Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve “blogged”.. or written.. or whatever. But as I want to end this year on a light note, here’s a little list of some of my new favorite things of the year 2022, pretty much according to my IG feed. Did I miss out on anything? I’m pretty sure I did, but well.. this is for fun anyway! Not all food, thankfully, but mostly… and that’s just fine with me.
1. Wear Kindness Marcel Bag – I LOOOOOVE this little biz. Basically, it’s about one man’s efforts to help a community’s children by teaching the community how to sew and make bags, one of which is the fun Marcel. Their most expensive (yet still reasonable) modern tote, this bag has already gone to a lot of places with me, and has a lot of pockets and little compartments to store your stuff. When your bag arrives, it even comes with a note from the ones who sewed it for you. How feel good is that?
2. One World Butchers – Run by a sausage whisperer, they make, in my humble opinion, hands down the best artisanal sausages in town. Even the sides and other dishes are brilliant! A must.
3. Hapag lunch tasting menu – I brought some friends to try this out recently, and I must say, it’s just a fun gateway to Pinoy flavors. Part of it is shared family style, and I do like that it’s made the usually cerebral tasting menu a little closer to the ground. So good!
4. Seaworthy Hotel in Boracay (plus Percy and Hey Sailor) – A cozy boutique hotel run by The Sunny Side Group, Seaworthy hits all the right Boracay notes for me: it’s comfy, clean, the water pressure is strong, it’s got that not-too-fancy beach vibe, AND… it comes with a Cocomama attached to it (a must!), a delicious seafood centric restaurant called Percy, and well priced cocktails from Hey Sailor. Did I mention it’s steps away from the best part of the beach? This is as good as it gets!
5. Sea.food by Chele – Leave it to this busy busy guy to pull off this rather impressive restaurant in a not so busy area. Housed in the very Miami-chic Aqua hotel, Sea.Food is arguably the most premium restaurant in the island, yet still remains within reach for most. Worth a visit for their seafood, but boy – let me give you the tip: lechon rice. Or, alternatively, real Spanish flavor packed paella.
6. Anything in Baguio – My love affair with the City Of Pines still remained to be a big part of my year (as it was in 2021). With a myriad of new dining destinations (like the spanking new Joseph’s at the uh old Laperal house which scares the hell out of me haha), excellent coffee, quiet corners to be still, it also remains a place to dream up ideas and hatch them. I’ll be back here soonest.. and maybe some cooking might be involved! ;)
7. Klo And Co Alpesailer watch – Made by a bunch of local watch enthusiasts, this time piece sat on my wrist up in Baguio and I rather enjoyed it for its simplicity, yet remaining sporty and quite classy. Meant to be with you when you go places near and far, it’s a tastefully done watch!
8. Takao Studios chef pants and apron – Very cool stuff made by a group called Takao (led by my man Kel Zaguirre), I love their apron, but it is their chef pants that I used a lot this year, even to wear out and about. It’s got lots of pockets and details, and it’s just comfy – plus I find it pretty fly. Well done!
9. Ube cream liqueur – Made by the people behind Agimat At Ugat Foraging Bar, this isn’t exactly “new” but I literally just tried it a few weeks ago and it IS delicious – no wonder its won excellence awards. I know for fact so many non-Pinoys are fascinated with ube – someone should make this as famous as Bailey’s!
10. Tuesday Bake Corn Muffin – This was hidden in my feed, but I remember this well – made by a dear friend, these muffins are some of the best I’ve tried. Dare I say it? It’s quite corny. Eat it with some cheese, or jam, or alone … but a MUST with coffee.
11. Polaris Fine Foods madness – When people ask me about sashimi/sushi for delivery, one of the outfits I surely point them towards is Polaris. Creativity, variety, quality, packaging – they have it all. It’s not cheap (although you can get good stuff for a reasonable amount) but with Polaris, you know you’re getting the good stuff. After all, they do supply a lot of Japanese restaurants. It’s not “new” but they keep innovating, and that’s just exciting!
