Open since December 2025, this fine dining restaurant has already earned itself a Michelin star.

Restaurant Naides is a Filipino tasting menu restaurant that took over the former Sons & Daughter’s location in San Francisco. Not only was the concept of elevated Filipino cuisine intriguing but one of my former coworkers also opened the restaurant with her partner. Tommaso surprised me with an early birthday dinner here and it was exciting to see how they transformed the intimate space. It was also nice to see some familiar faces.

They were kind enough to provide both of us with complimentary beverage pairings (non-alcoholic for me and wine for Tommaso).

We started with a trio of modern interpretations of Filipino street snacks.

Of course this looked nothing like traditional lumpia, the beloved Filipino fried spring rolls. Their version featured a crispy lumpia cracker topped with banana miso, pickled jackfruit, shingled nashi pear, and jicama. It was fresh, crisp, and crunchy.

Okoy is traditionally a savory fritter but here they transformed it into a tart like dish with a mung bean shell. Sweet spot prawn tartare filled the shell and was topped with tangy rhubarb that had been compressed in rose.

Lastly, my favorite of the snacks was the puto, a steamed fluffy rice cake. Their version leaned savory compared to the traditional preparation and was topped with pork rillette, thin slices of lardo, elderberry capers, and redwood tips.

The local halibut was cured and served over a ginger yogurt cream with Granny Smith apples then finished with a sauce made from fermented coconut, calamansi, and pine.

This was such an interesting yet delicious dish showcasing several preparations of chayote, a fruit that’s often treated like a vegetable thanks to its crisp texture and mild flavor. They baked the chayote in fig leaves before slicing and charring it, juiced it into a gelée with fig leaf vinegar, and also served it pickled. The different preparations were topped with crispy duck cracklings and a generous dollop of osetra caviar. The table side sauce was made from bagoong, a fermented shrimp paste, and moringa leaf. It’s difficult to describe the flavors since they were so unique but the dish managed to feel both rich and refined.

This was a complimentary gift from the kitchen. The crisp tart shell, made from pinipig (young glutinous rice), was filled with poached lobster, sweet pepper sauce, grilled and pickled magnolia blossoms, and finished with shaved salted duck egg yolk. While delicious, the lobster was slightly overshadowed by the assertive sweet pepper sauce.

Sinigang is a traditional Filipino sour soup and this version packed quite an acidic punch from the tamarind. At the bottom was a yam leaf emulsion followed by tender barbecued abalone, crunchy water spinach, and an intensely flavorful dry aged beef broth. The acidity was a little overpowering for my taste although perhaps that’s more representative of the traditional dish.

This was one of our favorite courses. The sweet bread rolls were made in a brioche style making them especially rich and were served alongside three creative condiments. Starting on the right was a creamy chicken liver spread dusted with chive powder. In the middle was atchara (Filipino pickles) made with sweet peppers and green unripe papaya. On the left was their take on sisig, traditionally made with pork, but here prepared with chicken gizzards and topped with crispy chicken feet. Each condiment paired beautifully with the buttery bread while the pickles helped cut through the richness of the meatier spreads.

Our final savory course featured two preparations of duck.

We started with dry aged roasted duck breast seasoned with adobo spices. The skin was beautifully rendered and perfectly crisp while the meat remained juicy and perfectly cooked. It was served with pickled horseradish, grilled wild pea shoots, and a soy vinegar bay leaf jus.

Many Filipino street snacks are served on skewers so they provided a wooden skewer alongside this course. The snacks included grilled confit duck thigh and a duck meatball served with a savory sabayon flavored with grilled pineapple vinegar along with the most adorable herb bouquet.

I’ve never heard of pili nut, a native nut from the Philippines that has a similar flavor to macadamia or almonds, and it was showcased in numerous ways. The tart was made with polvorón dough (a crumbly shortbread) and layered with sweet potato fudge, pili nut praline, candied pili nuts, and shaved pili nuts. It was finished with batak pepper which added a subtle citrusy note.

The main dessert was a rice dish with physalis (groundcherry) jam with a toasted rice mousse topped with fermented rice ice cream. On the side, they served a warm drink that was inspired by rice pudding where they infused fig leaf into the mixture which gives a coconuty flavor.

We finished the meal with Tanduay rum gelées with dulse seaweed and sugar and brûléed calamansi curd.

The majority of the dishes at Restaurant Naides featured flavors I wasn’t very familiar with so I went in with very few expectations. A recurring theme throughout the meal was fermented and acidic flavors which I generally enjoy though some dishes were a bit overpowering for me. The technique, presentation, and service were all excellent, and I think adventurous eaters looking to experience Filipino cuisine in a modern fine dining format will have a great time here so my rating is an 8/10.