Lampara

Rising stars: Manila's burgeoning modern Filipino food scene - SilverKris

"Run by chef-owners RJ Ramos and Alphonse Sotero, this neo-Filipino bistro on the second floor of a low-rise building in Poblacion, Makati is busy and bustling since its first anniversary. The dining room is adorned with local art and the kitchen reinterprets familiar dishes—offering a tokwa’t baboy that tops soft tofu with crispy pork bits, pork floss and black vinegar, a liver mousse empanada that channels adobo flavors, braised kang kong and a sous-vide duck leg crisped in oil. Its true strength is regional Filipino cuisine: a signature Itum dish melds elements of tiyula itum and pyanggang into a bold seafood soup layered with charcoal-blackened coconut, galangal, lemongrass and spiced coconut cream, reflecting the team’s research-driven aim to raise awareness of lesser-known southern flavours." - Angelo Comsti