Sunda Reveals New Spring Menu, Starting Today

Considering their ability to pull from a number of Asian cuisines, it's a surprise that Sunda doesn't change their menu all the time. Fortunately, exec chef Jesse DeGuzman and consulting chef Rodelio Aglibot know the right time to pull a switch—and it's happening today.

After being open for three years and following some jaunts to numerous points throughout Asia, the Sunda team reveals a slew of new menu items today, adding more healthy items, vegetarian dishes and recipes inspired by food they discovered while traveling.

Many of the staples will remain on the menu, but some of the new items to look out for include a Bang! Bang! Salad, a take on the classic paw paw papaya salad; tofu and eggplant toban; and a new veggie sushi roll wrapped in a cucumber sheet that eliminates the rice. Sunda has started using naturally raised Angus beef and Amish chicken as well as wagyu beef sizzling plate.

Some of the more sharable plates were inspired by a trip to the Philippines earlier this year where many people were grilling in the streets of Manila. This brought on the creation of the new Sunda "stix," a variety of ingredients—portobello mushrooms;; cumin beef with roasted eggplant; chicken and mushroom meatballs; shrimp on sugar cane—grilled on skewers.

"It was at the beaches of the Philippines where I noticed that everything was being done on a grill," DeGuzman wrote us in an email. "Especially in the streets of Manila, there was an abundance of outdoor markets and proteins on “sticks” where patrons chose from a variety of proteins to be grilled right then and there." At this point, Sunda isn't adding mini grills to the tables so you won't have to grill the food yourself. Although, that would free up the kitchen a bit so they could create new items more often. Now we're on to something.