Cover Keep reading to discover the new restaurants and bars around town—including the reincarnation of Ogawa (Photo: courtesy of Ogawa)
Keep reading to discover the new restaurants and bars around town—including the reincarnation of Ogawa (Photo: courtesy of Ogawa)
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From Gordon Ramsay’s new sandwich pop-up to Scratch’s new home in Legazpi Village, these new restaurants and bars range from the intensely personal to the globally ambitious
Keep your finger on the pulse of the local dining scene with Tatler’s Dining Radar—our monthly round-up of the most exciting new restaurants, bars and cafés across the Philippines.
May 2026 brings a strong crop of new restaurants and bars worth seeking out. A cult-loved bakery finds a larger home in the heart of the CBD. Gordon Ramsay brings his viral meme to life, launching a pop-up devoted to all things sandwich. One of the city’s most respected chefs has quietly added a pizza shop (and bar) to his roster.
Elsewhere, a 14-seat tasting room in Marikina is making a serious argument for Filipino cuisine as a living discipline, a Madrid roast house is making its Southeast Asian debut, and a Japanese favourite re-opens its doors at a new address. Across Metro Manila and Tagaytay, the month’s openings range from the personal to the ambitious—and a few that manage to be both.
Read more: April 2026 Dining Radar: new restaurants and bars in Metro Manila (and one in Siargao)
1. Scratch
Above Granola, sausage and egg, and French toast from Scratch at Aguirre (Photo: Lauren Golangco)
Granola, sausage and egg, and French toast from Scratch at Aguirre (Photo: Lauren Golangco)
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Location: Legazpi Village, Makati City
The cult-loved bakery has opened the doors to its new home at 106 Aguirre Street, and founders Ralph Sy and Charlene Ng have used the larger footprint to push their craft further without abandoning what people loved most about Scratch: its unpolished, approachable attitude. To-go staples remain—the sourdough, the cardamom bun, the chocolate chip cookie—alongside dine-in signatures like Turkish eggs, meatballs with focaccia and a mortadella sandwich with pesto and house ricotta. New additions include tahini granola with housemade yoghurt and papaya pink pepper jam, and a sourdough English muffin built around a spiced housemade sausage and a silky steamed egg reminiscent of a chawanmushi. Also on the menu: a perfected French omelette with housemade boursin and a complexion so poreless that skincare brands are seething with envy.
Their beverage listing got an upgrade, too, created in collaboration with Niko and Alex Tiutan of Ito (Tatler Best 20 Bar 2026), just across the street. Do not miss their apple pie espresso tonic or pomelo-orange-pineapple soda with tarragon.
Tatler Tip: Expect a queue, but one that moves relatively quickly. While they open their doors at 9am, devoted patrons (of whom they have many) are known to fall in line well before.
2. Easy Buddy
Location: Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati City
No matter how you spell it—krapao, kaprao, gaprao—the Thai national dish of meat stir-fried with pungent fish sauce, fragrant holy basil and sharp chillies is tough not to love. With over ten branches across Bangkok, Easy Buddy enhances the street food favourite with premium flourishes in an elevated setting. Now, first-time restaurateur AJ Chan brings the concept beyond Thailand to Manila, identifying a real gap in Manila’s lunch landscape for food that is fast without being careless. The concept is anchored by krapao, but executed with enough flexibility to hold repeat visits: diners choose from holy basil fried rice, garlic peppercorn fried rice or plain white rice, with options to upgrade to sticky rice or quinoa, and proteins ranging from minced beef with holy basil to striploin steak, grilled salmon, prawns, pork neck, chicken and crispy pork. Appetisers include wontons with Chinese sausage and black truffle, and fried chicken wings with tamarind jaew sauce.
Tatler Tip: First time at Easy Buddy? Opt for the Buddy’s Daily set combo. Just pick your chilli level and let the kitchen sort the rest.
