Ube, leche flan, guava, calamansi, and cheddar (and that’s a separate flavor than the queso!) are just some of the flavors you’ll find on the menu at Filipino-American bakery Kora who, it goes without saying, is cooking up some creative treats.
Eleven Madison Park and Union Square Hospitality alums, Kimberly Camara and Kevin Borja, are the ones behind the bakery which got its start in the summer of 2020. After both losing their jobs during the pandemic Camara serendipitously decided to fry a batch of brioche dough instead of baking it, and over time Kora grew from two home-fryers in Camara’s Woodside apartment kitchen to selling their donuts out of Alewife Brewing.
The donuts are made using authentic Filipino ingredients and are Camara’s way to share Filipino cuisine, incorporating her grandmother’s recipes, through a pastry that everyone could enjoy. And New Yorkers certainly enjoy them–within months of baking they had garnered a waitlist of 10,000 people and they regularly sell out by the end of the day, sometimes not even lasting longer than five minutes.
But let’s get into the sweet stuff: the actual donuts.
Their flavors change each month so you’ll have to check their site to see what’s currently available. Some flavors you can expect include Leche Flan ni Lola, fried brioche filled with flan cream and Lola Corazon’s beloved flan, Ube, fried ube brioche, ube custard, ube glaze, and purple yam crisps, Sampalok Apple Fritter, honeycrisp apple brioche fritter and tamarind caramel glaze, and Manila Cream, fried brioche, Auro 64% dark chocolate glaze, and Auro 32% white chocolate vanilla bean cremeux.
They also have since introduced other pastries to their menu such as pies, cream puffs, and delicious cookies in flavors including Banana and Caramelized White Chocolate, Coco Jam Alfajor, Calamansi Cornmeal and Rosemary, and Ube and Coconut.
In order to get your hands on a box of their treats you’ll have to pre-order them on Saturdays at 6 pm for pickup the following weekend. If you miss the preorder they do have a limited amount of orders available for walk-ins, but you’ll need to get there early as a line typically begins to form before they even open.
And the best part: you’ll soon you’ll be able to pick yourself up a box of their donuts in Sunnyside, Queens where they’ll be opening a permanent bakery at 45-12 Greenpoint Avenue! The team recently launched a Kickstarter to help them get to the finish line by end of year.
Those looking to learn more about Filipino culture through Kora’s delicious donuts can head to their website or Instagram to check out the current available flavors and place an order.