Purple Yam - Brooklyn

06/08/2026

Do you miss Cendrillon? That vibrant time when SoHo was the hub of artists before it became a wasteland of overpriced spaces?
There was a time when we were able to build community while sharing food that came from places we loved,

02/22/2026

Musings by Romy

With his training and fascination with local ingredients, Romy Dorotan integrates his findings into expanding Purple Yam MNL’s offerings

02/17/2026

Romy had a great time in Manila being featured in Kuya Kurt’s vlog.

✅SUBSCRIBE for daily food adventures➡️ We're also on IG, FB, Tiktok, and Threads! https://linktr.ee/kuyakurtofficialChef Romy Dorotan talks about his career,...

12/22/2025

If at first you don’t succeed, have some pie 🥧 🎄and Christmas cookies 🍪 .
(With apologies to Charles Mackesy who wrote The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse)

I love to cook, but it is baking that captures my fears and hopes. There’s nothing like waking up very early in the morning to whip out the butter, eggs and flour and pray that the spirits of water and fire will go your way and make batters and dough rise in the oven.

Wishing you all peaceful and happy holidays for the next few weeks. May 2026 be a time for hope and renewed commitment to making this world a better place for our neighbors and friends. 🩷🌲⭐️

And much gratitude to all our hardworking and lovely staff at Purple Yam MNL (PY Pastry Kitchen). Below are their beautiful and delicious creations for our supporters and customers.

08/26/2025

Homemade tocino for dinner. How many of you miss Romy’s tocino?

08/22/2025

When kalamansi from Florida gets delivered to your home personally, Romy gets going. First it was kalamansi marmalade, then the beginnings of a kalamansi cheese tart. Needs more tweaking because the filling needs more body (the mouth feel was like a soufflé in a crust). Back to the drawing board.

Thanks to Rochelle Li who took the trouble of bringing in citrus gold to us from Florida. She used to live in Ditmas Park and was surprised to find Purple Yam nearby which she said made her feel like home.

We continue to cross paths with people whose lives intersected with us, Cendrillon and Purple Yam and tell us stories of being with us during brief periods of time. It’s amazing how even brief periods of common experiences can bend into long arcs of memory. 🥰 🍋‍🟩

08/20/2025

August has always been a magical month for Romy and me. We began our most wondrous adventure of living a joyful and rewarding life starting with Cendrillon on August 1995 and ended that chapter by closing Purple Yam Brooklyn at the end of August last year.

I can’t fathom that it’s been a year since we all had our tearful goodbyes and raised our glasses to celebrate 30 years of sharing food and building a community.

But the best part is discovering the afterlife of closing down a physical restaurant with friends reaching out from regularly dropping by our house to deliver flowers, cakes and even kalamansi from Florida (!) to having lunches with visiting friends from out of town.

And then there was this potluck that Sarah Gambito, Lara Stapleton, Gina Apostol, Joseph Legaspi. Nancy Bulalacao put together in Sarah’s beautifully painted living space (I felt like I was in a Frida Kahlo movie set) which literally brought Romy and me to tears.

We told stories and memories that need to be retold! Joseph recalled that moment he felt sitting in Cendrillon nursing a lambanog martini with a bibingka feeling one with the SoHo vibe. We all knew what that feeling was and we all know that story of being Filipino in New York.

Thanks so much for this tribute and time spent together. During this scary time when America seems to be molting and shedding old skin, we are all determined that we have the power to be part of that process of what America will look like tomorrow. Peace and love 💪🏼♥️

08/17/2025

Baking ensaimadas leaves you with lots of egg whites so it’s an opportunity to make a white omelette with heavy cream flavored by chopped scallions (white part only). I learned a great way of making omelettes from IG by putting very cold eggs, cream & diced butter in a cold pan rubbed with butter, then turning the heat on to medium to slowly stir the custard into soft layers of egg goodness.

Paired with Ukrainian garlic sausage sautéed with onions, jalapeno & mung bean sprouts (which I do at home), Romy’s rolls & Korean cuke (not in photo), it made a great Sunday brunch.

08/11/2025

Made cinnamon rolls today at home. Getting there! We’ve been doing this for years but always feeling it needs more work.