It’s Saturday afternoon, and R&B is playing from the speakers inside Buboy. In the corner, a Filipino game show plays on a TV, and the shelves are lined with ingredients and snacks you might find at a sari-sari variety store in the Philippines.
The restaurant lends a sense of comfort with just 15 seats, like eating in a friend’s kitchen. Walking up to the cash, the staff are sharing a joke and there’s a relaxed, familial feeling in the air.
In a time when restaurants are often opened by a restaurant group or a buzzy chef collab, Buboy stands out as a mom-and-pop—or more like mom-and-pop-and-family—restaurant:
It was opened by chef and owner Eric Lazaro Magno, which he runs alongside his sister Yvonne and his cousin Glen in the kitchen, and with the help of family friend Gayle. His parents have been deeply involved in recipe development, and while he prefers to cook for them instead of having them in the kitchen, they are still devoted to Buboy, washing the laundry and rags every week.
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