The rise of NoYala

Manila is far from the organized city it should be. In my imagination I see my hometown like a growing organism, mutating spontaneously at every moment. As one arm grows and flourishes, the other dies in decay and detriment. It’s harmonious chaos, kind of like a Stravinksy concerto, as physical development comes more as an afterthought following the social flow. The factors of growth are completely volatile: traffic, political endeavor, random settlement, adventurous, pioneering enterprises and wily real estate developers. It’s the city that grows with the people and their lifestyles — where you’ll never know when one area will suddenly gentrify or be left to despair. 

As a child living in Alabang in the ’80s, I grew up with vast, open fields, finding garden snakes molting under cupboards, “hiking” up places we used to dub “The Big Rock” and spying on our limited neighbors — our favorite was an Egyptian lady with 10 Saint Bernards living in an air-conditioned room. I remember coming home to watch Eat Bulaga and Batibot, my amazement at the era of cable TV, riding the jeepney to watch P40 movies at the Alabang Twin Cinema and the promise that my Southern district would be the next Makati as large buildings slowly started to develop. No one truly foresaw the opening of Fort Bonifacio, and for better or worse its rapid development completely overtook Alabang’s. We live in a city where we have a river that cuts through it and a glittering bay with stunning sunsets that used to be prime real estate. Where back in high school Malate was the place to be, it’s now overrun with Korean girly bars. There is a bittersweet excitement to living in such a fickle city, nostalgia for an era where one area flourished and the thrill of the emerging ones.

Super-fresh: Salmon sashimi on an ice bed at Mangetsu

In the past three years I’ve been back from Paris, the cityscape has changed and even in the last year or so I’ve seen firsthand the re-emergence of a district I like to dub NoYala — North of Ayala. Comprising the Bel-Air, Poblacion and Guadalupe Viejo barangays, some exciting places are popping up while keeping the feel of a typical local barangay complete with the fishball vendors and mamang taho. It’s the place where my parlor has been around for 20 years and they can do a French twist that lasts suspiciously for a week; where you have an old-school tailor that can make you a double-breasted suit with bell bottoms from his 1960s catalogues or make trendy slim-fit jackets that are perfectly aligned to your shoulders; and it’s the place that some restaurateurs have chosen to call home because of the once-low rent due to its proximity to the red-light district.

Although Jupiter Street has always been around, in recent years it’s become a hodgepodge mess of KTVs and random but good Korean restaurants. Disastrous during rush hour, the traffic can be daunting. Slowly the charm of being away from the mall is coming back with quaint and unique restaurants popping up here and there.  Two new ones have caught my eye: Mangetsu and Cova.

Japanese fusion restaurant Mangetsu is quite impressive in the effort put in for freshness and gorgeous plating. Although I tend to veer away from the “fusion” dishes I’m a huge fan of their super-fresh sashimi served on ice, the lapu-lapu carpaccio with ponzu dressing and their juicy, crisp Tori Karaage, which I like to pair with tangy vinegared radish and the smoky roasted eggplant. Service can be a bit slow due to birthing pains, but truly a great place on the rise.

Worth the trek: The chicken kebab with rice pilaf at Combos Turkish Café

Cova, on the other hand, is quite the opposite: dark, edgy interiors, rich Spanish tapas and aplethora of fun sangrias to try. It is one of the few places that truly succeeds in pushing the “tapas bar” concept, where patrons really do enjoy their drinks as they nibble on some hefty and tasty dishes, slowly enjoying the buildup from dinner service to full-blown night life. My personal favorite is the Huevos Cabreados — a throwback from my Basque roots and a remembrance of my childhood favorite: French fries (McDonald’s, preferably), chorizo and fried egg. Crispy shoestring fries topped with crumbled chorizo and quivering sunny side-up eggs with golden yolks that fall languidly over the potato mountain. Don’t be looking for healthy food here. When asked, the chef-patron Pat Hesse (my bus mate from high school!) candidly and honestly states with a big laugh, “What do you mean? Like salad and s%*t?!”

