Jun Jun: The hi-fi restaurant modernizing Filipino cuisine in Griffintown

When Junior first opened in 2014, it was a break from the longstanding concentration of Filipino restaurants found around Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, where Quebec's largest Filipino community can be found.

“Our goal was not to only be a good Filipino restaurant, but to be a good restaurant, period," says JoJo Flores, a co-owner of Junior. “We wanted to represent Filipino culture not only in food, but music, the liveliness of the atmosphere—to have it all in one place.”

But to date, Montreal hasn't seen the cuisine go beyond its traditional trappings—a reality that spurred the creation of the city's first modern Filipino restaurant, Jun Jun.

“Higher end Filipino restaurants have been more for the titas (aunties), the bougie and sophisticated crowds,” Flores explains. “It’s lacking in a lot of cities, including Montreal; we don’t see that level of focus on plating or quality ingredients often. With Jun Jun, we want to offer a new generational take on our cuisine.”