Some weeks are about discipline. This one was about smoke, skewers, and finding out the hard way that a TikTok queue doesn’t always mean a good meal. Here’s everything I ate, loved, and quietly judged between September 8 and 14.

September 8 — Chicken House Express, Makati: The Hype Didn’t Deliver
I’d seen Chicken House Express (or C.H.E, as the cool kids call it) all over my feed for weeks — the smoke, the sizzle, the promise of Bacolod-style grilling right in Makati. So I finally caved.

I should’ve caved a little less enthusiastically.

Two chicken gizzards (yes, my dogs’ favorite too — I couldn’t not order them), one isaw baboy, and a pecho that would’ve been perfectly reasonable on its own at 150 pesos, all added up to 750. It was 6pm, the place was slammed, and the staff were clearly trying their best against a 30-minute wait for food.

To be fair, the chicken did carry that unmistakable Bacolod smokiness — I’ll give it that much. But between the wait and the price, I don’t think I’m rushing back. Manila has better inasalan waiting, and I’d rather spend my cravings there.

September 9 — Yakiniku Like, Megamall: Finally, the Queue Made Sense

I’d walked past Yakiniku Like’s line at Fashion Hall more times than I can count, always telling myself “next time.” This was next time, and it delivered.

If you’re dining solo, this place is a small joy — every seat gets its own grilling station, so there’s no awkward sharing of the flame. The set meals come with rice, kimchi, and soup, plus condiments and water on the house. I ordered the karubi and harami set, and the beef and pork were genuinely flavorful. My one regret: starting with just 100g instead of jumping straight to 300g. I was “testing the waters,” which in hindsight was a rookie move — I liked it immediately. Paid 778 pesos, and I’ll absolutely be back, portion sizes corrected.

September 10 — Hikiniku to Come, Uptown BGC: Grilled to Oozing Perfection

This one had been on my radar for a while — originally from Tokyo, now with its first Philippine branch in Uptown BGC. I had a prebooking for 150 pesos, which gets deducted from your total bill, so really no loss there.

If you’ve never been, don’t stress about the etiquette — the staff walk you through everything, and you even get an instruction manual for how to eat your hamburg steak: with egg, with radish, or completely plain. I don’t have a preference; I loved all three ways. Watching them grill it tableside, juices practically glistening, was half the experience. It came out smoky, impossibly juicy, and exactly as good as the hype promised. Between the food, the staff, and the whole ritual of it, I could honestly eat here every single day.

September 11 — A Full Day in McKinley West
This day deserves its own chapter, because it was a full one.

Kubo Coffee Roasters opened my morning at 7am — conveniently close to work, with wifi good enough that I ended up staying twelve hours (I finally left around 2pm the next stretch of the day, more on that later). Kubo roasts locally grown Philippine coffee, supporting local farmers, which already earns them points before the first sip. I started with their Day Break (240 pesos) — espresso, coconut water, and pandan calamansi syrup, made with Arabica from Mt. Apo. It was bright, unusual, and lovely. I came back in the afternoon for the KCR Latte (also 240 pesos), but the burnt coconut note didn’t win me over the way Day Break did. Breakfast was tapsilog with two eggs and garlic rice (480 pesos) — the tapa was cooked exactly how I like it. Add in an accommodating staff and a full workday’s worth of good wifi, and this was a genuinely lovely place to just be for a while.

A few small footnotes from wandering the mall after: it might be the best-smelling mall I’ve ever set foot in, the nearest working CR was a five-minute walk away (a mild inconvenience, no real complaints), and I discovered the first pet-friendly Starbucks I’ve seen — conveniently near the office, which feels like a sign I’ll be back often.

From there, a quick stop at Happy Brows in Uptown Mall for eyebrows, followed by a Daykey Donut Custard (150 pesos) that I’m still thinking about. Oozing, delicious, not overly sweet — genuinely worth the slightly steep price for one piece. Next time I’m buying two.

Oh, and somewhere in between coffee refills, I booked a Bruno Mars ticket for a Singapore show in April. As one does.

Aida’s Chicken, Makati Square, closed out the day. Aida’s has a Bacolod branch I’d never gotten around to trying, but this one carries a Michelin selection, so I figured it was time. The unpretentious, almost unfussy vibe somehow made the experience better — no polish needed when the chicken speaks for itself. Even the pecho (breast, usually the driest cut) stayed juicy. They grill everything to order, so expect a 10-15 minute wait, but I’d already fortified myself with that donut, so no complaints. At 250 pesos it runs a bit pricier than other inasalan I’ve tried, but it earned it.

September 12 — Quezon City Does It Right
Morning Sun Eatery, a Michelin Bib Gourmand spot in QC, required a full In-Drive commute, and it was worth every peso of the fare. A funny hiccup at checkout — no data, and cash wasn’t quite enough — was solved by a staff member kindly sharing his mobile data so I could pay via GCash. That kind of small generosity says a lot about a place.

