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MANILA, Philippines – 2017 was an interesting year in food. Ube became a thing when it was already a thing here. People started asking for “unicorn”-flavored things, as if dyeing things pastel pink would make them taste any better. The salted egg boom continued to happen. And so on.
Amidst all the noise, however, good food did actually get made and more than a handful of spots were able to make their mark, unicorn poop milkshakes be damned.
To celebrate the year in food that was 2017, we’re launching a series of lists dedicated to some of the hottest eateries to hit the metro this year. Here’s exactly what got our days started, breakfast time or lunch, this year.
Boutique Burger Kitchen
Yes, the burgers at Boutique Burger Kitchen are very good (stick with the steak-style ones, if you do order them) but the real treats here can be found elsewhere on the menu. Feel no shame as you order their chicken nuggets—a house-made perfection of the pre-frozen stuff you ate as a child, this time made with organic chicken—with a side of fried pickles, a saucer of in-house ketchup and a warm brownie topped with homemade ice cream for dessert, whether or not it’s for your kids.
Boutique Burger Kitchen is at Ground Floor, The Fort Strip, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Contact them at 964-2050
Little Flour
Of course Margarita and Walter Manzke had to open a spin-off of their wildly popular ode to brunch Wildflour just a few blocks away from the ever-crowded first branch in Taguig. Of course they couldn’t stray too far from the formula, offering exactly what people loved about brunching at Wildflour but with a smaller, more concise menu. Of course it had to be a little bit different from the original, but only just so, with the addition of more Filipino-leaning options like a lacquered lechong manok served with a crispy fried egg and red garlic rice, warm pandesal with coconut jam, and ube-stuffed bombolinis. Of course they had to hang a bunch of old chairs from the ceiling, just to set it further apart from the original. And, of course, they had to make brunch at Little Flour an absolute treat.
Little Flour is at G/f World Plaza Building 4th Avenue corner 31st Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.
Souv! by Cyma
The menu at Souv, Chef Robby Goco’s glittering, bright blue extension of the Cyma brand, is humungous. It is a nearly too long ledger peppered with the percussive consonants of the Greek alphabet, an ode to the Mediterranean penchant for lemon and olive oil, lamb and parsley. Ordering from it is an exercise in conviction, to not get lost among the souvlakis and keftedes. Do you order a salad fresh with tomatoes and sprightly cucumbers? Would you rather share a plate of cauliflower rice, yellow with saffron and lush with the nutty hum of tahini? Do you give in and ask for the lapu-lapu, a surprisingly dramatic centerpiece, its cavity splayed open and festooned with briny sweet clams? To all of that, there is only one real answer: a resounding “yes.”
Souv! by Cyma is at G/F Net Park Building, 5th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Contact them at 0949-4819621
Bakere Café
If you ever find yourself in Bakere don’t be fooled by the trim, almost too-cool facade. Yes, they do host the odd underground supper club and the name does require a bit of clarification (it’s pronounced “bakery”, if you must know), but this little Mandaluyong café peddles more in earnest eating than it does irony. Here, you won’t a single ounce of shame for treating yourself to a hunk of oozing lasagna, always crisp ‘round the edges right before following it up with the grilled ensaymada, warm and toasty,stuffed with dark, bitter local chocolate.
Bakere Café is at Three Brixton Building, 3 Brixton Street, Kapitolyo, Pasig City. Contact them at 246-9069 ext. 411
Persephone
No, they do not serve Greek food at Persephone. The restaurant is more a tribute to the goddess of spring herself, with flowers springing forth from its every opening, their petals falling ever so delicately over the young diners and their food. Here, Persephone makes herself known in the playful flourishes of the food and in the restaurant’s sheer generosity. You will find her touch in the hummus, warmly spiced and laced with sweet roasted garlic; in the silog, overflowing, sharp and vibrant; and in the lush udon noodles tossed in a rough, umami-ish chicken liver pate.
Persephone is at 120 Jupiter Street, Barangay Bel-Air, Makati City. Conbtact them at 0917-5543825
– Rappler.com
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