See also: Where to order cold noodles in Metro Manila—perfect for the summer heat
3. Signet Café
Signet Café’s tuna katsu sando with potato chips (Photo: courtesy of Signet Café)
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Location: Opus, Bridgetowne Destination Estate, Quezon City
Signet has spent years proving that a menswear boutique can have a genuine point of view, building a community around craftsmanship, heritage and brands with strong identities behind them. Occupying the mezzanine of their Opus retail space, Signet Café is less a pivot than a natural extension; they noticed that customers already spend time in-store talking, browsing and hanging out, so the team built something worth staying for. The menu draws from Japanese and Japanese-European café culture, with the same appetite for the considered-but-approachable that defines the shop below—Japanese curry, carbonara, Napolitana, katsudon, kaki fry and soft serve, among others. The tuna katsu sando naturally piques one’s curiosity: sashimi-grade tuna fried lightly coated in crisp breading, sandwiched between pillowy shokupan with wasabi special sauce and paired with crunchy fried potato chips.
See also: Curio and Epicura by chef Bettina Arguelles bring a fresh take to deli dining and bespoke catering
4. Ogawa
Ogawa reopens its doors, now located at The Shoppes at Park McKinley West, BGC, Taguig City (Photo: courtesy of Ogawa)
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Location: The Shoppes at Park McKinley West, BGC, Taguig City
A stalwart of authentic Japanese dining in the city, Ogawa originally opened at The Fort Strip in 2015 before its demolition brought that chapter to a close. Now, owner George Pua brings it back at Park McKinley West with new head chef Kazu Yonemoto at the helm. The menu spans sushi, teppanyaki, kaiseki, robatayaki, donburi, sukiyaki and more, built around fresh seafood sourced from Tokyo’s Toyosu Market and high-grade Wagyu from Kobe, Matsusaka, Ohmi, Kagoshima and Miyazaki. The new interior balances traditional and contemporary design while preserving the signature bridge and antique door from the original location—a deliberate nod to everything that made Ogawa worth bringing back.
Read more: Enhanced strength, improved mood, better sleep: why creatine is becoming a modern wellness essential
5. Textures by Tamayo’s
Former NBA chef Christopher Tamayo returns home to convert his family home into a restaurant (Photo: courtesy of Textures by Tamayo’s)
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Location: 1975 Maglabe Drive, Tagaytay City
Formerly a protége of chef Tyler Florence at Miller and Lux Restaurant in Chase Center, California, chef Christopher Tamayo returns to the Philippines to transform the Tamayo family vacation house into a homey restaurant. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Tamayo spent years cooking for NBA players—most notably, the Golden State Warriors. At Textures by Tamayo’s, he presents a more personal cuisine: modern Californian with Filipino inflexions. Think prosciutto pommes dauphine, apple-chestnut agnolotti with brown butter and sage and a chicken adobo risotto with smoked coconut and kesong puti that treats the national dish as a starting point rather than a destination.
Read more: Harry’s Bistro picks up where Elbert’s Collective left off
6. Asador de Aranda
Location: EcoPlaza Building, Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City
Founded in Madrid’s Plaza de Castilla in 1983, Asador de Aranda has grown into one of Spain’s most recognisable roast houses, with locations across the country and into the Middle East. Makati is now its first address in Southeast Asia, with the same specialities that travellers flock to its Madrid flagship for: quality meats cooked meticulously inside wood-fired ovens, a traditional Castilian method that asks nothing of the meat except time. The rest of the menu—cochinillo, pan con tomate, piquillo peppers, paella, gambas—holds to the same principle: let the ingredients carry their own weight.
See also: What are Spanish cheeses? The 6 essentials for your tapas board
7. Digámo
Nilupak, a course from Digámo’s debut menu (Photo: courtesy of Digámo)
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Location: 240 Narra Street, Marikina Heights, Marikina City
14 seats, ten courses and a chef whose life story reads like a best-selling memoir: Francis Lacson grew up in Capiz, went to sea as a young man, collected cuisines across global ports, survived a hostage crisis that ended his maritime career, and returned to the kitchen to hone his craft as a scholar-chef, with three Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Food Writing awards under his belt. Through Digámo, named after the Hiligaynon word for both the act of cooking and the deliberate setting of a shared table, Lacson invites guests on a journey of exploration. The inaugural tasting menu, “Playful Evolution”, moves through Filipino culinary history from pre-colonial technique through Chinese trade, Spanish and American colonial influence, and into the contemporary. The dishes—from the kinilaw to Sarsa Confusion to Five Stages of Coconut—serve more than just to delight the palate, but to engage guests in conversation about Filipino food.
