Historic Filipinotown Keeps It Casual With Upcoming Rice Bowl Takeaway

Great news for Historic Filipinotown, as another new casual cafe is coming to the area. This one’s called HiFi Kitchen, and it promises laid-back rice bowls and sides with a focus on Filipino ingredients.

HiFi Kitchen is the work of chef Justin Foronda, who has been running the endlessly popular Bennadictz brunch pop-ups from his Historic Filipinotown house for a couple of years now. There, Foronda was fond of leaning into his Filipino heritage with ingredients like fermented shrimp paste and pork belly sisig used in a breakfast hash. Now, much like former fine dining chef Charles Olalia’s Rice Bar or Margarita Manzke’s Sari Sari Store inside Grand Central Market, Foronda will move into the rice bowl space.

Don’t expect a big, splashy space though. HiFi Kitchen takes over the former Village Kitchen location on Beverly Boulevard, and is gearing up to be a mostly takeaway and delivery-focused idea. There will be a couple of seats inside for those looking to sit and dine, but it’s not meant to be a sprawling full-fledged restaurant.

HiFi Kitchen joins a slew of new options that have hit the greater neighborhood recently, with more on the way. There’s the return of Porridge & Puffs and new-ish all-day cafe Doubting Thomas, plus coffee from Tactile and drinks at Genever. Looks for HiFi Kitchen to come to life sometime in November, ideally.

HiFi Kitchen. 1667 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA.

• Jonathan Gold’s Favorite Rice Porridge Spot Opening in Historic Filipinotown [ELA]