Inside Manila’s thriving food scene: Five restaurants showcasing the city’s bold flavours
From casual comfort spots to elevated dining, these restaurants showcase the best of Manila’s growing food scene.
Manila’s food scene isn’t easy to categorise, even for locals.
Filipino cuisine pulls influences from around the world, and the Philippine capital shows them off at a multitude of regionally focused restaurants — not to mention myriad outposts of the beloved homegrown Jollibee chain.
In October, the city got a boost when Michelin came to town with its first Philippine guide: Nine places received stars, including one two-star spot, Helm.
But Manila’s compelling food scene isn’t new: It’s been flourishing over the last decade thanks to internationally famous food champions such as the late Filipino restaurateur Margarita Fores, and places that rank on Asia’s 50 Best restaurants lists. It’s better than ever now, as young Filipino chefs who cut their teeth in top restaurants around the world have been returning with a determination to showcase the country’s cooking and diverse ingredients.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Finding the top spots isn’t easy, however. Manila is big, and many great places are tucked away in quiet alleys or unassuming buildings. So we’ve selected five to give you a head start.
Among them is a Japanese-accented spot with crowd-pleasing fried chicken and one of the city’s first destination restaurants where a famed dish celebrates a nursery rhyme.
New: Makanai, Taguig
The name at chef Jorge Mendez’s relaxed, Japan-Scandi-style spot translates as “staff meal” in Japanese, and dishes here are the kind of comfort food everyone wants to dig into.
Makanai karaage is a terrific example, featuring fried chicken with rice cake chunks — it’s more fish-and-chips-style than your typical karaage (about $25) – served with assorted sauces and toppings such as lumpfish caviar.
Watermelon sunomono salad (about $19) has a refreshing bite, while donabe clay pot dishes like wagyu short rib (about $44) maximise the crunch and aroma of the toasted rice at the bottom of the pot. Sharing portions are available, though single portions are sized generously.
Makanai, which opened late last year, allows for walk-ins at lunch, but reservations are required at dinner. Be warned: There are three seatings a night, and those seats are in demand. On the night I went, when the clock struck 7pm, we were politely ushered out.
So we’ll have to go back to try the dessert-inspired cocktails, such as the gin-based matcha tiramisu.
Unit 1B West Gallery Place, 9th Avenue
Business Meal: M Dining + Bar, Makati
There’s a lot to recommend at the sleek M Dining on the third floor of the inconspicuous Alegria Alta building, at the edge of the business district. First, there’s the understatedly elegant European-Asian menu from chef Tom Bascon, a Nobu alum.
Among his starters are zingy pako, or fiddlehead fern, salad with avocado oil (about $17) and the savoury chorizo Iberico tart topped with crunchy shoestring potatoes (about $30) that is also a feature on the bar menu.
The restaurant has a strong list of pastas, from cacio e pepe lasagna (about $15) to uni spaghetti with nori (about $20). Among steaks, there’s the chance to splurge on Japanese wagyu Tajima rib eye (about $44 per 100 grams).
The bar is also a popular after-work spot for drinks such as the M signature martini or yuzu whiskey sour, and it offers an impressive list of both New and Old World wines. On BYOB Mondays, guests are allowed one corkage-free 750ml bottle per two people; otherwise, it’s $30 per bottle.
Groups that want discretion can book one of the two private dining rooms.
3/F-2294 Alegria Alta Building, Chino Roces Ave. Ext.; mgroup.com.ph/
No Reservations: MilkyWay Cafe, Makati
At MilkyWay, you’ll want to start your meal with dessert first.
The cafe’s halo-halo — the social media-famous, over-the-top Filipino dessert that literally means “mix mix” — is an institution with its blend of pinipig (popped rice), sweetened beans and leche flan that’s topped with homemade ube ice cream (about $6).
On the rest of the menu, the uncomplicated Filipino dishes win. Lumpiang ubod, fresh crepe-like spring rolls stuffed with hearts of palm (about $3.75), makes a refreshing starter; for more of a kick, try the laing, or taro leaves in coconut milk with chilli to taste (about $8).
Among the main courses, adobong pusit or sugpo — braised squid or prawns in soy-vinegar sauce (about $12 for the squid and $25 for prawns) — never miss.
Neither does the baby crispy pata, the deep-fried suckling pig (about $47).
There’s parking in the building’s basement for patrons at the Arnaiz Avenue branch, which takes up the building’s entire second floor, so you’ll be able to snag a table and not stress about Makati city parking.
900 Antonio Arnaiz Ave.; cafe.milkywayrestaurant.com
Cheap Eats: Manam, Makati
Manam’s menu is locally famous for offering Filipino classics and the option of “twists”. You can have traditional sinigang (sour tamarind soup with pork shoulder; about $5) or the twist version with tender beef short rib and watermelon (about $6).
The classic chicken and pork adobo (about $4) has, as its twist counterpart, over-the-top garlicky chicken and pork belly (about $5).Manam is user-friendly, whether you come with a big group or alone.
It has small, medium and large serving sizes. (The prices here are for small.) It’s open for breakfast for silog (garlic fried rice, plus an egg, plus meat or fish — for instance, sugar-glazed corned beef belly or salted milkfish; about $7.50 and $6.50, respectively).
Later in the day, you can come for merienda (snacks) like baby squid in olive oil and garlic (about $4), or bibingkang galapong (baked rice cake) with salted egg (about $2.20).
Manam is extremely affordable and easy to find with multiple locations in the metropolitan area. The flagship branch at the Ayala Triangle is the biggest, features branch-exclusive items and was awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand.
Restaurant Arcade, Ayala Triangle Walkways; manam.momentfood.com
Dine: Toyo Eatery, Makati
Star chef Jordy Navarra made Toyo Eatery one of Manila’s early destination restaurants, championing local ingredients in an elevated experience since 2016.
He offers two menus. One is kamayan (by hand), a casual, family-style experience with food spread out on a table and no silverware (about $99 per person).
The other is Navarra’s eight-course tasting menu (about $165 per person), which changes seasonally, but includes the stand-out signature salad, a play off the iconic Filipino nursery rhyme Bahay Kubo that lists 18 vegetables in a garden.
While there, don’t sleep on the tasting menu’s bread course. It’s so good that at one point, the Toyo team opened a spin-off panaderya, or bread shop, because people kept asking if they could buy a loaf to take home.
2316, The Alley at Karrivin, Karrivin Plaza, 1231 Chino Roces Ave. Ext.; toyoeatery.com
