Bunso, a new Filipino-influenced bakery, pizzeria and listening bar from restaurateur Omar Shah, has opened on Hawley Road in Kentish Town.
The restaurant is the latest venture from the Maginhawa Group, whose London businesses include Mamasons, Guanabana, Café Mama & Sons and Belly Bistro.
Its name means “youngest child” in Filipino, reflecting what the team describes as the curious and rule-breaking character of the concept. Filipino ingredients and culinary traditions run throughout the menu, alongside influences from Italian and American cooking.
Filipino pastries by day
Bunso’s daytime bakery opened on 20 October, serving laminated pastries, savoury bakes, pies and coffee.
Sweet options include a mango and sticky rice Danish, pandan cream cruffin and banana turon pain suisse. Savoury bakes range from an adobo mushroom puff to a laminated lumpia roll.
Larger lunchtime options include a kaldereta pie and Bicol Express seafood pie, both available with garlic mashed potato.
Local roaster Camden Coffee Roastery has developed an exclusive house blend for Bunso. The drinks menu also features matcha and hojicha alongside creations such as a brown butter hojicha latte, chilli latik hot chocolate and Milo tiramisu latte.
Pizza and vinyl by night
In the evening, Bunso transforms into a pizzeria and listening bar, with records played through a purpose-built high-fidelity sound system.
Starters include Cornish bluefin tuna and beetroot kinilaw, meatballs with stracciatella and pomelo salad.
The pasta selection continues the Filipino influence through dishes such as cannelloni with laing and coconut béchamel, tortellini with crab Bicol Express and pappardelle with oxtail, peanut and chilli crisp.
Pizzas include mushroom adobo with seasonal mushrooms, longanisa sausage with calamansi hot honey and atchara, and kaldereta with teardrop peppers, goat’s cheese and potato. Diners can add crust dips including XO chilli crisp oil, peanut pesto mayonnaise and calamansi aioli.
Desserts include an ancho chilli brownie with clotted cream and Filipino rum caramel, plus house-made gelato in flavours such as durian and olive oil.
The drinks list combines natural and low-intervention wines with cocktails including a spicy atchara Margarita, Mango Float and Coconut Highball. Alcohol-free options include a Piña Tonic and Lucky Saint beer.
Bunso occupies a single-storey Art Deco-style building with an open kitchen, counter seating and a large street-facing window. Its interiors combine concrete and stainless steel with walnut, vintage furniture and artwork by Shah and London artist Kelly Anna.