I'm just gonna come out and tell the hard truth about "date night" restaurants: These spots can often get by with less-than-impressive menus as long as the vibes are right. Dim lighting, cozy banquettes, pretty decor, well-chosen music, and a hip location can conceal any number of culinary sins, and plenty of restaurateurs are willing to take the easy way out. But OKO, East Austin's sexy new dinner spot in the former Ah Sing Den space, has far bigger ambitions.
OKO's kitchen is led by Harold Villarosa, a chef born in the Philippines and trained at top fine-dining restaurants in New York City like Per Se and Aquavit. Villarosa's menu reflects Filipino flavors, ingredients, and techniques, but OKO isn't interested in dogmatic versions; rather, they loosely interpret this cuisine with influences from other Asian nations and from Texan traditions. The result is a creative fusion that might bother people who obsess over "authenticity," but will delight those who want engaging and harmonious dishes that don't take themselves too seriously.
OKO's menu is highly shareable, which lends itself well to a date night outing. The Malamig section of cold appetizers is where you'll find one of OKO's most notable dishes: kinilaw, a Filipino raw fish preparation similar to ceviche. OKO's kinilaw features tender pieces of hamachi marinated in a rich and multilayered sauce with hints of coconut and habanero. A touch of salmon roe on top brings just enough salinity, and the overall profile has so much nuance and complexity that you'll discover something entirely new with each bite.
A street food staple in the Philippines, inihaw consists of barbecue meat skewers marinated in a sweet and tangy sauce. At OKO, you can get manok (chicken) or baboy (pork), and both are served over a plush piece of roti flatbread. Tamarind and soy sauce create a bright and balanced marinade that plays nicely with the barbecue char on the meat, and the dipping sauces - a pleasantly familiar sweet-and-sour and a hot, intense, vibrant habanero - bring extra personality while still allowing the pork and chicken to shine.
Lumpia, a fried spring roll that counts among the most well-known Filipino dishes in the United States, is a handheld triumph at OKO. The pork and shrimp filling is simple and seamless, the fried wrapper achieves a flawless level of crunch, and the sweet-and-sour dipping sauce (the same one served with the skewers) feels like an appropriate match ... although I would have liked a little ramekin of the habanero hot sauce to bring some bonus heat.
If you ask your server or bartender to suggest an appetizer, you're likely to hear a recommendation for the sinigang chicken wings. And even though chicken wings aren't a usual order for me, I was glad to take this particular advice. The sinigang wings boast a shattering crisp on the skin, juicy meat with a marinade that's sweet, spicy, and savory, and a lime wedge that offers a welcome burst of tanginess.
I went into my meal at OKO very excited to try their take on lechon, a dish made with roasted or fried pork belly that's a particular favorite of mine. OKO nails the crispy skin/tender meat contrast, and the pork belly's fat content makes each bite feel luxurious. The lechon cries out for some zippy acidity, and OKO's team provides that via their crunchy mango slaw. They also wisely choose to serve the lechon with lettuce leaves rather than with a bed of rice; the fresh and light lettuce doesn't weigh your palate or your appetite down, and using the pork, lettuce, slaw, and accompanying sauces to make a wrap adds a fun DIY element to the meal.
As colder temperatures make their way into Austin, comfort food with warming properties becomes very desirable, and that's exactly what OKO's oxtail kare-kare brings to the table. This hearty stew features oxtail that's been braised for nine hours, resulting in beef with a melt-in-your-mouth texture and a tongue-coating broth that's impossibly indulgent. Flavors of peanut and garlic mingle with the in-your-face umami, and as if the dish wasn't rich enough, you'll be presented with a marrow bone and encouraged to scoop the marrow right into the bowl. Chilly winter evenings in Austin are no match for this kare-kare.
A Filipino-inspired menu wouldn't be complete without halo-halo, so it was with great enthusiasm that I dug into OKO's version of this frozen treat. The dessert's pastel purple scoop of ube ice cream and scatter of rainbow Fruity Pebbles on top immediately catches the eye, and once I took a bite, I realized that the flavor blend was just as attention-grabbing. The ube's gentle, nutty, vanilla-esque taste matches nicely with coconut jelly, fruit, and shaved ice, and the crunchy cereal brought another appealing layer of texture. If you're not in a halo-halo mood, try the calamansi cream pie, the subtle citrus fruit a worthy partner for the graham cracker crust and toasted meringue.
OKO's cocktails match the ambition of its food offerings and offer plenty of nods to the restaurant's Filipino heritage. Gin and rum play important roles in Filipino drinking culture, so OKO's menu features an entire gin-and-tonic section highlighting popular regional flavors like lemongrass, coriander, turmeric, Thai basil, and star anise. Tiki vibes are abundant on this list too; large format cocktails like the Scorpion Bowl allow premium aged rum to share space with tropical ingredients like pineapple and coconut, resulting in cocktails that are as whimsical as they are sophisticated. But because we're in Austin, agave spirits need to make an appearance, and OKO doesn't cut any corners there. The Que Chulo with blanco tequila, lemongrass, and French curry weaves those seemingly strong flavors into the cocktail with elegant subtlety, giving the tequila the chance to make its presence known.
If I were to describe OKO in three words, they would be sultry, spendy, and gutsy. OKO doesn't make for a cheap date, but there's no reason why it should. The care and skill that goes into each of these dishes and cocktails merits higher prices, and Villarosa's unique spin on Filipino cuisine won't be found anywhere else in town. Restaurants like OKO don't come to Austin every day (or every year), so curious gourmands owe it to themselves to snag a table as soon as possible.