'Naks': New Pinoy resto in New York to feature Pinoy dishes 'not talked about' in the city

Naks will also offer the traditional kamayan or boodle fight, the communal feast in which food is served on banana leaves and eaten by hand.

Each meal will have a welcome drink served in an eggshell inspired by balut. But instead of a duck embryo, the drink comprises bilimbi or kamias, spiced coconut vinegar, and duck stock, according to local food magazine Grub Street. “I want to serve dishes that are not talked about,” Valdez said.

In an interview with PhilSTAR L!fe, Valdez said that a decade after moving to the US, he realized that Filipino food isn't represented the way he wanted it to be.

"We Filipinos are afraid of our own cuisine. We often apologize that our food is too brown, garlicky, and has a strange aroma, thereby downgrading our own culture instead of embracing and appreciating its beauty," he said. "I wanted to change the narrative on how we look at Filipino food by serving dishes in their original and truest form."

He said the offerings of Naks are inspired by the food he grew up eating, as well as his family's recipes.

Valdez, Pandya, and Mazumdar also told Grub Street they held an eight-day food tour in the Philippines to prepare their dishes, having "hours of just eating, eating, eating."

The restaurant will open sometime in the third week of September. (with reports from Brooke Villanueva)