The Best Filipino Food in Chicago
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The best Filipino food in Chicago, according to the experts: the Michelin Guide, AAA, and the James Beard Awards have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Kasama comes out on top.
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Boonie's and Side Practice Coffee hold the next two places. Eater shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with The Infatuation close behind.
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Rank 1. Kasama
Filipino
Kasama takes its name from the Tagalog word for "together," which tells you something about the whole project. It's a tasting menu restaurant in Wicker Park where a husband-and-wife team reimagines Filipino cuisine with fine dining precision, two Michelin stars, and a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Great Lakes. Traditional preparations get elegant, inventive treatment, and the pastry work is serious enough to hold its own.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 2 Stars
- AAA AAA: Four Diamonds
- James Beard Awards James Beard Awards: 2023 · Winner · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Tim Flores and Genie Kwon
- Michelin Guide 2 Stars
- AAA Four Diamonds
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Winner · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Tim Flores and Genie Kwon
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Rank 2. Boonie's
Filipino
Every time someone lifts the lid on the rice cooker, garlic fills this narrow Filipino restaurant on Western and essentially announces the whole menu's priorities. Started as a food stall, it holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand and a James Beard semifinalist nod. Pork runs the show in several forms, steelhead trout swims in tamarind broth for balance, and the deep-fried plantain spring roll dusted in brown sugar is the kind of dessert that reframes what dessert can be.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Bib Gourmand
- Eater Eater: Chicago’s Best Lunch Options
- James Beard Awards James Beard Awards: 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Joe Fontelera
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Eater Chicago’s Best Lunch Options
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Joe Fontelera
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Rank 3. Side Practice Coffee
Filipino Coffee Shop
A tiny Filipino coffee shop in Bowmanville where the menu leans on flavors you won't find at any other cafe in the city. Pandan, ube, and macadamia nuts show up where oat milk and brown sugar usually do. The room is small enough that regulars eventually stop ordering off the menu and let the baristas improvise. Its sibling spot, Drip Collective, handles the Fulton Market crowd if you need more elbow room.
The awards
- Eater Chicago’s Best Coffee Shops
- Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago
- The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes In Chicago
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Rank 4. Del Sur Bakery & Cafe
Filipino Bakery
The awards
- The Infatuation The 29 Best Bakeries In Chicago
- Eater Best New Bakery · The 2025 Eater Chicago Award Winners
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Rank 5. Cebu
Filipino Diner
The awards
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Rank 5. Jennivee's Bakery & Cafe
Filipino Bakery
The awards
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The 29 Best Bakeries In Chicago
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Rank 5. Sarima
Filipino-Indian
Sarima is a small bakery that shares a room with a burger chain, which is the kind of living arrangement that sounds like a sitcom premise. The pastries mix Filipino and Indian flavors, so the donuts come filled with calamansi and shrikhand cream, and the cookies borrow from kaju katli. There are a few tables, but most people treat it as a grab-and-go morning stop before work.
The awards
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The 29 Best Bakeries In Chicago
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Rank 5. Sun Rey Cafe
Filipino Café
The awards
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Rank 5. Uncle Mike’s
Filipino
The awards
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Rank 10. Bayan Ko Diner
Filipino
The awards
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: Chicago’s Best New Restaurants