New menu at newly opened Half Saints in BGC
Half Saints opened its second branch in the Philippines at Bonifacio Global City, unveiling a new menu with dishes exclusive to BGC.
Guided by the belief that food can be both innovative and approachable, the team creates dishes that highlight a mix of local and international specialty ingredients where everything is made in-house when possible.
Since 2018, Half Saints has grown with the community that supported it through the pandemic — gaining collaborations, opening an events space (the HS/Socials Private Dining Room and Creative Content Studio), and even expanding to Japan with a branch in Tokyo! Half Saints is a homegrown female-owned restaurant founded in Quezon City in 2018 by long-time friends Jo Arciaga and Christine Roque, who both left their corporate jobs to open their own business.
The new menu leans more Asian-forward. Roque points out, “Everything we serve is house-made, from the breads and condiments to the mix-ins for our cocktails. We avoid ultra-processed shortcuts and put in the long hours where it matters. We have local ingredients in every dish for example, Sampaloc, Taba ng Talangka (crab fat), but the approach is very multi-cultural — though mostly Southeast Asian-driven — using a mix of both local and international specialty ingredients.”
Many dishes are designed for sharing and carry the playful edge regulars know from the Quezon City favorite — the Chicharron Teriyaki with bagnet and cream cheese wrapped in nori (seaweed). Two vegetable dishes stand out — the 4-Way Tomato Burrata Salad made with fresh, dried, pesto, and pickled tomatoes as well as the Caesar Tree made with charred broccoli, chickpeas, shiitake, bacon, and sprinkled with grated Grana Padano cheese. A crowd favorite was the Sea Bass and Beans — similar to the Thai dish Khao soi with fried noodles, pickled onions, cilantro, lime and monggo (mung beans). Meat dishes include Fried Thai Pork Ribs with tamarind sauce, patis (fish sauce), toasted rice, shallots and Arroz Con Pollo — a chicken thigh rice dish with coconut cream.
Arciaga shares, “We want to share with BGC what matters to us, so the experience is still very personal. A lot of the new dishes also come from childhood flavors we grew up with. We hope to help people in BGC make good memories here just as much as we helped QC people make lasting memories.”
Desserts are amazing. Have the Ruby Chocolate Pistachio Tart with ruby chocolate crémeux, pistachio praline, whole pistachio, almond frangipane, and lemon pate sucrée; the 64-percent Dark Chocolate Tart with Himalayan Pink Salt: Crema de Fruta - alternating vertical layers of sponge cake and yema custard frosted with cream, embellished with fresh fruit slices, finished with coconut water and calamansi liqueur gelée. These are also available in large sizes for parties.
People can also unwind after work as they have a gin cart for those who love to create their own gin and tonic!
The new branch of Half Saints is located on the ground floor of Milestone Building, 5th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. The new menu with BGC exclusives started just last week and Half Saints BGC will start serving breakfast on Oct.15, 7 am-12 pm.
(Half Saints Locations has branches at Unit 9 G/F, The Ignacia Place, 62 Sgt. Esguerra Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City and Tokyo Dome and Kato Building 1F, 4-2-4 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan. Visit halfsaints.com or @halfsaints on Instagram and Facebook.)
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