September 2026 Dining Radar: new restaurants, cafés and bars in Metro Manila (and one in Davao)

Location: 149 Legazpi Street, Legazpi Village, Makati City

Homegrown cosmetics brand Issy is no stranger to breaking the rules. Now, it steps further outside the box with its most exciting space yet, Matter by Issy: part retail, part café, all fuelled by curiosity. “In the Philippines, beauty lives in malls: a kiosk, a counter, a small boutique,” says Joel Andrade, Issy co-founder. Issy is no exception, found at department stores and retail chains nationwide. “But the brand has been telling people to take up space since 2019, and saying it from inside someone else’s building started to feel like a contradiction,” he adds. “Matter by Issy is the first Issy space outside a mall: 150 square metres beside Legazpi Street, where nobody walks past by accident.”

Matter, the F&B side of the operation, divides its menu into three categories: classics, signatures and experiments. “The challenge was what Matter could add to Makati’s café scene, which is already full,” Andrade explains. “It needed a point of view, not just a different name and packaging.” Experiment No. 002, Strange Pairing, subverts expectations of your typical chocolate cookie with strawberry jam, blue cheese and prosciutto. Meanwhile, Experiment No. 004, Manila, Two Seasons, marries the flavours of puto bumbong with the refreshing streetside coolers of summer in one layered beverage.

Tatler Tip: Designed with DAS Lab, the space was built with flexibility in mind, ready for pop-ups and activations—for Carl Jan Cruz’s Pique na Pique collection launch, the team translated his colours and fabrics into something edible. Get in touch with the Matter team to explore creative executions for your brand.

See also: Issy & Co’s Jasmine Ang Chua on being a leader and balancing friendship with business

Location: NBS Park, 125 Pioneer St., Mandaluyong City

Astro began as an attempt to produce enough local butter for a restaurant, a process that meant handling tons of milk, most of which would otherwise go to waste. That challenge became the concept’s founding principle: use everything the milk yields, down to the whey. Chef Kelvin Pundavela translates that principle into a menu that keeps things simple, though executed with a lot of thought: focaccia hydrated with whey rather than water, pan-fried labahita meunière with cultured butter, brown butter chocolate miso cookies served with a milk slushie. Matt San Pedro oversees the beverage programme, translating that same philosophy to the glass with drinks like the Milk Fizz, made with yoghurt, skim milk and soda water.

Read more: Foodie Finds with Francis Lim: find out where to eat and what to order

Location: San Rafael Street, Pasig City

If you’ve ever frequented The Back Room at Shangri-La, then Volkan Ibil may strike you as a familiar face. Since leaving the hotel, where he served as beverage manager, he’s pursued something much more personal: Zephyria, a piece of Bodrum brought to Manila, run alongside his wife and co-owner Mica Ibil. Its cocktails feature ingredients sourced personally from Turkey, favouring natural fermentation and traditional pickles over artificial acids. Volkan and his team present Turkish and Mediterranean flavours in unexpected ways, as in the Halikarnas latte (a blend of Irish whiskey, house-made Turkish coffee liqueur, sand-brewed Turkish coffee and tahini cream) and the Salmakis (tequila, sweet melon, Ceylon tea, lemon juice and milk). In the kitchen, Mica cooks simple, comforting Aegean dishes such as the Çökertme Kebabı (beef kebab) and Köpoğlu (a meze of eggplant, tomato and yoghurt).

“We are not trying to build a conventional bar or restaurant,” says Volkan. “We are trying to create the feeling of being welcomed into someone’s home in Bodrum.” That philosophy draws from the Aegean tradition of long, unhurried meals: “There is no rush. The table is where people connect. You may come for a cocktail. You may come for dinner. But we hope you stay for the conversation.” As he puts it, “We are not simply serving Turkish and Mediterranean food and cocktails. We are sharing a part of our home, our culture and the way we believe people should gather.”

Tatler Tip: Every Monday, guests can bring their own bottle of spirits and have Ibil turn it into a bespoke cocktail for an astonishingly generous rate.

