowth of a year-long series of pop-ups that owners Trisha and Roland Miranda began hosting in January 2016, until they could find a brick-and-mortar space. They're taking over the location most recently occupied by Sridaya's Kitchen Indian, and plan to open in early February.
Having a restaurant was Roland's life-long dream, who brings a sense of humor to the mix. "Perhaps not the finest Filipino food in Texas, but definitely the funnest!" is his slogan.
Koya's Place specializes in Pampanga cuisine, sometimes referred to as the culinary capital in the Philippines. Their road to pop-up fame was the communal feast called "Gamatan," where diners skip utensils and use their hands. The food is served on banana leaves, with dishes that include seafood, pork, roasted vegetables, and traditional Filipino condiments. Their first Gamatan event was at a Catholic school cafeteria in Plano in January 2016.
But they have all the Filipino classic dishes, Roland says. "We'll do boneless chicken adobo, lumpia, beef stew, and longanisa, a sausage," he says.
Their signature dish is a beef bone marrow soup with potatoes, bok choy, green onions, carrots, and corn on the cob; it can be eaten as a soup or with steamed rice. They do a Cebu-style pork belly stuffed with pork loin, lemongrass, onions, and garlic; Cebu is an island in the Philippines.
There are Pinoy-style sweet chili prawns, breaded pork chops, fish in ginger stew with leeks, and fried pork belly.
In a nice bit of synergy, they'll use pastries by Benedict's Cakes & Pastries, a Mesquite-based bakery that specializes in Filipino cakes and pastries.