Melissa Miranda
Musang | Seattle
March 2020
The family kitchen was the heart of the home during Melissa Miranda’s childhood in Seattle. She would stand by her father’s side as he prepared elaborate Filipino dishes, absorbing the value of fresh ingredients and Filipino cuisine. Miranda retained that love for cooking, and upon graduating from the University of Washington with a sociology degree, realized that she needed to make it her life. Miranda moved to Italy to study food and hospitality at Florence University of Arts, before cooking at Il Santo Bevitore and Vivanda. She then moved to New York City where she worked at Felice, Sant Ambroeus, and Mayfield.
Missing her roots, Miranda returned to Seattle. After cooking at Cuoco and Bar Sajor, she found a home at Jerry Corso’s Bar del Corso. It was in the kitchen of this beloved Italian eatery that the idea for Musang was born. Meaning “Wild Cat,” Musang (her father’s nickname) grew to become a popular neighborhood pop-up series serving the Filipino food of Miranda’s upbringing. What began as Filipino brunches and an annual Feast of the Seven Fishes (an Italian-American New Years Eve dinner featuring Filipino-style fish), became a brick-and-mortar restaurant after two and half years of blood, sweat, and tears. Musang opened in January 2019 in the Beacon Hill neighborhood, a former stronghold for the Filipino community into which Miranda is breathing new life. A leader in the Filipino hospitality community and glue of the chef community in Seattle, Miranda and Musang are just getting started.
