Pan de Amerikana is a house turned topsy-turvy, as you might notice from the inverted car on the…read moreroof and the chairs hanging from the ceiling of the open-air restaurant inside. Luckily, their exceptionally lovely bathroom remains on the ground. Claiming to be the first and only upside-down restaurant in Southeast Asia, Pan de Amerikana was once a small bakery selling fluffy and gargantuan pandesal at P6 each, until it branched out to include Filipino comfort food or lutong pambahay as well. Although in its earlier years I could've sworn that Pan de Amerikana would put out larger and fresher breads, I understand why that would be a lot harder to come by these days, what with the bakery's popularity. Thankfully, their pandesal is still soft to the touch, even if it's been a while since I last had one fresh out of the oven. The best thing about their pandesal is that you can have it with any kind of filling, but it's also tasty enough that you can eat it plain.

The first time that I learned about this resto was way back 2 years ago,…read morebecause of my bestfriend. We made plans of dining here but due to schedule conflicts, the plan has been pushed through at the end of my mind. It was around early this year when my partner and I accidentally came across this resto. We were heading somewhere in White Plains when our taxi passed by here. My partner was the first one who noticed it, we even asked the taxi driver to make a U-Turn and drop us instead at Pan de Amerikana. The rest is history. The facade is very unique, this is the only resto I've been to with upside down facade. Very photogenic! Even the Range Rover was upside down. Their lobby consist of wooden chair, framed photographs and a chess board game. The main dining area and the lobby was separated by a wooden bridge. Inside, it felt like an old house with lots of memorabilias from the 80s - sepia-colored photos of Filipino celebrities on a portion of a wall, colored glass lanterns, potted plants and wooden tables and chairs. Their menu consist of Filipino foods - Silog breakfasts, chicken, pork, beef and fish dishes, short orders like pancit, Pinoy desserts and shakes. They offer wide array of choices and the prices are relatively inexpensive. You can get a complete meal below P200, I can spend the same amount when I go to fastfood but nothing beats a 'lutong-bahay'. The taste is good, if not great. It's like your grandma's version of home-cooked meals. Recommended dish: Crispy Mushroom (Appetizer) Though are known for their pan de sal, we weren't able to try it. I'd be happy to dine here everyday if it weren't too far from me! PS: At the time of visit, there was no service charge. :D

We celebrated my husband's birthday here while we were on vacation in May 2019. It was a surprise…read moreparty and we occupied almost the whole place lol! There were about 50-60 people that came. This restaurant has a private room where you can host parties. They have live band and they have videoke in those private rooms. Love their customer service and the food. Price is pretty reasonable. Everything was great. That was a very memorable night cause everybody were singing with the band and dancing. What an epic night! Then in Feb 2020 before the pandemic began or before it even surged and put everybody on lockdown, we had the chance to come back here again. We had the private room good for 20-30 people. Another great service and food experience with videoke activity and nothing else to enjoy yhe night with the fam. Wouldn't mind having a party here again in the future.

Service is fast, efficient. Live band singing 80's music. They accept requests for songs. Beer is…read moreabout $10 for a bucket of 6. Cocktails are cheap, Watered down bottom shelf liquor. Definitely not high -end but not bad for a place to chillax til 2am.

I've always liked hanging out at Relik Tapas Bar. I love their "rustic" interiors. It's also the…read moretype of place that you'd take your girlfriends to for an intimate get-together. I go here to eat :P I usually go here before 7PM so that I can have dinner + drinks at my own pace. You MUST order their Chorizig! I also recommend their Roasted Bone-Marrow which comes with onion relish. Love love love it!

What a CRYING SHAME that this place only has one review at the moment apart from my own... because…read morethis place has some of the best food I've ever tasted. Much love and respect to Chef Benjo Tuason for that. Hats off, 100 percent. For tapas, go for the chorizig. Quesadillas are a good choice if you aren't super hungry but note that these can be quite filling as well. I highly recommend the paella dishes if you're coming in with a group as these are simply must-try dishes perfectly crafted by the master chef. Relik has a sensuous ambiance that makes for an intimate date, a fun night out with friends, or even just to meet somebody new because it can get wild at night!

Visiting from SoCal. A culinaire friend wanted us to try out the dishes here. She and Benny's did…read morenot disappoint! We had very delightful food. The bistek, dinakdakan, ukoy and pinakbet were delicious. I'm definitely coming back here and telling my other foodie fam and friends. Service was fantastic. Our server attended to his customers very well. This restaurant is next to the supermarket. Best to eat here first before buying groceries.

