Manila tasting‑menu scene heating up
Coverage from the Inquirer and local F&B reporters says new tasting menus in Manila are drawing attention for provocative courses and subtle plating. Social posts link to diner reactions and emerging chef collaborations. (x.com) (x.com)
Manila’s tasting-menu boom is widening in 2026, with new multi-course counters in Makati and Bonifacio Global City joining hotel collaborations and Michelin-recognized mainstays. (lifestyle.inquirer.net) Lifestyle.INQ’s March 16 report singled out three newer menus: Flow in Makati, Singular in Bonifacio Global City, and Hálong in Makati. The piece said the city’s chefs are building menus from personal histories, from Peru and Spain to more playful, theme-driven cooking. (lifestyle.inquirer.net) Flow opened in December 2025 after chef Kevin Uy returned from five years in Peru, including four and a half years at Central and six months at Mil. Inquirer said Uy’s menu runs to nine courses, while Tatler Asia described an eight-course format shaped with co-executive chef Gabriel Ong. (lifestyle.inquirer.net) (tatlerasia.com) The same Inquirer report said Singular is chef Fernando Alcalá’s new fine-dining concept, built with chef Edu Fuentes as an 11-course trip through regions of Spain. Alcalá already runs Bolero, his Bib Gourmand restaurant in Bonifacio Global City, according to the Michelin Guide’s 2026 Philippines selection. (lifestyle.inquirer.net) (guide.michelin.com) The backdrop is a new scoring system for Philippine dining. Michelin launched its first Manila and Environs and Cebu guide on October 30, 2025, listing 108 establishments: 1 two-star restaurant, 8 one-star restaurants, 25 Bib Gourmand picks, and 74 selected restaurants. (guide.michelin.com) That first guide put tasting-menu restaurants and adjacent fine-dining rooms into sharper competition. Toyo Eatery holds one Michelin star, while Bolero and Hálong landed in Bib Gourmand, and Benjarong was listed as Michelin Selected. (guide.michelin.com 1) (guide.michelin.com 2) Chefs are also using collaborations to keep the format moving. Dusit Thani Manila said Benjarong’s fifth-edition Experience Menu, launched on November 6, 2025, was shaped by chef Watcharaphon Yongbanthom’s September 2025 collaboration with Bangkok chef Pichaya Soontornyanakij and is sold in 5-course and 8-course versions at Php 3,500++ and Php 5,500++. (entertainment.inquirer.net) City of Dreams Manila staged another collaboration on April 11, 2026, when Crystal Dragon hosted a 72-seat, six-hands dinner with chefs from Jade Dragon and Pearl Dragon in Macau. The menu ran six courses and included a co-created appetizer and a Manila lobster course. (lifestyle.inquirer.net) Some Manila chefs are now exporting the tasting-menu logic beyond the dining room. In February 2026, Toyo Eatery announced a five-course business-class menu with Qatar Airways on the Manila-Doha route, with the reverse Doha-Manila service scheduled for July 2026. (lifestyle.inquirer.net) The result is a scene where a diner can move from a nine-course Peru-Philippines narrative in Makati to a one-night six-hands Cantonese dinner in Parañaque, under a Michelin guide that did not exist six months earlier. Manila’s tasting-menu race is now being measured in courses, collaborations, and guidebook placements at the same time. (lifestyle.inquirer.net) (guide.michelin.com)
