It may not be the most extensive list of places to eat as you can imagine there are billions of food joints to suit all budgets. However it is much better to approach your eating experience with no expectations whatsoever.

Our profile as food lovers is something like, eat as healthy and as clean as possible as often as you can. But we also appreciate that when you’re travelling you need to try local food and experience culture, which is not always so great for the waste line. However if you seek out to try new, interesting and a mix of food then Manila is wonderful. You can have anything from modern comfort and bar snacks (ie. fried calamari and chips) to international cuisines falafel and hummous, Indian or get down with it by trying street food.

This is a chronological list of some delicious places visited by these two decent Aussie chicks:

Pablo Bistro Right in the centre of Makati this place is delicious. It has an extensive wine list and a really good menu. We pretty much recommend everything here.

Blackbird An interesting and awesome location for this hidden little outdoor gem. It’s right in the middle of the greenery Ayala triangle. Which feels like you are out of the pollution. The restaurant was originally the control tower and passenger station to the Philippines first airport. The wine is delicious but very expensive. You are looking at P2500 per bottle. We only had starters but I was not overly impressed. As we are on a budget I’m not sure we will be able to eat dinner here.

I’M bar rooftop An epic view, but on the side where the sunsets there is an awful structure that obscures the view. The cocktails were tasty but expensive, however you can’t complain because the vibe is awesome. The food that came out was less than average for a 5 star restaurant. Half the menu was not available so eating clean and feeling satisfied was impossible here. We had to leave to find food. We headed to the Indian Curry House for something more satisfying.

Royal Indian Curry House This was a random last minute decision. We were at I’M bar (around the corner from this little gem in Pablacion) It was a Google map, ‘explore near by’. We risked it and landed in this authentic Indian joint. You know it’s good when its packed with natives of that cuisine. I know you’re thinking you’re in the Philippines why would I eat Indian? but if you’ve never been here before then you will soon learn that eating local cuisine is not always as easy as it seems.

Hummus Elijah We’ve been here twice. It was so delicious, healthy and cheap the first time that we decided to drag our friends here with a bottle of wine the second time. yes they do BYO with a small corkage fee of P500. The falafels are small but tasty. The hummus thank goodness was packed with herbs and flavour and the tabouleh salad was clean and full of zing. We totally rate this little hole in the wall space. Check their menu out here.

Firefly The rooftop bar on to of the City Grand Hotel is Firefly. The hotel itself looked pretty conservative but the rooftop bar on top of it was so vibrant, intimate and just lovely. We loved the drinks and cocktails allot. In fact we rate this rooftop much more than I’M bar rooftop. We would still recommend visiting both.

You are spoilt for food and bar options in Manila.