Where to Eat in Makati

This is an early list from Supper Social, opening for diner votes, and positions cannot be bought. Know two of these? Pick one.

See the full list: Restaurants in Makati

Makati, pocket by pocket: Karrivin, Ayala Triangle, Poblacion, Legazpi Village, Greenbelt, and a few rooms further out. The city is known for towers and traffic, and it has both, but the cooking is in the pockets: an alley of Filipino tasting rooms off Chino Roces, old houses and a sari sari store in Poblacion, office crowd standbys in Legazpi. Pick a pocket and stay in it. Your driver will thank you.

Karrivin: an alley of kitchens

Toyo Eatery takes its name from the Tagalog for soy sauce, and Jordy Navarra's kitchen treats seasoning as the main craft, balancing soy, vinegar and fish sauce by hand. Every ingredient comes from the Philippines and the fermenting happens on site. The Michelin Guide gives it one star. Ask about kamayan, a shared meal on banana leaf, eaten with your hands.

Inatô asks you to ring the bell. Inside, a sculptural marble counter for eight faces the open kitchen, where JP Cruz reworks Filipino cooking with a light hand. The Michelin Guide gives it one star and singles out a yellowtail amberjack and a chocolate tart. Light floors and wooden slats keep the room calm, even when the counter is full.

Metiz is Stephan Duhesme's room on the ground floor of Karrivin Plaza, reworking traditional Filipino recipes through his years cooking abroad. Fermentation does a lot of the work, with house aged elements lifting vegetables and seafood. The Michelin Guide lists it. Heritage on the plate, with an argument about it served alongside.

The Underbelly shares its premises in The Alley at Karrivin with a café, so noodles and coffee sit side by side. Three kinds of noodle are made in house, Billy's pork rib ramen comes in a rich pork bone broth, and the smoky edamame grilled with sesame oil is the side to add. It holds a Bib Gourmand, and the alley's gentlest bill.

Ayala Triangle: towers and theatre

Helm by Josh Boutwood carries Josh Boutwood's half British, half Filipino roots and his Spanish influences up to the third floor of The Shops at Ayala Triangle Gardens. Themed seasonal set menus swing from street food to surprises inspired by film, served at counter seats facing the open kitchen. Two Michelin stars, and Makati fine dining at its most theatrical.

Cerulean is the new one. Francis Tolentino, the chef behind Taupe, opened it in July 2026 on the second floor of the same building, and the menu puts Philippine seafood first, shaped by Chinese and Southeast Asian flavours: crab chawanmushi, tuna collar estofado, scallop claypot rice, even an uni ice cream sandwich. Tasting menu or à la carte, your call.

Blackbird Makati occupies the Nielson Tower, once Manila's first commercial airport, and leans into that aviation past in a sleek room. The menu is international, from Western classics to Asian dishes, and the off menu extras include wagyu croquettes and a spicy massaman curry. The Michelin Guide lists it, and the building's past is worth asking about.

Poblacion: old houses and street energy

Kása Palma is the old house on R. Palma that Aaron Isip rebuilt after training in Paris and years in French kitchens. Inside, the tasting kitchen serves ten courses built on Philippine seafood, Lechon de Lobster among them. Out back, the Jungle Kitchen cooks over firewood alone. One Michelin star, and one restaurant with two personalities.

Lampara is marked by a softly glowing sign on a quiet side street in Poblacion, and sits on the second floor with a terrace. The kitchen applies French technique to Filipino ingredients: octopus, soft shell crab, tofu rice cups, then desserts worth saving room for. The Michelin Guide gives it a Bib Gourmand, and the price is fair.

Tambai Yakitori Snackhouse took over an old sari sari store at 5779 Felipe Street and kept the shutter. The yakitori is Japanese in form and Filipino in accent: beef isaw, pork, chicken liver and gizzard skewers, chicharon bagnet, and a sauce more vinegar than sweet tare. Local and imported beer, a crowd at the counter, and Poblacion's street energy for free.

