A Seattle burger pop-up that has spent seven years bouncing between bars, festivals, and mahjong nights is finally putting down roots. Musangtino’s plans to open a permanent restaurant on December 4 at 710 8th Avenue S. in the Chinatown-International District, taking over the space currently occupied by Kilig.
Chef Melissa Miranda told WhatNow Seattle about the plans for the move into the space. Musangtino’s debuted in 2018 and has operated largely as a traveling concept since, serving burgers at Tacoma’s Busy Body! bar, at festivals including Bumbershoot, and most recently during Kilig’s mahjong nights. The team marked the milestone by reflecting on “seven years of pop-ups, late nights, good food, and the people who’ve been part of it all,” adding that “we’re just getting started.”
What's On the Menu
The new brick-and-mortar menu is expected to center on Musangtino’s signature burgers. The Bomb Burger comes with a beef patty, American cheese, pickled zucchini, raw onion, magic mayo, and brioche, while the Lumpia Burger swaps in a shrimp-and-pork patty topped with banana ketchup aioli and arugula, according to the same report from WhatNow. A vegan option, the Bryant Burger, uses a Beyond Meat patty with pickled zucchini, onion, and vegan mayo.
The menu will also fold in a new item built for the CID crowd: sisig fries. The addition was reported by Northwest Asian Weekly, which noted the dish will join Musangtino’s existing lineup once the restaurant takes over the space. Not everything from Kilig’s menu is disappearing, either — bulalo, a beef shank soup, and sinigang wings are expected to carry over as holdovers from the current operation.
Kilig's Current Run Winds Down
Diners hoping for one last taste of Kilig as it exists today have a short window. The restaurant’s current menu will remain available through December 3, the day before Musangtino’s plans to take its place. Kilig opened in 2023 as a more casual sibling to Miranda’s Beacon Hill restaurant, Musang, giving the chef a second, lower-key outpost in the city.
The space itself won’t disappear from Seattle’s event calendar. Kilig is expected to remain a bar and event space even after the menu changes, with classes and other programming planned for the room. Northwest Asian Weekly’s reporting adds that the hours will shrink under the new concept: lunch service is set to be cut on Wednesdays and Thursdays, with Musangtino’s otherwise running from 12:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
A Wider Pattern in CID and Little Saigon
Musangtino’s shift from pop-up to permanent restaurant is landing amid other shuffles in Seattle’s Asian American dining scene. In a separate change reported in the same period, Little Saigon’s The Boat announced it would close for a several-months-long hiatus, with owners planning to return with a new concept, according to Northwest Asian Weekly. During that pause, the owners said The Boat’s chicken and rice would move to Pho Bac Sup Shop at 1240 S. Jackson St. so regulars wouldn’t have to go without.
