In their early days, Camara produced anywhere between 250 to 400 doughnuts a week in batches of 12—already a monumental task, especially in her Woodside apartment shared with two other people. Now, the commissary rolls out whopping 2,000 doughnuts a week that sell out in a matter of minutes. Just last February, Kora hosted an eight-course dessert tasting in collaboration with pastry chef Daniel Corpuz, to showcase award-winning Auro chocolate in a decadent display of Filipino talent.

While she wants to keep the business small (though mind you, 2,000 doughnuts is no small feat!), Camara voiced hopes of opening in California and Manila somewhere down the track. When she does make her way back to the Philippines, you can be sure that she’ll visit these unique foodie spots:

See also: Foodie Finds With Mark Ocampo Co-Founder Of Auro Chocolate

What do you miss most on the food/drink front when you are away from the Philippines or haven’t been back for a while?  

I don’t know if this counts, but what I really miss are the palengkes. The one on the way from the airport to Balayan, Batangas where my mom’s family is from is a big one—I think it’s called Mahogany, it’s like a big open-air market and it’s really famous. We always stop by there on the way from the airport to my parents’ house. I could literally just walk and roam that place for hours because of all the really exotic fruits and everything is so fresh, everything is so local. I really love fresh produce. I love knowing that the fruits that are being displayed were probably just picked a few miles away or maybe just that morning even.  

That’s definitely what I miss the most, but one of the other things I miss is...everyone’s property, at least in that provincial countryside area, has got a bunch of fruit trees. I always loved calling over one of the neighbour’s kids, his name is Busog. Whenever I want fresh buko, he would climb up the tree like a monkey, with no harnesses, and just throw me down a coconut. I loved having fresh fruit everywhere, that’s the best part of the Philippines for me.  

What is the first dish you want to eat when you return, and where do you go for it?

Every single time I go back, they always slaughter a pig for us. We actually have pigs in the backyard of my grandma’s house over there, so we have the neighbourhood come, they slaughter the pig, roast the pig, and then they might even do another pig: one pig for adobo, another for lechon, and another pig for like, menudo or whatever. I would probably say lechon though, that’s my number one crispy pork. I could get it here, but there’s no comparison to having it in the Philippines.

See also: Tatler's Ultimate Guide: Where To Order Lechon In Metro Manila

If you have visitors/guests with you, where do you go to give them a real taste of the Philippines? 

I actually brought a couple of friends with me who are not Filipino in 2016, and what was really cool for me to bring them to was the palengke and the livestock auctions in the morning. They only have [the auctions further] away from the city, but we got up at five in the morning and we went to like see a bunch of men, shirtless men, sell their cows. It was funny because my friends weren't Filipino at all, so we really stood out. We’re wearing these patterned, whimsical outfits and these men are in tsinelas and shorts, they’re shirtless, and they’re wrangling their cows. It was really cool—there were hundreds of cows, hundreds of men, and then us. It’s just a really cool thing to experience and see.  

I had another visit where I was at the same livestock auction, and we bought a cow and pigs. The pigs were like 20 USD apiece so I was like “I’m going to get two!” They have these special tricycles that have a passenger cab, but then on the side of the tricycle, they have a little cage. You just put the animal in there and you drive it home with you. It was one of the most memorable things. Every single time I go back, if I’m with someone, I will bring them there—it’s part of the culture.

Where do you like to meet up with old friends for food/drinks (in the Philippines)?

Often I’ll ask [my family in the Philippines] to take us to the small towns and try all the street foods because I don’t have a lot of experience with all the Filipino street food. But funnily enough, I will say that I’ve gotten more familiar with street foods being here [in New York City] because there’s this small business called So Sarap that started doing Filipino street food. They sold dirty ice cream in the middle of times square, and do other things like that. But whenever I go to the Philippines and I meet up with my cousins, I ask them to take me to the bar and get some isaw, kwek kwek—I want to learn all about it.

See also: 10 Filipino Street Food You Have To Try When Visiting The Philippines

Do you have a favourite bar and/or café in the Philippines?

I can’t remember the name...I think it was Wildflour, and I want to say it’s in Makati? That one really stuck out to me, I think this was before my 2016 visit. I just remember going there and feeling like “woah, this place is so different.” There weren’t a lot of bakeries like that in the Philippines at that point. It was just so different and artisanal-feeling.

Any other must-visit food/drink spots when you are back?

Honestly, when I do go [to the Philippines], we usually like to get away from the city so we spend a lot of time eating at home or in our neighbours’ homes for a meal. So when I visit, we actually don’t normally eat out—I just eat at home because everything is grown and prepared there.

But I will say that when I do go back, I really want to visit Toyo Eatery. I learned about them over the pandemic, and all of Jordy Navarra’s stuff is really cool. There’s another place I really want to visit called Half Saints. I plan on trying [the crema de fruta cake] on my next visit.

See also: Filipino Food: What Is The Ilocos Empanada?

Do you take any food or treats back home with you from the Philippines?

It’s a combination of what my mom brings and all the stuff that I like too, but my mom always likes to bring red eggs, suman, tamales—literally the gamut. I don’t know how this stuff gets through customs, but it just does somehow.

And for me, this is kind of random, but there’s this Filipino candy called Potchi that’s strawberry and cream flavoured. I will literally load up on those, and also mango rinds. Dried mango up the wazoo, that’s like a given. We always bring home the cashew tarts, they’re like little boats filled with cashews. We’ll always bring home pastillas, too. But honestly, the biggest one for me is those strawberry cream candies, and also sweet corn chips—that’s my jam.

Where do you go to find authentic flavours of home where you live?

Right outside my building. I live in Woodside—this literally has the most authentic Filipino food in this area. There are a lot of mom and pop stores, and there are also a couple of restaurants that are more new wave Filipino cuisine. There’s this corner market that is so iconic called Phil-Am, a Filipino-American grocery store that’s been around for decades. It’s this institution, basically. I think that the family that owns this little market kicked off this area becoming what it has become, which is Little Manila. The Jollibee is here, there’s a Red Ribbon here, it’s all concentrated in this area. I’m in Jollibee more often than I’d like to admit and I’m hoping for a Jollibee-Kora collab one day so. . . peach-mango doughnut? It needs to happen.

I’m definitely in Jollibee all the time, but there is a restaurant that’s not actually in this area called Mama Fina’s in Manhattan, and they make the best sisig that I’ve ever had in my life. I want to say they make it with lechon kawali instead of all the trimmings. It’s extra crunchy, extra mayo-y, extra delicious.

NOW READ

A Taste of Home: Maharlika’s Nicole Ponseca On Her Best Eats Around the Philippines

April Dining Radar: Find Out What’s New, & Where to Eat This Month

The Margarita Forés Effect: How the Lauded Chef Beguiles the Mind and Palate