Eating our way through BGC

MANILA, Philippines - The food tour offers visitors a culinary sampler of different restaurants around BGC, making four stops along the route of the BGC Hop On Hop Off bus. The tours are led by Chef JJ Yulo, founder of Pinoy Eats World, and a confirmed habitué of BGC.

“We from BGC are proud that there are many places to bring friends and family to… there is a wide variety of choices here,” says Yulo, adding that the food tours were designed to have a little bit of everything – even some of BGC’s best kept secrets, the “sides and edges,” just waiting to be discovered.

The food tours feature restaurants that Yulo calls “indigenous” to BGC, those that originated in and are unique to the area.

Llamas adds that the food tour is a great way to try some of the restaurants in the area that might be intimidating to venture into alone. Another plus of the tour is that the owners and chefs themselves are there to greet guests, making the experience even more personal.

If the prospect of a sampler of the different establishments around BGC is not enticing enough, add the fact that the food tours are free. Each purchase (single or accumulated) of P1,500 from June 24 to July 21 at retail stores or restaurants at Bonifacio High Street, The Fort Entertainment Center, Crossroads, Bonifacio Stopover, One and Two Parkade, and The Mind Museum can be exchanged for two tickets on the food tour.

The food tours are scheduled on July 6, 13, and 20. Each tour will be different, Yulo and Llamas promise. The destinations of each food trip are still under wraps, adding a dash of suspense to the mix. “We want to see how people will respond,” says Llamas. Yulo adds that the food tour is still in the experimental stage. Hopefully the concept catches on and the food tour can become a regular BGC activity.

On the “pilot run” of the BGC Eats food tour, Yulo and Llamas led their first-ever “food tourists” to four stops – Wildflour Bakery and Café, Nolita, 2nd’s, and Cupcakes by Sonja.

At Wildflour, visitors were welcomed with a rustic wooden trayful of bacon tarte flambe – a crisp bread with bacon, cheese, and caramelized onions, paired with a refreshing agua fresca drink made of cucumber, lime, and mint.

Chef Allen Buhay and owner Ana de Ocampo explained that Wildflour evokes the feeling of a family bakery – the delicious cookies with bits of dark chocolate attest to this concept. Wildflour’s interiors are laid back, welcoming, and homey – a place that you would love to have around the corner of your own neighborhood.

Buhay adds that the Wildflour concept includes using the best possible ingredients and building a changing menu based on what best quality ingredients are available.

Yulo adds that Wildflour is the first in the Philippines to offer a “cronut” – a hybrid croissant-donut. These pastries are all the rage abroad and are quickly catching on with BGC insiders, so much so that they are normally sold out and new cronut addicts make sure to place special orders in advance.

After the Wildflour aperitif, the group was welcomed to Nolita by managing partner Patrick Santos. The restaurant was one of the very first establishments opened in the newest development, BGC Central. Short for North of Little Italy, Nolita serves up New York-style pizza which, true to form, comes in mammoth slices.

The pizza selection features many interesting choices – buffalo chicken with blue cheese, shrimp carbonara, chicken pesto, artichoke and ricotta, cheeseburger – as well as the less adventurous all-cheese and peperoni.

It’s easy to spend way too much time perusing the chalkboard menu trying to figure out what to order. Aside from pizza, the Nolita burger and the Tex-Mex savory bread pudding, and drinks like honey vanilla chamomile iced tea, among other unique offerings, are worth exploring.

The group of food tourists burned a few calories and made a little much-needed space in their full bellies by crossing the street on foot and making their way to their next stop, 2nd’s.

As chef Indie Peñalon puts it, 2nd’s started with a group of guys who wanted to open a place that serves comfort food – great food from their past that reminded them of their childhood.

Mini versions of the 2nd’s signature benedict burger were served – an all-beef burger sandwiched between a fried egg and slices of Spam. The burger is served with hollandaise sauce and homemade ketchup.

Explaining the restaurant’s name Peñalon says, “It’s on the second floor of the building,” but quickly adds a more articulate explanation – “We want it to be a second home… and we want everyone to come back for seconds.”

Though the portions at each stop were sample-sized, the food tourists were nearly full by the time they finished their burgers at 2nd’s. But there is always room for dessert, so the group hopped on the bus to Serendra which houses the iconic Cupcakes by Sonja.

A certified pioneer in the cupcake craze, Sonja’s offers the classic red velvets, as well as unique cupcake experiments like pistachio with strawberries and cream and crème brule. Though it may not be new to the food tourists, having some of the best cupcakes in the Metro to cap the tour was truly a sweet ending to a delightful culinary journey.

Tours on July 6, 13, and 20 start at 3 pm and last approximately three hours. Tours begin at the Hop On Hop Off bus stop located on 9th Street between Nike and Bo Concept. For tickets, bring receipts worth P1,500 to the Bonifacio High Street Central Concierge. There are 34 slots per tour; tickets are on a first come, first served basis.