Read more: The best meals of your life might be in cities you’ve never considered

Location: Grand Hyatt Manila, BGC, Taguig City

For 10 weeks, Grand Hyatt Manila’s Round Bar is transformed into a 12-seat Edomae sushi counter. Behind the counter is chef Yuki Anzai, who moved to the Philippines to set up his own private dining experience under the name Manila Sushi Chef. Ingredients are sourced from Toyosu Market and shift with the season, so no two nights are ever the same—on opening night, this took shape with dishes like torched kinmedai with uni and aji nigiri with spring onions and ginger. The residency runs Wednesdays through Saturdays, with only two nightly seatings.

See also: An essential guide to Japanese knives and where to buy them

Location: 27 Annapolis Street, Greenhills, San Juan City

Bar.Flora in Quezon City began as a gin and tea bar, dedicated to showcasing the best of both beverages under one roof. As the concept leaned deeper into the world of gin, the team saw the opportunity to give tea its own platform with its own dedicated space. Enter: Flora Tea Bar, a tea house by day and tea bar by night. “Here, tea is at the heart of everything,” says brand director Denise Fajardo, who developed the concept after years spent in tea cultures across Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and Japan. “We started bringing teas home from every trip and realised tea creates a completely different kind of experience. It’s slower, more reflective and more personal.” The space houses a loose-leaf tea collection sourced directly from producers, alongside “tea wines” and tea-based cocktails. In short, expect “a much deeper dive into tea,” says Fajardo.

See also: San Juan neighbourhood guide: chef Neil Dy of Seva guides us through his city

Location: Inside Huckleberry Southern Kitchen & Bar, Oboza Compound, Davao City

Those seeking quality cocktails in Davao have long turned to Huckleberry. Now, in response to Davao’s growing appetite for artisanal cocktails, the team introduces Sweetwater. The space leans into its 1930s Southern industrial reference, pairing exposed brick and leather cigar chairs with a Delta blues soundtrack, a quieter counterpoint to Huckleberry’s main dining room.

Their drinks are likewise designed to appeal to more discerning drinkers, drawing inspiration from water in its many states: the Still or Sparkling, a cocktail of dry vermouth, rose buds, chardonnay reduction and green tea tonic served two ways; the Rainwater Martini, a silkier build of vodka, corn tea-infused dry vermouth, DOM Benedictine, absinthe and caper brine; and the Salt Water, leaning savoury-smoky with mezcal, red miso, sesame oil and sweet vermouth. Beyond the signatures, the bar also pours classics, while the kitchen offers small bites such as the deviled eggs sampler and larger plates like hamburg omurice finished with Japanese curry.

See also: Types of water explained: seltzer, club soda, mineral water and more

Location: Don Carlos Palanca, Legazpi Village, Makati City

Tuck’s operates as a bistro by day and a bar by night, moulding familiar references into something totally unexpected—think a foie Sazerac, saffron sidecar, white mushroom lasagna with mascarpone foam, or chicken nuggets with caviar. Kyle Ley—known for his work on Refuge, Blanc and Spritz—developed the food and beverage programme alongside Angelica Bautista (WSET 3) on wine curation, with partners Bianca Syching of Parameter Coffee, Carlos Garcia of ABV and branding specialist Anya Benedicto rounding out the team. The experience leans into white-tablecloth service without the stiffness, with staff guiding guests through a growing 800-bottle cellar that ranges from forgotten spirits to numbered bottles, and a bottle-keep programme built for regulars who plan on returning.

Read more: Sunday Street Co is making catering more personal, thoughtful and design-led

Location: Commercenter Building, Muntinlupa City

Wonderfull began not as a restaurant concept but as a response to a family crisis. “We lost family members to cancer, and then my husband Anton was diagnosed with kidney cancer,” says co-founder Berna Garriz, who runs the restaurant alongside chef Tricia MacDonald and executive chef Carlos Garcia, best known for Alabang favourite The Black Pig. The diagnosis pushed her family toward more deliberate eating—more vegetables, less processed food and fermentation worked into daily life, and that shift eventually became the restaurant’s foundation.“Wonderfull isn’t about eating perfectly,” Garriz explains. “It’s about eating a little better, wonderfully.”

The Wonderfull pancake has become a fast favourite, made with amazake (a fermented rice drink) for a natural sweetness and served with salted maple brown butter. For something more substantial, consider a power bowl with roasted veggies, miso-glazed corn, chickpeas and poached egg on your choice of base (salad, rice or quinoa) and grass-fed steak or tofu kimchi. Be sure to try their house-brewed kombucha in flavours like pineapple ginger and berry sangria, too.

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