Kuya Lord has been winning hearts and bellies since launching as a pop-up in 2019. It now operates out of a tiny counter-service space. Chef Lord Maynard Llera, a former sous-chef at Bestia who won the 2024 James Beard Award for Best Chef: California, has conjured a mighty menu of modern Filipino dishes hailing from Lucena City, where he grew up.
The kuya (Tagalog for “older brother”) tray, which feeds 2 to 3 people, is the perfect starting point. It offers pearly garlic rice; chami noodles with cabbage and slivers of fish cake; tomato-cucumber salad; house-made achara (a sweet-and-sour relish of pickled green papaya, currants, bell peppers, and garlic); and a meat or seafood entrée of your choice.
Lucenachon from Kuya Lord.
The standout option is lucenachon, a combo of Filipino lechón and Italian porchetta. Large, juicy prawns, which come with their heads and shells still on, are also exceptional. They’re cooked in a red, garlicky crab sauce that deserves to be poured on every protein and licked off every plate.
Order a side of longsilog, sausage that comes in 2 forms—thick and sweet or thin and savory. You’ll want both. And you’ll need to dip them in Llera’s vinegar sauce, which cuts through the richness of the fatty meats.
Kuya Lord’s calamansi pie is finished with pandan whipped cream.
For dessert, don’t miss the calamansi pie. The tart citrus fruit flavors the creamy base while pandan adds a floral note and a pop of green to the whipped cream topping.
Best dishes at Kuya Lord
Lucenachon, prawns, longsilog, pancit chami, calamansi pie
Dinner prices
Rice bowls, $18; entrées, $15–$43; desserts, $10
Info
5003 Melrose Avenue. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
AAA discounts