Tatler Tip: When dining at Digámo, do not resist the temptation to imbibe their cocktails—they were created by Ken Alonso of Proudly Promdi, whose expertise in Filipino beverages never fails to reward the curious.
Related: Proudly Promdi puts forgotten Filipino beverages on centre stage
8. Bakuran Tasting Club
Location: 20 Carmel Avenue, Quezon City
After years working as a corporate research and development chef for establishments like I'M Hotel and The Moment Group, Lee Jan Anicas is ready to forge his own path. Bakuran serves as a double-entendre: one’s backyard, a place of gathering; and to guard, to protect what’s important. The debut menu, “Asim: a study on balance”, takes sourness as its organising principle—not as a gimmick, but as a lens through which acidity brightens, softens and pulls a dish together. Expect dishes like kinilaw biasong, chicharon sampalok, kordero kamatis and coco dalandan across a nine-course menu in an intimate eight-seater space.
See also: Meet Me at the Bar: Rian Asiddao of The Jury and Bar by East
9. Idiot Sandwich by Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill
Above Gordon Ramsay Bar and Grill presents Idiot Sandwich, a pop-up in BGC until August 16 (Photo: courtesy of Gordon Ramsay Bar and Grill)
Above The pastrami sandwich (Photo: courtesy of Gordon Ramsay Bar and Grill)
Gordon Ramsay Bar and Grill presents Idiot Sandwich, a pop-up in BGC until August 16 (Photo: courtesy of Gordon Ramsay Bar and Grill)
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Location: Uptown Parade, BGC, Taguig City
What began as a comedy sketch for The Late Late Show with James Corden swiftly became a viral cultural phenomenon, inspiring a YouTube series, then a cookbook and now, a streetside pop-up: the first Idiot Sandwich outpost in the world. Running until August 16, 2026, the al fresco concept is an extension of Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill. On the menu: a chicken breakfast club in a croissant with basil mayo; a tonkatsu Cubano with kimchi, miso and white cheddar; a pastrami sandwich with sauerkraut and horseradish in a pretzel bun, fish (no chips) with avocado green goddess in a potato bun, a classic ham and cheese toastie with chilli honey dip and a chocolate peanut butter whoopie ice cream pie.
10. Cutie Pie and Joséphine
Location: Karrivin Plaza, Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati City
Chefs Stephan Duhesme and Arlo Gregorio—the forces behind Metiz and Automat—add a dual concept to their Karrivin Plaza roster. Cutie Pie is home to all things pizza: the Ate Marga (cheese, tomato basil sauce), the Bon ‘Chovy (anchovy, garlic confit, bagna cauda, grana padano) and the Carbo Pie (white base, guanciale, egg yolk, pecorino, black pepper, onion), to name a few.
Across the room, you’ll find Joséphine, a bar helmed by Ron Job Sanchez, the bartender who’s made Metiz and Automat certifiable favourites among cocktail drinkers. Signatures include the Joséphine (a martini riff with gin, Blanche de Normandie, vermouth blend and orange bitters) and Mexico, Pampanga (a smoky, acid-bright mix of tequila, mezcal, Cointreau, smoked chillies and cocoa). Not quite in the mood for cocktails? Ask about Neal’s beer of the day or explore their considered wine selection.
Tatler Tip: Do consider Joséphine’s bar chow as well—their JapaDogs with egg salad, teriyaki ketchup and katsuobushi are a standout.
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About
Lauren’s love for food came much later in life than one would expect— an obsession awakened in the streets of Melbourne’s multicultural dining scene. Armed with this newfound passion, she returned to the Philippines determined to discover the best eats in her home country, with a personal advocacy to champion local cuisines and homegrown talent. Nothing is off-limits; if it’s delicious, it’s worth celebrating.
Work
As Tatler Dining associate editor, Lauren covers all things food and drink, from listing the latest openings in our monthly Dining Radar to interviewing chefs and bartenders about the biggest obstacles crippling the industry today. Beyond the digital space, she also organises Tatler Dining’s tentpole events, including Off Menu and Tatler Dining Kitchen, as well as the annual Tatler Best Philippines awards night and guide launch, detailing the best restaurants in the country.
For leads and event invites, contact her via lauren@tatlerphilippines.com or follow her on Instagram at @laurengolangco.
Photo: Ralph Mendo