Just finished a morning walk around Makati & needed to do a little grocery shopping. We stopped…read moreinto Rustan's & decided to try Benny's for breakfast. First the good: 1. Yes, the dalandan juice is fresh squeezed; 2. Beef tapa is tasty; 3. Atchara is outstanding!!! Great pickled side; 4. The male waiters are very attentive. Now the not so good: 1. The female waitresses are a bit . . . uninterested or slow. In fact, when they brought our eggs we had to return then because we asked for overeasy & got sunny side up; they were also very cold - - they must have been sitting around for awhile. Other than the service issue, the food was very good. BTW: They have a little stand on the side that makes puto bumbong which we took home after our grocery shopping for a snack - - it's good. Enjoy.

A small but atmospheric restaurant in salcedo village. The servers were all wearing Maria Claras…read moreand had their hair in a bun and spoke straight Tagalog (but super fast as if she memorized it) The food was delicious. We were disappointed that they didn't have the fried carabao cheese, but everything we ordered was delicious. The fried binagoonan was specially memorable. Unlike other Filipino restaurants, their portions are smaller so take note if you're in a large group and want to order family style. The server was helpful in making suggestions on what to order. The food arrived promptly. This is the first restaurant we visited upon arriving in Makati. The double credit card slip requiring you to sign twice freaked us out a little. The restaurant explained that one copy goes to them and the other goes to the bank. But after a few days we realized it's more common practice.

Mabuhay! This place has good Filipino food. The interior is designed reminiscent of the Spanish…read moreera. The staff are courteous and spoke in Tagalog (even on the phone when we were making reservations). The dishes that I personally liked are relyenong talong (eggplant stuffed with longganisa- Filipino sausage) and the bangus salpicao. The tamarind iced tea gave me flashbacks of my childhood when my Dad made tamarind candies. The place is a bit cramped but the food experience makes up for it.

This is one of the oldest hot-pot restaurant in Manila. There are so many of ingredients choices…read morefrom seafood, beef, pork, chicken, vegetables, and needle. Three different taste of Soup also available. Freshness of all materials and pricing are reasonable. We can use there for business purpose too.

I am ashamed to say that I only discovered this place 2 years ago. Tien effing Tien is the bomb!…read moreThe first time I was able to dine here, we ordered off the ala carte menu but I had noticed that every one else was enjoying a hot pot meal. Subsequent visits were made and it was hot pot all the way from there. No regrets were had. (Skip this paragraph if you already know how to get there/park cause tl;dr) Tien Tien used to be located on Pasay Rd/Arnaiz so don't make the same mistake as me! They are now located in The Atrium Bldg along Makati Ave right next to the pretty pretty Zuellig Bldg. Parking can be a bit of an issue if you're not familiar with how it works but here are some hopefully helpful instructions based on personal experience of driving around in circles: If you're heading north on Makati Ave from Ayala Ave, you'll actually see The Atrium Bldg, that way you have an idea of where it is. Make a right on Paseo de Roxas and an immediate right into what looks like the parking lot/driveway of the Zuellig Bldg. Go past the lot onto the next street which is Apartment Ridge Rd and make a right there since it's a one way street. It's parallel to Makati Ave and just follows along the curve. You can park (or double park if you have a driver I guess) next to the wall and there should be an entrance to Tien Tien from the back. Semi bad thing is that you'll have to go through the function rooms which can be awks if there are a lot of people or if there's private party. Enough about location and parking, onto the food: Two things I remember about the ala carte menu is that 1) the seafood is super fresh. You can actually see the food (haha get it) swimming in the aquariums near the front entrance. 2) Eel in black bean/tausi sauce. Don't even think twice except maybe for the bones so be careful. Eat this with rice because it is so worth the calories. The hot pot blows so many other hot pot places out of the water. What Tien Tien doesn't give you in AYCE, they give you in quality. You have a choice of 4 soup bases and you can pick 2 in a split pot for variety. I personally prefer the wansuy soup base (stock with cilantro and peidan/century egg) cause I find it very light and refreshing. It also doesn't mask the taste of the meat, fish, etc too much and it absorbs their flavors too if you wanna drink the soup afterwards. Do not get wansuy if you have the genetics that make you think cilantro tastes like soap. Get sate instead if you'd like a spicy kick. The wantons, shrimp balls, and beef balls are all freshly made and take a little longer to cook so throw them into the soup first. The HK sliced beef is so red and fresh with just the right amount of fat. The rest of the stuff is pretty much standard. I unfortunately couldn't try the cheeseballs that people have mentioned because I'm lactose intolerant. Sad day. There is a sink near the entrance so you can wash your hands if you don't need to use the bathroom since it is located outside. In the dark empty building that could easily scare you if you're a scaredy cat like me. That sink is very much appreciated. The staff is great and very attentive! Very efficient and awesome service! We're sorry if we kept making you come back to pour tea, we wanted a whole teapot so you wouldn't have to go back and forth. However, I wouldn't recommend using the bathroom here because it's not exactly a golden throne.

