Best Filipino Lunch Bowls Across the US

JP Makes and Bakes

Detroit, MI

“JP Makes and Bakes stands as Detroit's first and only Filipino bakery, filling a crucial gap for Michigan's 41,435 Filipino Americans-the state's fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group. Founded by Jonathan Peregrino, a first-generation Filipino American and professionally trained pastry chef who studied at the Academy of Baking and Pastry in the Philippines, the bakery brings Filipino flavors in familiar formats to New Center's Woodward Avenue. Peregrino's signature purple pastries feature ube, a sweet Filipino yam that gives his cookies, brownies, and cinnamon rolls their distinctive violet hue and subtly sweet, nutty vanilla flavor. The bakery specializes in creative Filipino-American hybrid pastries like the Pan de Croissant, which combines his mother's pandesal recipe with French lamination techniques, and pan de coco sweet rolls filled with shredded coconut. Beyond baked goods, JP Makes and Bakes serves Filipino-inspired beverages including coconut ube matcha lattes made with locally roasted Craig's Coffee and refreshing calamansi drinks showcasing the bright, tangy Filipino citrus. The bakery also offers savory lunch bowls and brunch items featuring traditional Filipino ingredients. Having grown from pop-ups to a Motor City Match grant-funded brick-and-mortar, JP Makes and Bakes has become a cultural hub where Filipino Detroiters no longer need to drive to Chicago or Toronto for authentic Filipino baked goods.”