I ordered dinuguan (90 pesos), bagnet (130 pesos), sinanglaw (130 pesos — a traditional Ilocano soup of beef and offal in a gingery, kamias-soured broth with bitter beef bile), isaw at 20 pesos a stick, plus rice and a coke. My only disappointment: no dinakdakan on the menu that day. But everything else more than made up for it — the bagnet was shatteringly crisp (I don’t mind the fat, it’s flavor insurance), the dinuguan hit exactly right, and the sinanglaw, my first time trying it, didn’t disappoint at all. The isaw might have been the best I’ve had all week. That Bib Gourmand is well-earned, and honestly, QC’s carinderia and skewer scene deserves way more celebration than it gets.

Just ten minutes away, I finally made it to Cubao Expo — a neighborhood I’d been meaning to visit for ages but always talked myself out of because it’s a 30-minute drive from where I’m staying. I’m glad I finally went. It’s a scrappy, artsy, slightly hippie pocket of the city, full of character. I had a Sea Salt Latte (240 pesos) at Good Vibration Vinyl Cafe, browsed the vinyl records upstairs, and wandered a few shops before the heat chased me home. I’ll definitely be back in the evening, when I hear the neighborhood really comes alive.

The day ended at Uma Nota, an upscale Peruvian-Japanese restaurant in Shangri-La BGC, for a six-course Brazilian week menu — my first six-course meal, and my first real dive into Brazilian flavors. The restaurant sits down a short flight of stairs, giving it a tucked-away, almost secretive feel, and the staff walked me through every course with real care. I underestimated just how full six courses would leave me, but it was a wonderful problem to have. It’s Michelin Selected, and while I’m not on a mission to check off every Michelin spot in the city, moments like this make me want to keep trying.

September 13 — San Juan Mornings, Makati Middays, and a Very Full Stomach by Night

The Corner House, San Juan, opened the day. It’s a laid-back, multi-level community mall along P. Guevarra corner Recto — the kind of place inspired by Bangkok’s breezy, open-air malls, with most shops opening around 10am. Fair warning if you’re going: the heat can get intense once the sun’s up, so take the elevators if the stairs feel like too much of a workout before coffee.

I started at AM Coffee Roasters with a vanilla latte (180 pesos) — exactly the right amount of sweet for a morning drink — and their egg tart (65 pesos), which was genuinely delicious. Just outside, One World Deli had a few spots to sit and eat, though the grocery selection itself was fairly limited — worth a peek, not really a destination on its own.

From there, a Moveit ride to Makati for YourLokal, a Bib Gourmand restaurant where I grabbed a seat at the bar counter. Even at 11am on a weekend, the place was packed. Lesson learned: go for dinner if you want their kare curry — it wasn’t available at the hour I visited, and I’d also recommend reserving ahead, since I had to wrap up by 11:45am to free up my seat for the next guest (they were gracious about it, at least). I ordered the roast beef tapa (650 pesos) and a Sprite Spicy Peach (250 pesos). The tapa was tender, juicy, and full of flavor, and the truffle aioli did serious work alongside it — the nori rice pulled everything together nicely. The Sprite, for the record, tasted like Sprite. I’ll be back for that kare curry.

After a quick reset at home, dinner brought me to Chie Chie’s Batil Patong in Makati — a Michelin Select spot and a genuine staple of Tuguegarao, a city I haven’t made it to yet, so this felt like the next best thing. They serve an egg drop soup alongside their signature noodles, cooked exactly right — springy, well-seasoned, and reminiscent of pancit, the classic Filipino stir-fried noodle dish, though batil patong carries its own distinct character with minced meat and a fried egg worked into the mix. Practical tip: they’re cash-only, but there’s a nearby store where you can withdraw GCash for just a 15-peso surcharge — good thing, too, since I hadn’t brought cash and the rain wasn’t helping matters.

Just a ten-minute walk away, I capped the night at Dom’s Inasal. I still can’t quite believe inasal is becoming a full-blown comfort food for me at this point, but here we are. The place was packed, yet the service moved fast and my food came out well. I had the pecho (145 pesos), flavorful as ever, plus a liempo to take home — sizeable, smoky, and destined to be tomorrow’s baon. A happy, very full ending to the day.

September 14 (Monday) — Spider-Man Day at SM Aura

The day had one mission: catch the 5:45pm Spider-Man screening at Director’s Club, SM Aura. Everything else orbited around that.

Dinner came first, at Chatterbox PH — originally from Singapore, and their Hokkien mee did not disappoint. Big, fat shrimp, deeply flavorful noodles, and a satisfying, almost too-generous portion right before a movie. My only gripe: at 888 pesos, it’s on the pricier side for what it is.

I also tried Kariton, a Filipino gelato brand known for reimagining local flavors like turon, keso, and ube into artisanal ice cream, with a branch right there in SM Aura Premier. You can sample flavors before committing, which I appreciated — I went with banana and champorado. Honestly, it was just okay. Fine to try, easy to forget. Two scoops for 300 pesos didn’t quite justify itself for me, though I’d still say the concept is worth a taste if you’re curious.

Then, the main event: Spider-Man: Brand New Day was awesome. A full superhero-movie atmosphere, with Jean Grey, Punisher, and Hulk all making appearances — and refreshingly, Spider-Man wasn’t just spending the whole runtime rescuing MJ the way he usually seems to.

A great day all around, and I’m already looking forward to the next round of Manila food spots to track down.

Six days, one letdown, several new favorites, a very full stomach, and a superhero movie to close it out. If this week taught me anything, it’s that the best meals rarely come with a queue — they come with a story.