12. Food Grove chocolate chip cookie dough – As I’m not a sweets guy, this almost slipped my mind, BUT when I chanced on it again, I realized again how strong a product it is. Just good ol’ frozen cookie dough, ready to be baked into awesome cookies. The bonus? They use excellent Risa chocolate.
13. Hoja Rasca Latin American cakes – Hella sweet and rich, but that’s really the flavor profile of these Latin American desserts, like dulce de leche, or their signature Torte Chilena. A strooooong cuppa coffee is a MUST – together it is one of my favorite flavor pairings.
14. Chibi Chip Co – I gave away a lot of these kamote for Christmas. It’s almost ubiquitous – but man they’re made and seasoned well, and are crazy addictive. I expect nothing less from the dude behind Memz chicharon. He also makes these shiitake chips – check out the wasabi one! Healthy and satisfying. Either way, I think my fam’s Christmas gifts made many a new fan for these chips – made for snacking while bingeing on the latest shows.
15. Mushroom Biryani at Kashmir – Kashmir has been around for a looooong time, but it’s only this year I stumbled on their mushroom biryani rice. Veg forward food is my jam, and the mushrooms they use here are grown by a friend of the owners and are excellent. You won’t miss meat with this!
16. K Town Manila – Right under my nose, so many Korean joints opened in pandemic – specialty places like pork bone stew restaurants, soup/stew centric restaurants, and the ever popular chicken and beer establishments. Fine by me. I love them!
17. Burgers burgers and more burgers – What a year for burgers for me – just when I thought the burger train had slowly come to a stop, comes a bunch of great ones that really caught my attention, like Love Burgers, Hungry Homies (well, mainly because they opened outside of Marikina and you no longer need to reserve!), and even Jones All Day – plus new offerings from my faves like Hackensack, and Wildflour. (I even had a fancy one which was pretty good over at Blackbird) It’s most definitely time for a new burger crawl!
18. Just Kitchen – I know cloud kitchens are so pandemic era, but I just gotta give credit where it’s due: the two current sub brands under Just Kitchen (the Japanese Masterdon, and the Taiwanese InLuck) are shockingly good, and most dishes hover in the 250 peso range. Wanna have a meal with more nutrients than greasy fast food? This is the one for you.
19. Mimi & Bros – Again, this isn’t a “new” place, but I got newfound appreciation for it when I watched some World Cup games there. They’ve become a sort of community center in their little corner, with various age groups converging – often over sports, and always over good fried chicken and cold drinks. Unpretentious, and a good place to come as you are – maybe that’s why I like em a lot.
20. Burnt Bean – From the remains of one of my happy food purveyors in pandemic – Holy Smokes – comes Burnt Bean. So far, they make one of my favorite salads in Manila (a pressed melon salad that you MUST try)…. A Cesar that packs a punch too… a potato app that’s become their best seller… and so much more. The bonus for me: for a restaurant, they make very decent coffee. A step in the right direction!
21. The next chapters of veteran chefs – This was something that just hit me, and it’s quite exciting, to be honest: new moves by my favorite chefs of the older guard. Ariel Manuel is doing good stuff over at the supper club known as Pardon My French (among other things).. Cyrille Soenen looks like he may have left the artsy Admiral Hotel (which I didn’t even get to visit yet!) to be a part of the Manila outpost of Antonio’s (how’s THAT for a power duo – TBE and Cicou! Sheesh!).. and simpol guy Tatung Sarthou is making playful food at his new place Lore! I’m cheering all of them on – because while they’re not quite on the radars of the Tiktok generation, these gents can COOK!
22. Hotpot – There are a slew of hotpot joints of varying levels – from the unli to the premium – and it is always a good idea to me, mainly because you can eat well and healthily, without carbing out too much (unless you want to! Hehe) I’ll hotpot any time for sure – with good company, it’s always a good idea!
