Filipino restaurant, market set to open in Philadelphia soon

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- From suits to sisig, one woman turned her corporate career into a flavorful adventure.

For Women's Month, Action News met the self-taught chef and solidarity advocate Raquel Dang, who is now serving up Filipino fare at a new café and market.

She's bringing a taste of the Philippines to her Brewerytown neighborhood.

On the menu are classic to contemporary Filipino cuisine, and at the coffee bar are drinks you can't find anywhere else in the city.

It includes a coffee made from kapeng barako, a type of coffee bean in the Philippines.

It's shipped to Philadelphia, roasted locally by Caphe Roasters, and served as shaken espresso with house-made coconut condensed milk.

For the last year, Dang and her husband Tam have been getting Baby's Kusina and Market ready to open.

Action News got a first look at the 2500-square-foot facility last year. Now, the Brewerytown space is on the verge of opening.

Getting to this point has been a journey, Dang said.

"We started as a supper club, and it was something that my husband Tam and I just really enjoyed hosting," said Dang.

"I think during COVID, and probably for a lot of people, I started thinking about what is meaningful to me. I love my corporate job and said, 'There's no better time than now to try to make this work.'"

"I'm excited. I think it's been a long time trying to get this space ready. And now that we're just about ready to open, it's exciting. The reward outweighs the risk. I hope so," said Dang.

In the weeks leading up to opening, Dang has had small pop-up events previewing what's to come.

They featured everything from deserts to the traditional sisig, which is minced pork with a fried egg on top.

The café will also be a marketplace for locally grown produce, making it one of only a handful of Filipino establishments in the area.

"To be able to have her culture be something that she wanted to focus on, was something that I felt like I needed to support," said Tam.

"I couldn't say no to supporting her."

Baby's opens soon, and once open the goal is also to employ at-risk teens, in the hopes of teaching them different parts of the restaurant business.