Legazpi Village: office crowd standbys and a counter for eight

Your Local sits on Esteban Street and cooks easygoing modern food that borrows from Japan, China, India and the Philippines, much of it built for sharing. Nearby offices fill the room, so booking is sensible. The Michelin Guide gives it a Bib Gourmand. Contemporary Asian cooking without ceremony, in the middle of the business district.

Sarsá Kitchen + Bar on Rada Street fills up for generous Filipino sharing plates rather than for the room, though the rattan lamps and marbled tiles help. Kinilaw and lechon manok are the crowd pleasers, and turon à la mode closes things out. This branch holds a Bib Gourmand, and the value is the point.

Hinoki is Yusuke Hino's omakase counter for eight at Keyland on Arnaiz Avenue. The longer of its two menus runs to five appetisers, ten nigiri and a signature dish, served across the counter by the chef himself. One of the newer Japanese counters in Makati, and sushi at its most personal.

Greenbelt and Arnaiz: the classics

Manam Greenbelt serves Filipino comfort food in three sizes, from small for one to large for six, so the table orders several dishes and shares. The signatures are a sinigang of beef short rib soured with watermelon, and the house crispy sisig of chopped pork jowl and cheek. The Bib Gourmand belongs to Manam at the Triangle, not this branch.

Sentro 1771 (Greenbelt 5) made its name with a happy accident: Vicky Pacheco tasted a salty corned beef broth, added tamarind, and sinigang na corned beef was born. The Greenbelt 5 branch still serves it with beef belly and shank, alongside other modern Filipino dishes. Comfort cooking with a twist, inside Ayala Center.

MESA sits on the ground floor of Greenbelt 5 and reworks familiar Filipino dishes for groups and families. The crispy boneless pata is the order: pork leg cooked sous vide, deep fried until it crackles, and finished with chilli garlic. The classics, with a little polish.

Milky Way Cafe began as a dairy and ice cream bar; Julie Gamboa opened her own branch near Malacañang and later moved the business to Makati. The café on Arnaiz Avenue keeps the old recipes: halo halo and homemade ube, avocado and cheese ice creams beside Filipino dishes. A Makati café with six decades behind it, and the halo halo to prove it.

Two Makati tables, one tap. Which would you go back to? Vote

A little further out

Tadhanà is Frances Tariga's restaurant, brought home from New York to the Levanto Building on Jupiter Street in Bel Air. There is no à la carte, only a ten course tasting menu of small bites that reworks binatog, kwek kwek, sinigang and tocilog with modern technique and local produce. One of the newer rooms in Manila, and street food that has dressed for the occasion.

Celera means appetite in Malay, and the room on the third floor of Comuna, on Pablo Ocampo Senior Extension, is dark, black toned and built around an open kitchen. Two chef owners cook contemporary Asian food with Japanese, Chinese and Singaporean influences: dashi, fermentation, a little smoke. One Michelin star for moody, umami rich cooking.

Hapag takes its name from the low Filipino family table and sits on the seventh floor of The Balmori Suites in Rockwell. Chefs Kevin Navoa and Thirdy Dolatre, who began it as private dining, build each tasting menu around one region after research trips; the Cordilleras menu draws on Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province. Modern Filipino cooking with one Michelin star.

The Bib Gourmand thread

Good value in Makati, as the Michelin Guide sees it: Lampara in Poblacion, Sarsá Kitchen + Bar and Your Local in Legazpi Village, and The Underbelly at Karrivin all hold a Bib Gourmand. Manam's Bib belongs to its Ayala Triangle branch, not Manam Greenbelt.

How this list works

It is an early editorial list, built from our own research, and it will be reordered as diner votes come in. Positions cannot be bought. More on how the list works.

Keep going: the Makati area page, Asian restaurants in Makati, fine dining in Makati, the Makati guide, Manila Restaurants Worth Knowing, next door in BGC, and the rest of Manila.

This is an early list, opening for diner votes, and positions cannot be bought. Pick between two and help set the order: vote here.