Kasama

Kasama is a Filipino restaurant in Chicago, Illinois. The restaurant has received a Michelin star, making it the world's first Filipino restaurant to earn one. Description The restaurant is located in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood of the West Side of Chicago. The name Kasama comes from the Tagalog word for together. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. For dinner, it offers a 13-course tasting menu. History Kasama is co-owned by husband-and-wife team Tim Flores and Genie Kwon, who both serve as chef-owners. Flores stated that their goal was to make Filipino food accessible to people who had never had it before. Their initial concept for the restaurant was a cafe with pastries baked by Kwon in the morning, and lumpia and sandwiches in the afternoon. The restaurant opened in July 2020 with the initial cafe concept. Later, they began offering a tasting menu at dinner during the COVID-19 pandemic as a response to widespread labor shortages.