23. The continuing love affair with Japanese food – The Japanese food machine doesn’t seem to want to slow down. In the past two months alone, The Matcha Tokyo opened (at the Manila outpost of Mitsukoshi department store, no less) as well as the famous Ikinari steak house with steak by the weight (in Japan, though, this is mostly a place where you eat steak standing up – hence cheaper costs – but fat chance that’ll happen here. No no – we need to sit to eat the meat!) There are other small places I want to try – izakayas and kaiseki places – and I look forward to that!
24. The evolution of fresh pasta purveyors – Leading the charge are Noodle Lab, and Made By Nadine (who started with just a few shapes and now makes all sorts of stuff!) I love fresh pasta because it’s a blank canvass for whatever sauces you want to make, and because it’s made fresh it’s a different kind of satisfaction than when you eat the dried pasta varieties.
25. Dessert and pastry players galore – I’m going to tip my hat this year to people like Rhea Sycip of Flourpot Manila, because they’re not afraid to push the envelope with their products (their bleu cheese cheese roll taking me by surprise!) … Sweet Mamita and the Makati legend Dimpy’s Kitchen for opening actual outposts.. and up in Baguio, a small shop by them croissant specialists Rebel Bakehouse, and recent discoveries by hyper local shops like Sweet Stop chocolate cake. Oh, and the reemergence of Gelato Manila who made a flavor I really like – dark chocolate pomegranate. Ohhhh yeah baby!
26. More vegetable offerings – From Manila to Boracay to Baguio, there are more and more QUALITY vegetarian and vegan offerings, which I absolutely support. So many cuisines are represented here that I think it’s high time approachable vegetable forward restaurants be born. I have my favorites that I keep coming back for – as I’m sure you do too - like Manam which has a fried eggplant and tomato salad dish that is one of my go-tos, together with tofu sisig, or Pilya’s Kitchen with their cold sesame noodles, or vegetable curry at Hill Station in Baguio, served with red mountain rice, or my favorite Sabich sandwich from Hummus Elijah, or even Jones All Day’s veggie burger with crispy mushrooms and crispy kale. More please!
27. Interesting Spanish offerings – I enjoyed my time at Manduca – a Madrid themed restaurant (although I’m not sure what exactly that is! Haha) and I’m looking forward to trying the new Terraz Martinez, and even a return trip to the legend that is Terry’s. It was Manduca, though, that did it for me this year, mainly because it offered something a bit different from the usual Manila Spanish restaurant, and was very approachable.
28. Taiwanese food rearing its head – This place called Taiwan Kitchen in particular gave me a “travelling by the table” moment with their garlicky oyster misua and their bento boxes. I love every day Taiwanase fare because of the balance in their meals – there’s always something savory, then something sour, and something spicy or punchy.. and that just makes it all the more delectable!
29. Empanadas galore – I love a good hand pie/empanada. Its portable, and its tasty – and when done well it’s transporting. I’m cheap – I sigh with good empanadas! Hehe! This was a good year for them, starting with Mercy’s Empanada de Kaliskis, originally from Bulacan… to the premium Casa Luisa with a crust like no other (because she and butter are BFFs!)… to Pedro The Grocer’s empanada, which is best when it’s newly made (just make sure you don’t burn yourself).. to still one of my go-tos, Mama Empanada.
30. The all in one restaurant – There were several do it all restaurants that I really really enjoyed this year, and some of which had been around for quite some time. I particularly loved going to Pablo’s, which I tried a few times this year and which delivered a quality I had no idea they had. Ditto for the beautiful BGC Dean & Deluca space – I had no idea their food was that good! Jones All Day continues to be a go-to for me, and this year, so did a chain. Never thought I’d say this, but Texas Roadhouse is good! Tip o’ the hat to the people behind it.
And while I’m at it, I won’t beat around the bush. This year was pretty much mostly about elections, whether you’re on one side or the other. I’m proudly on the losing side. I say proud because despite everything – all the questions, and all the heartache – for the first time in a long long while, I found true hope in someone I believe in, who pushes a cause I can get behind. Always love, always kindness, always compassion. That’s where I will stand forever.