A New Filipino Restaurant With Kinilaw and Oxtail Kare Opens in East Austin

A new Filipino restaurant is arriving in East Austin this month. OKO — which is taking over the former Ah Sing Den space — is opening at 1100 East Sixth Street starting on Wednesday, September 25.

OKO is centered on Filipino cuisine, with some pan-Asian takes. There’s the kinilaw bar, serving raw seafood marinated in vinegar and acidic citrus juices and Texas oysters with pinakurat (a spicy coconut vinegar). Then there are skewers such as the leeg (pork neck made with a burnt calamansi dressing and served with the sawsawan dipping sauce), the manok (chicken with annatto oil and calamansi, with the soy-saucy toyomansi dipping sauce). Other dishes include adobo entrees, chicken skin chicharrones, sticky ribs, lechon (slow-roasted pork belly), and oxtail kare (a stew).

Drinks will lean into rum and gin — liquors popular in the Philippines — as well as agave spirits. Cocktails include the Saturday Morning Cartoons made with spiced pear brandy, Tito’s vodka, ube, and coconut; the Que Chulo with blanco tequila, lemongrass, and vadouvan spices; and the large OKO scorpion bowl with rum, cognac, passionfruit, lemon, oranges, and a marcona almond orgeat. The wine list will feature bottles from newer American wineries.

Leading OKO’s kitchen is Phillipines-born and New York City-raised chef de cuisine Harold Villarosa. He had worked in various high-end restaurants such as Per Se, Aureole, and Aquavit; ran his own food brand and pop-up with Filipino soul food called Unkle Harold’s; and was a Bon Appetit video host.

OKO is run by co-owners Trinity Concepts (co-founders Donny Padda, Ash Seth, and Dennis Wen) and FAM Hospitality (of which chef Paul Qui is the co-founder, managing partner, and executive chef with other co-founder and managing partner Johnny Hoang). Trinity oversees downtown Austin bars Bungalow, Parlor Room, Key Bar, and Summit Rooftop and Lounge. FAM runs a bunch of food hall restaurants: in Houston, there’s Soy Pino and cocktail bars Return to Sender and Address Unknown; and in Nashville/Denver, hot chicken stand Lea Jane’s and Johnny Burger. Standalone restaurants include the Japanese-French tasting menu Koko Ni in Denver, along with Qui’s grandfathered-in Austin restaurants East Side King and Thai Kun and Miami hotel restaurant Pao.

Qui — whose history involves a 2016 arrest for domestic violence (the case was dismissed when the alleged victim declined to cooperate with Travis County prosecutors) and two alleged DWI charges in 2019 — helped Villarosa develop the OKO menu.

Robert Jacob Lerma

Overseeing the drinks is beverage director Jarmel Doss, former assistant bar director of high-end Chicago cocktail bar the Aviary. There’s also general manager Kevin Fairley, who previously worked at omakase chain Sushi|Bar; and OKO director of operations Dylan Falkenburg, who worked at various José Andrés restaurants in Washington, D.C. and Las Vegas.

The restaurant’s name nods to the Filipino diaspora in Hawaii; OKO, comes from the Hawaiian word “oko’a,” which means “different.” Prolific hospitality design company Michael Hsu Office of Architecture embedded lots of tropical patterns and symbols within the redesigned space.

Pan-Asian-ish cocktail bar Ah Sing Den sold to Trinity in September 2020. In June 2024, the company closed the bar to make way for OKO. Trinity co-owner Donny Padda told Eater that it was time to change the bar because “traffic hasn’t been what it was in the past.” Ah Sing Den staffers were told they could reapply for new jobs at OKO.

OKO’s hours will be from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. There are indoor and outdoor dine-in services.