There has also been the recent rise of Reposo or Nicanor Garcia at the end of Jupiter Street. Caruso has always been a mainstay for classic Italian dishes. They make great pizzas, a fantastic octopus carpaccio, and a simple but tasty Penne alla Norma with sweet fried eggplants, rich homemade tomato sauce topped with a generous heaping of ricotta. Then you have across from it the rejuvenated L’Incontro taken over by Tina Pamintuan for a fine-dining taste of the old Boot. Even on a diet I manage to crack for the indulgent crespella: a savory crepe filled with oozing cheese, smoked ham and a heady mushroom truffle sauce. Other notable joints? The Room Upstairs in LRI Design Gallery for a nice coffee amidst mid-century furniture and chef Ariel Manuel’s latest venture Phat Wong Asian Bistro. You must not miss the shrimp and pomelo salad in young coconut and deep-fried roasted duck Pao.

Don’t miss this: Phat Wong’s shrimp pomelo salad in young coconut

More interesting and recent is the development of the Poblacion area commonly known as Backwell (behind Rockwell). A year or so back it really looked disheveled and rundown. Today the streets have just been renovated and repaved, houses are being repainted and low-rise white modern buildings are popping up here and there.  While I’m not really a fan of their overly sweet sauces, Som’s Noodle House has paved the way for others. Two recent openings have proved to be truly promising. Combos Turkish Café is run by a man with piercing ice-blue eyes and serves some fantastic, well-priced, albeit inexpensive, food. Their chicken shawarma sandwich or with rice pilaf is definitely worth the trek. That fluffy white garlic sauce on top of tender morsels of fire-roasted chicken is just to-die-for. Their out-of-stock five-hour baklava that I didn’t get to try has already made me itch to come back.

Just around the corner is Savoy Bistro. Don’t be fooled by his Nordic ways as the Swedish chef is extremely friendly and will gladly share his passion for classic royal European cuisine.  Set in an antique gallery, this place is oozing with charm and perfect for a hideaway date. They serve the best cream of tomato soup in town. There are no shortcuts and you can tell. The flavors are clean and authentic, no skimping on the cream and luscious butter. The moules a la crème is divine — fresh local mussels swimming in a sea of white wine, more cream and more butter with flecks of parsley bobbing about. It’s tempting to ask for a straw to lap up the wondrous sauce so you resign yourself to dipping crusty pieces of bread. Last time I ate there, he brought me out a small bowl with risotto and slow-cooked Swedish moose that I could eat with a spoon. I wouldn’t call it fine dining, as the quaint ambience can turn eclectic with some fun spillover from the beer-drinking “howzat” crowd, but it’s a place where pomp and snobbery goes out the window and the food is made with love and without shame. The oodles of cream and butter are proof of that.

Divine: Mussels in white wine and cream at Savoy Bistro

Manila is slowly getting the hang of it. Entrepreneurs are resisting the appeal of excessive foot traffic in the malls and the usual “white modern” interiors, finding unique spots built with character. NoYala is a little bit of our own Lower East Side: old postwar shops still surviving, Korean immigrants adding an interesting touch with their fun and colorful mini-marts, unique resto concepts, girly bars, and even the artsy community out over on Reposo and B-Side. When we choose to venture off the beaten path and out of our gilded doors mostly built by our preconceived fears, you’ll find that Manila has a lot of great surprises to offer. My mother, a little lost and bewildered as we drove up to Combos off Kalayaan road — “Where on earth are you bringing me?” — wrinkling her nose at the kitschy décor of the tiny, air-conditioned room. She quickly changed her mind as she sank her teeth into that juicy chicken kebab sandwich and asked the girl, “Do you do takeout?”

* * *

Mangetsu is at 38 Jupiter Street, Makati, tel. no. 478-3292.

Cova is at 22 Jupiter Street, Makati, 478-9700.

Caruso is on the ground floor, LRI Design Gallery, 210 Nicanor Garcia Street, Makati, 895-2451.

L’Incontro is at 207 Nicanor Garcia Street, Makati, 899-0638.

Phat Wong is on the ground floor, LRI Design Gallery, 210 Nicanor Garcia Street, Makati , 298-3573.

The Room Upstairs is on the second floor, LRI Design Gallery, 210 Nicanor Garcia Street, Makati, 899-9318.

Combos Turkish Café is at 5911-B Matilde Street (off Kalayaan Avenue by Grilla), Makati, 553-3371.

Savoy Bistro is at 8479 Kalayaan Avenue, Makati, 896-5667.