The restaurants below have been listed alphabetically and grouped into four different pricing categories:
$$$$ (over US$20)
$$$ (US$10 to US$20)
$$ (US$5 to US$10)
$ (under US$5)
Abe
Abe (pronounced AH-Beh) has one thing going for it: Kapampangan recipes. These are dishes from the province of Pampanga, famous for creating some of the tastiest meals and desserts in the country. Try the deep-fried
tilapia fish
and
kare-kare, a dish made from tripe, vegetables and a thick, delicious peanut soup. On busy days, Abe is always fully booked and it helps
to get reservations. Guests who can’t wait for the queue can try Abe’s partner establishment,
Larry’s Cafe, which is right across the street and serves the same specialty menu.
Serendra Piazza, Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City
Tel: (02) 856 0526.
Price: $$$
Cafe Juanita
This restaurant is tucked away in an unlikely corner of Pasig City, 15 to 20 minutes from Makati, but finding it gives the additional pleasure of discovering hidden treasure, literally. Cafe Juanita’s
interior is crammed with antique artifacts, all of them for sale at good prices. But beyond the antiques, the restaurant also serves Filipino dishes ingeniously fused with European cuisine. Brave souls are invited to sample the
bagnet, a pan-fried pork dish mixed with fermented fish sauce, and
ratatuy the Filipino version of ratatouille.
21 United Street corner West Capitol Drive, Barrio Kapitolyo, Pasig City
Tel. (02) 632 0357.
Price: $$$
Cafe Ysabel
Run by one of the country’s most famous chefs, Gene Cruz (who also comes from Pampanga), Cafe Ysabel offers an excellent menu of Kapampangan and international cuisine. It also boasts a menu of more than a hundred coffee concoctions. The restaurant itself is located in an antique Filipino house and the dining experience is heightened by the feeling of history the house conveys.
455 P Guevarra Street. corner of CM Recto, San Juan
Tel. (02) 726 9326.
Website:
www.cafeysabel.com Price: $$$$
Heaven ‘n’ Eggs
Serves local and American food. If the pancakes, sandwiches and pasta on the menu do not entice the palate, order the
vigan longganiza (a local sausage made form pork and garlic).
Fuente Circle, Eastwood City, Quezon City
Tel. (02) 912 1172.
Price: $$-$$$
M Café
Just beside the Ayala Museum in Makati, M Café offers a fresh and even healthy menu. Try the
adobo foie gras
. Adobo is a delicious concoction made by cooking meat in soy sauce and vinegar and M Cafe innovates this traditional viand by adding duck liver. For dessert, get the chocnut chocolate cake
(cake infused with a local peanut candy) or the barako mousse, a dessert made from local ground coffee beans.
Glass Wing, Ayala Museum, Makati Avenue, Makati City
Tel: (02) 757 3000.
Price: $$$$
Razon’s of Guagua
This small restaurant is always packed because it serves
halo-halo (literally, mixed-mixed), a famous iced dessert from Pampanga, combining sweetened banana, jackfruit and topped with
leche flan (a heavenly sweet pannacotta-like flan made out of egg yolk).
SM Mall of Asia, Second Level, Entertainment Mall
Central Business Park, Bay Boulevard, Bay City, Pasay City
Tel. (02) 556 0277.
Price: $-$$
The Red Crab
For seafood lovers, The Red Crab
is heaven. The restaurant’s specialty is what else but crab - cooked in every thinkable way a crustacean can be cooked. They have a buffet table too, for the anxious tourist who wants to try as many dishes as possible. This restaurant chain has branches in the major cities of Metro Manila (information on the nearest branch is available via the website below).
Greenbelt, Makati City
Tel: (02) 757 4129.
Website:
www.redcrabonline.com Price: $$$
Nightlife:At night, there are many choices of bar strips to aim for in Metro Manila. Malate is one of the most famous ones, reminiscent of, but much more lively than, Lang Kwai Fong in Hong Kong. Makati and Global City also have bar strips in the Greenbelt and Bonifacio High Street malls respectively. In Quezon City, Morato Avenue is dotted with bars, dining places and comedy clubs. Eastwood City in Quezon City is another favorite hangout of locals.
Most bars close at 0200 and may extend during weekends and holidays. Dress codes vary among establishments. The legal drinking is 18.
ClickTheCity (website:
www.clickthecity.com) and
The Manila Guide (website:
www.manilaguide.com) are the best sources for listings in Manila.
To really see the local culture, visit the hole-in-the-wall
70s Bistro, 46 Anonas Street,
and
Conspiracy Bar, Visayas Avenue, both in Quezon City. Both are owned by Filipino artists and feature some of the top musicians in the country. 70s Bistro, in particular, has been the breeding ground for the local music scene. Try visiting them when the following award-winning performers are onstage: Joey Ayala, Cynthia Alexander, Noel Cabangon, and The Jerks.
An eccentric establishment in Malate is the
Hobbit House in Mabini Street. This club typifies the mash-up of cultures that is common in the country: it used to be owned by a retired US serviceman and performers are mostly country and folk singers. All these in a club where the décor is unmistakably Tolkien and the guests are served by hobbits.
The Columbus World Travel Guide has been published for 26 years and is sold in over 90 countries worldwide.
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Word Travels is a comprehensive travel guide covering hundreds of cities and holiday resorts in more than 125 countries.
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The Columbus World Travel Guide has been published for 26 years and is sold in over 90 countries worldwide.
Word Travels is a comprehensive travel guide covering hundreds of cities and holiday resorts in more than 125 countries.
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