The first time I have heard of this restaurant was about 3 years ago when I was looking for a…read moreromantic place to propose to my then girlfriend. I found this in a list, I think in Facebook, being included in the top 10 most romantic places for proposals. Eventually, I did not choose this restaurant. Anyway, I chanced upon this again via a truffle 4-course dinner coupon from Deal Grocer. I thought this was a good idea to finally try this one out. The place is indeed romantic. After we parked our cars outside, a doorman will escort us to a cute old house. The walk on the cobblestone road with torch lights seemed romantic. The interiors of the house feels cozy yet homey with the interior frames, with a feel of a fine dining French restaurant. We had a complete dinner starting with an amuse bouche of seared tuna and cucumber salad, then a choice of duck confit salad, and beef tartare. For the main course, we had butter poached shrimp with shimeji mushrooms and angel hair pasta, and beef cheeks in truffle sauce. For desserts, we had pavlova with fruits and truffle honey. The main courses were great. The shrimp pasta was my favorite, while the beef cheeks were melt-in-your-mouth tender. I was not a fan of the appetizers as I find something lacking. The dessert was too sweet for me and it was the only dish that I could not finish. Nevertheless, the restaurant is a quiet place for the couple to bond over a glass of wine.

Whenever someone asks me for a date place recommendation in the Metro, I never waver in my…read moreconviction and commitment to Lemuria. Tucked away in Horshoe Village, Lemuria, loyal to its namesake, is an almost hidden slice of paradise in the city. One step inside the place and you can immediately feel the romance wafting in the air. The cuisine they offer is French-Mediterranean but there's none of the dreary fusion fare that everyone is offering these days. Instead, they focus on the classics with an emphasis on quality and execution. For starters, you can't go wrong with the escargots which are French snails sautéed in almond and herb-butter. If that's not decadent enough for you, get a steak for the main course. They have plenty of steak options, but for me, the Filet Mignon is perfect. Feeling a bit demure or want something a bit lighter? I recommend the Sea Bass, which hits all the right notes all the time.

Ba Noi's Ca Phe is the more casual (and cheaper) younger brother of the Ba Noi's with which you're…read moreprobably familiar. I'm not sure when the rebrand of this branch happened - some time within the last 6 months - but it certainly is a better fit for the stretch of casual-fare restaurants along East Kapitolyo. The menu is a bit smaller with servings and prices to match. They keep the essentials when one is craving Vietnamese food: Pho, Fried and Fresh Springs Rolls, Vermicelli Noodle toppers. What is notably missing are some of the seafood options that standard Ba Noi's offers. The worthy replacement is their list of Bahn Mi's - vietnamese sandwiches served on a French-influenced brioche with your choice of filling. Head to Ba Noi's for a casual dinner before drinks at Capitol Commons. But, you'll probably want to go for an early dinner, as the parking on Kapitolyo tends to fill up quickly - check to see if there are spots available right in front, across the street the guard at the empty house lets you park if you're nice and let him know you're just going to be eating across the street.

My appointment with a client was cancelled, and so I took the opportunity to have a date with my…read morewife instead. We picked a restaurant wherein there is a high chance that both our families will not eat...and that's Vietnamese food. Ba Nois is a casual dining restaurant with black and white tables and chairs. Its walls hang pictures of Vietnamese lifestyle and culture. To try as much as we can, we ordered the spring roll and pork strips on dry noodles, large size (Php320) and the crepe with bean sprouts and side salad (Php250). Just for the sake of reminiscing our honeymoon in Vietnam, she ordered an iced truong coffee (Php110) while I tried the blended ice mocha (Php150). The crepe came out first and we were happy to see that it looked like the one we had in Vietnam. The crispy crust, eaten together with the bean sprouts, basil leaves, lettuce, and the special sauce has a nice, clean, and balanced taste. It is crunchy, sweet, and healthy, too. The noodles came out next. The combination of each ingredient makes it a wonderful dish: the bland rice noodles is complemented by the salty spring roll, sweet tocino-like pork strips, sourness of the vinegar-chili sauce, and the freshness of the vegetables. My disappointment would fall into the drinks. My wife's coffee was too light for a Vietnamese coffee, but we were glad that it was served authentically into a Vietnamese brewer. My mocha, on the other hand, was too sweet and too creamy. It was like a milkshake, and destroyed the otherwise good taste of the food. I was also disappointed to find that they do not serve banh mi. Service is ok. Ambiance is also warm, except for a certain fly that won't get off our table.