Offbeat, but deeply rooted

5 days ago 13

Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!

Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.

Visit Suniway.ph to learn

At this new Makati spot, familiar flavors—from pesang baboy to patis caramel—take on inventive, irresistible forms.

In a city saturated with themed dining concepts and fleeting food trends, Offbeat Bistro stands out—not by being loud, but by striking a quiet, confident chord.

Located on the second floor of The Shops at Ayala Triangle Gardens in Makati, Offbeat is a love letter to Filipino flavors, filtered through memory, art, and the camaraderie of long weekends. Its roots are deeply personal: what began as a casual Sunday ritual among friends Don Baldosano and Angelo Comsti has turned into a full-fledged restaurant concept. The two would gather with friends in Baldosano’s backyard—eating, drinking, and swapping stories. Those weekends became the foundation of what Offbeat is now: a public invitation to something once intimate.

But don’t mistake Offbeat for just another nostalgia-driven spot. Yes, it leans into memory, but it does so with creativity and a genuine respect for craft. Here, tradition is both honored and toyed with—never carelessly.

The moment you enter, it’s clear that Offbeat isn’t aiming to be just another pretty backdrop for social media. The interiors are bold yet thoughtful. Inspired by taka, the folk art of paper-mâché from Paete, Laguna, the space bursts with vibrant reds and playful references to Filipino domestic life—wooden utensils line the shelves, and a sculptural wave wall reflects and softens sound.

There’s a cool, casual ease to the place. The atmosphere is neither fussy nor overdesigned. It’s comfortable—welcoming, even. Music adds to the mood, with a curated modern disco playlist by Manila-based DJ Alexa Dignos. The beats are familiar but fresh, mirroring the kitchen’s approach to food.

Familiar dishes, reimagined

Offbeat’s menu is a creative tapestry of regional specialties, heirloom recipes, and culinary reworkings that taste both new and rooted. It’s here that the concept delivers on its promise.

The pesang baboy is one of the most soulful dishes on the menu. A reinvention of pesang isda, this version swaps fish for tender pork belly, simmered gently in a ginger-forward broth. For us, it triggered something deeply personal. It evoked the quiet warmth of childhood lunches at our Lola’s house, when the scent of ginger broth wafted from the kitchen, carrying with it the comfort of home.

Another standout is the fried chicken inasal—Bacolod’s famed grilled chicken, here reinterpreted with a golden, crunchy breading. The flavor remains deeply familiar: tangy, garlicky, and aromatic with annatto, but the texture adds a layer of surprise that makes it utterly satisfying.

Then there’s Monghe, a dish from Rizal composed of twice-cooked meat crowned with egg jam, served on a toyomansi cream base. It’s rich and balanced, both rustic and refined.

Offbeat’s kulawo—typically a smoky eggplant dish from Quezon steeped in coconut milk—is wrapped in a delicate lumpia, offering crispness alongside the creamy interior. It’s a clever take, and it works.

Isda con mayonesa, once a staple of Filipino party tables, returns here with a modern touch: slivered, torched fish, topped with patis mayonnaise and vivid garnishes. It's bite-sized, refined, and full of character.

There’s also pinangat, made with pompano from Palawan wrapped in hoja santa, an aromatic Mexican herb grown in Negros. Its presentation is minimal, but the flavors are layered and vibrant.

Desserts don’t hold back either. The lemon square with lemongrass ice and patis caramel is both daring and delightful. Sweet and salty in just the right measure, the patis surprises but never overpowers. It lingers like a quiet reminder of one’s roots—especially for those of us from Malabon, where patis isn’t just seasoning, it’s second nature. That dish alone is worth the visit.

Even the ginumis, a typically sweet and icy local dessert drink, takes a new form. Here, it comes with kapeng barako jelly—a nod to coffee jelly but with a distinctly Filipino kick.

Worth a return visit

What’s notable is how Offbeat highlights local ingredients without turning it into a marketing pitch. The sourcing is intentional: kesong puti and buffalo’s milk from Bulacan, cinnamon and marang from Bacolod, bakoko (sea bream) from Palawan, duldul salt from Guimaras, and sweet potatoes from Mindanao.

These ingredients are thoughtfully woven into the menu, not just name-dropped. They contribute to the overall story—one that emphasizes connection to place, not performance.

Offbeat’s drink menu also draws from childhood memories, but filtered through an adult lens. Cocktails inspired by iced gem biscuits, orange creamsicles, and root beer floats bring playfulness to the bar without resorting to gimmickry.

The restaurant’s layout includes a spacious al fresco area, which the owners plan to activate with chef collaborations and outdoor events. It’s an extension of that original backyard spirit—bringing more people into the fold.

In the end, Offbeat Bistro is more than just a restaurant. It’s a gentle rebellion against the overdone, a space that favors story over spectacle. The flavors are sincere, the space inviting, the music easy on the ears.

The dishes resonate not only because they’re well-executed, but because they’re personal—whether to the chefs, to the regions they come from, or to diners who recognize a bit of their own past in a bowl of pesang baboy or a drizzle of patis caramel.

Offbeat may be its name, but it’s right on track—and absolutely worth a return visit.

Read Entire Article