SUMMARY
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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’re are some of the best dinners we had all year.
(In alphabetical order)
FOO’D
It should be obvious that a fancy-ish restaurant run by an Italian chef like Davide Oldani does pasta well, but it still comes as a bit of a surprise when you realize that the toothsome pearls of golden fregola pasta glazed just so in a slick of saffron and anchovy might just be the best bowl of pasta you’ve had in a little over a year. Even more shocking, however, is how tremendously good their fabled onion tarte tatin is in its glistening caramelized glory, a perfect quenelle of grana padano gelato melting ever so slowly beside it.
FOO’D is at Shangri-La at the Fort, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Contact them at 0917-7114469
Hibana
It’s almost as if anyone who talks about Hibana always needs to bring up the soy sauce ice cream. Yes, they serve soy sauce-flavored ice cream. No, it isn’t as bizarre as it sounds. It is bizarre, though, that people aren’t talking more about just how interesting the rest of Hibana’s menu really is. Chef Mark Tan cooks mostly classic Japanese here, but the details betray his more Gallic inclinations. Crisp prawn crackers are served with egg-y uni sabayon; prawns are poached in butter infused with miso; the fatty tontoro is served with rich brioche. Feel free to order the soy sauce ice cream, regardless; it actually is pretty good.
Hibana is at Ground Floor, Grand Midori Building, Bolanos Street, Legaspi Village, Makati City. Contact them at 519-1088
Ikomai & Tochi
We all know that street food is about more than placing things on sticks and frying them into crispy submission, but Ikomai & Tochi sure does make a solid case for it. Their moriawase set alone is more than enough reason to visit, its array of kushikatsu (literally “fried cutlets on sticks”) a condensed masterclass on the art of deep-frying. You could also drop by for the really, very good sushi and Chef James Antolin’s astonishingly good pastry program (don’t miss the cookies), if the mood suits you.
Ikomai & Tochi is at G/F ACI Group Building, 147 H.V. Del Costa Street, Salcedo Village, Makati City. Contact them at 816-4588
Sagana Epicerie and Bistro
Sagana isn’t so much a brand new restaurant as it is a slight reinvention, having gone through a low-key rebirth of sorts. You could head over for Chef Marc Aubry’s Franco-focused staples from his old haunt, Champetre, but you would do better to try something entirely new. Aubry’s French roots finally find true purchase in Filipino soil, and his food, while still luscious, is now bolder, fresher and – surprisingly enough – a bit more familiar thanks to the chef’s newfound focus on local seasonal produce.
Sagana Epicerie and Bistro is at G/f Net One Center, 3rd Avenue corner 26th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Contact them at 815-8801
– Rappler.com
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