My Votes for Manila’s Best Kept Restaurant Secrets Awards 2010!

17 thoughts on “My Votes for Manila’s Best Kept Restaurant Secrets Awards 2010!”

1. I agree, Thai Silk is the best Thai resto for me in the metro. I was able to try the talked about Som’s a few weeks ago (where have I been haha) and I find it overrated. It’s ok and the price is very affordable, but not enough for a nomination for me.

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2. Chariya (along N. Garcia) is closed. Well, at least when I attempted to dine in twice and their establishment had no lights during the night. 🙁

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3. Thank you so much Anton. I feel very flattered.
   I think Benjarong should be one of the nominess for best Thai though. I just had dinner there and it was amazing.

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4. I think Murphy’s should win for best bar.
   You should check it out Anton especially on Tuesdays when the Pub Quiz competition is on going.

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5. I disagree with your choice for the best Thai restaurant. Maybe the ambiance might be better but the food is definitely diluted. If you have eaten real Thai food, this will not be your best choice. I think People’s Palace deserved a nomination. I am sorry but I don’t agree with Silk.
   I also don’t agree with your choice for best French Restaurant. Steak and fries do not represent French cuisine. Like, why…..? Oh well, I guess taste is very relative.
   I am glad that you have finally given Tau Yuan recognition. Miele, Tattler and other publications for the best restaurants have truly ignored this gem of a restaurant. They still serve the best Hainanese chicken in town, much better than Stevie’s that have been raved about in numerous blogs. Their other dishes are also superior.

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6. I think Som’s should not have been even nominated at all in the Thai category. The quality is so poor inspite of its obvious popularity.

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7. Hmmm. There’s something off-putting about the name of this award. Best kept restaurants? Tunog kept women. Did they mean “best kept secrets” or “best run” restaurants? Kasi yung nominees hindi naman best kept secrets eh. Everyone knows these restaurants already.

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8. Kristel, Chariya’s restaurant closed in N. Garcia because her brother who was the chef died unexpectedly of cancer. She still has a restaurant in the food court of 168.
   I agree currystrumpet, the title is a bit strange. I guess it is because it is by the authors of “Manila’s Best Kept Secrets”. None of the restaurants are any secret. The title of the book is extremely misleading. What the authors should have done was feature a recipe of a dish from the featured restaurant. That would have guaranteed sales of this coffee table book flying off the shelves instead of gathering dusty. Its a book of secrets with no secrets.

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9. I do not agree with Silk. Dined there a couple of times and the food just lacks the flavor and intensity that Thai cuisine is all about. Som’s is another joke of a thai restaurant. Ive lived in Ko Chang for a few years and these 2 restaurants does not deserve to be called authentic. If i had to pick, id choose Peoples Palace.

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10. Anton,
    It would be nice that you include Address and Contact info on your choices and also on future reviews. For many of us who enjoy your blog but is quite unfamiliar with Manila and its surroundings, its hard to find some of these places.

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11. Would be nice if you posted the links to your previous blogs posts to the list

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12. @Alex and @currystrumpet Indeed most of the restaurants in the book are not “secrets” per se, in fact we have explained this quite a few times, that the “secrets” we uncovered are really the stories behind the restaurants and their owners, as well as their “secrets” to success. 🙂 We also chose not to place recipes as we didn’t want the book to be a cook book, and as well as intrigue our readers to go out there and discover the dishes the same way we did. 🙂 I hope this helps explain… 🙂
    We have re-checked on Chariya’s- thank you for the update- we’ll remove it from the nominees list.
    Cheers everyone and thank you Anton for your support 🙂

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13. shawarma snack center woohoo!!!

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14. Is there something disturbingly wrong with the categories or is it just me?:
    Best Chinese-Tao Yuan (Isn’t it more a Singaporean restaurant?)
    Best Central European-Mickey’s Deli? (What exactly is Central European cuisine and shouldn’t Mickey’s Deli be under a different category i.e. Best Deli maybe? thus the name Mickey’s Deli?)
    Best French Cuisine-L’Entrecote (Shouldn’t it be under best steakhouse? unless of course you judge your french cuisine by how well they make their steak frites…or is it because they serve french cheese… or maybe because the sauce they use is cafe de paris, in which case maybe it should fall under Swiss food?)
    I can pretty much go on and on about this but I just wish that the people who thought this up would take it more seriously, not just fit the restos into categories where they don’t exactly fit in just to give them token mention without recognizing their actual accomplishments.

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15. Agree with this.
    Where did you find these judges? Seriously.
    Just because it serves, in your opinion, the best Hainanese Chicken in town, coupled with it’s overpriced menu, doesn’t make it the best Chinese resto in town. I’d choose Summer Palace, or a few small restos in Chinatown, over Tao Yuan anyday.
    Already tried Enchante, wasn’t as good as it was during Le Souffle management. And to have 2 of her restos in the top 5, I wonder what were the criteria for judging. Chef fame?
    Of course Cafe Juanita won the best Filipino resto… You have a judge from Cafe Juanita…
    This is so funny: Kashmir – Voted as the Best Indian restaurant by Indians. I thought the judges were the ones judging?
    This is an insult to real foodies, I think it should be the MBKPRS Awards instead, Manila’s Best Kept Pricy Restaurant Secrets Awards

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16. I would just like to say this is worth reading, but not to be taken seriously. I sometimes abhor blogging because some of them give good reviews just because they get to eat free. How often do I witness this in new restaurants. So this award should be noted, but not necessarily believed. I kept a list of the nominated restaurants, and will try those I haven’t.. And for those I don’t like which are on the list (SOM’S, oh no….), I just deleted..

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17. I am bewildered & somewhat appalled by this restaurant competition. For example, why would they place Murphy’s Bar (which is more like a pub which btw has horrible & fake pub food) in the same category as The Establishment??? I think you have to spend a lot of time outside the PI and a lot of time (& money) at a lot of good & even bad restaurants to know good authentic food (from country to country). Having lived in the west & east coasts in the states, I think I have a pretty good idea of food & cultures. I have a library of over 500 cookbooks & consumed a lot of calories from many different eateries. What’s missing in PI is a prolific movement to promote high quality locally produced ingredients. I don’t see a strong & public relationship b/w chefs/cooks & growers, & yet the PI is highly agricultural. The only time I see Philippine cooking & produce shine is in its own cooking. Otherwise, only hotels tend to be consistent in their ingredients & cooking when you’re talking about quality. Having spent more than a month in Malaysia this year, & time in Singapore & Bangkok, I am more impressed with food scene there because of their appreciation for the quality of food they produce locally. What is obvious to me is that Filipinos tend to thrive on food trends than food quality which begins with how & where food is grown. Learning from the Italians, you don’t need to do much if you have great ingredients like a vine-ripened heirloom tomato. In the PI, I find ingredients are overcooked & overtreated or everything’s a stew. P.S. Don’t even try to open a Thai resto unless you can cook like the Thais. I won’t touch pad thai now locally after having the real thing in Bangkok. I can still have my Korean fix especially in Pampanga, Baguio & Cebu because Koreans know good Korean cooking & are very selective with their ingredients. My kids say that Bonchon chicken here is still inferior to Bonchon in NJ. Start with the people growing the food & the quality of food in PI will improve.

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