Manila Food & Wine
Manila dining: Seven restaurants putting the Philippines on the map
Asador Alfonso dining room
Manila dining is earning its place on the global stage, with Michelin stars landing in the Philippines for the first time and a new generation of chefs putting Filipino cuisine on the map. These seven restaurants — from intimate tasting menu spots to beloved comfort food institutions — capture the full range of what the city’s food scene has to offer
The Philippines’ dining scene continues to rise in global recognition and acclaim – and no, we’re not talking about ube, the purple yam currently taking social media feeds by storm.
In 2025 The Michelin Guide landed in Manila to award their highly sought-after stars for the first time, ensuring that the country’s fine dining landscape – always one with the warmest and most relaxed service going – has received the international endorsement that it deserves.
Clearly there’s nowhere better to taste the country’s thrilling diversity of flavours, techniques and ingredients than on home turf, and these seven spots in and around Manila all reflect some of the most exciting places to immerse yourself.
Raging Bull Chophouse & Bar
Raging Bull Chophouse & Bar at Shangri-La The Fort demonstrates mastery of the finest marbled meats like nowhere else in the capital. This is one seriously accomplished temple to beef and Chef de Cuisine Loic Brun ensures that exceptional cuts – almost wholly Australian – get the treatment they deserve on the Josper grill, where intense charcoal ensures high temperatures, the perfect sear and just the right amount of smoke.
But there’s far more than stellar steaks as a wide-ranging menu is served in one of Manila’s most striking dining rooms, inspired by mid-century luxury and Mad Men. Unsurprisingly, that ensures a killer cocktail program, but wines are also top tier, not least the legendary Opus One 2018 from Napa Valley, served by the glass with a wagyu burger that makes for a decadent lunch.
Toyo Eatery
Toyo Eatery’s Jordy Navarra is one of the most reflective and gently influential chefs in Asia, someone who has elevated Filipino food on the global culinary stage like no one else. His enviable resume includes Heston Blumental’s legendary Fat Duck, but the food that he and his young team craft at Toyo is deeply rooted in local identity and terroir.
Navarra regularly journeys across The Philippines, seeking out artisanal farmers, fishermen and producers, uncovering remarkable ingredients and traditional techniques that find new expression. The result is a dazzling tasting menu that is revelatory, surprising but always unmistakably delicious. Banana blossoms turned into banana ketchup, a seventeen-ingredient vegetable salad and stunning chicken inihaw, grilled Filipino BBQ style, are just some of the plates that change perceptions with every sublime bite.
Asador Alfonso
Asador Alfonso is an extraordinary architectural dream made reality in the jungle-clad hinterland of Tagaytay, 90 minutes south of Manila. There, an angular, contemporary building somehow fuses the manmade into its natural surroundings.
The partnership between Filipino architect Carlo Calma and Spanish chef patron Chele Gonzalez offers two ways to experience the finest seasonal ingredients from around Spain, served in two distinct destinations.
Head upstairs for the sleek dining room and its elegant two multi-course tasting menus featuring sashimi, sweetbreads and wagyu, while downstairs Alfonso Roasting Room lets you dine à la carte with similar levels of execution. Trust us when we say that their slow-roasted Segovia suckling pig, cooked in a vast wood-fired oven, is alone worth the journey.
Helm
Ayala Triangle Gardens in Makati’s central business district is one of the capital’s swankiest destinations, so the country’s only two Michelin-starred restaurant feels right at home there. Filipino-British chef Josh Boutwood oversees the 24-seat tasting menu spot and brings his global experience to bear in dishes always based on balance.
Roasted quail is brushed with shoyu koji – a natural umami bomb made from fermented rice and soy sauce – paired with hazelnut, fregola pasta, and a stunning quail jus; while a stuffed quail leg with farce shows exquisite technique. The finest A5 wagyu then chimes with beetroot gel, fondant beetroot, and pickled beetroot to sensational effect, but be sure to save room for first class desserts that are almost too pretty to eat.
Inato
Arguably Manila’s coolest dining destination, Inato sits in Karrivin Plaza, somewhere that drinking and dining often spills out into the pedestrian-only alley. Step inside and you’re transported into interiors channelling the soothing minimalism of Japan, but the dishes from Chef JP Cruz are proudly and thrillingly Filipino.
Their ‘Bahala Na Menu’ equates to an omakase where diners trust the team to curate a menu from peerless local and international ingredients, with dishes changing daily. A take on the beloved national noodle dish pancit gets stunning depth of flavour from shrimp heads, wood ear mushrooms and crab roe, while traditional inihaw grilling techniques render a cut of Iberico pork shoulder to astonishing tenderness. As much as the food, however, it’s the warmth, passion and energy of the young kitchen crew who make this such a memorable evening.
Manam at the Triangle
Filipino comfort food is the order of the day at Manam, a hugely successful restaurant from The Moment Group now with multiple locations around the country. Its finest incarnation comes in the cool, verdant expanse of The Triangle Gardens, where large groups of families and friends gather for serious feasts.
The approachable menu is perfect for newcomers to Filipino cuisine, with two dishes in particular that feel like mandatory orders. First, their sensational crispy sisig, a sizzling hotplate of crunchy pork jowl lifted by squeezes of calamansi, a floral and zesty native citrus. Then the unique sour-savoury flavours of sinigang soup pair perfectly with beef short rib and watermelon in a peerless bowl. Both underscore why it earned a Michelin ‘Bib Gourmand’ distinction, recognising a restaurant offering high-quality food at reasonable prices.
Liyab
Finally, to Liyab by Chef Charles Montañez, another tasting menu spot, this time in Manila’s burgeoning business and leisure district of Bonifacio Global City. Liyab means ‘flame’ in Tagalog and a dramatic live fire is indeed the visual focus, but plates are more restrained and refined than diners may at first assume.
Bone broth with ox tongue, marrow and a custard infused with 15-month garum, a fermented fish sauce, is an opener that sets the stall for flavour depth charges. The national dish of adobo is then taken to new heights in a brilliant rendition also featuring a beef longganisa sausage, heirloom black rice, a southern Filipino dish of cotton fruit cooked in coconut milk and chilli, and condiments including pickled shrimp.
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