Alamat Filipino Cuisine — Restaurant in Makati

We recently visited Alamat, a Filipino bistro located in Poblacion. The restaurant focuses on showcasing Filipino pride through its tribal and ancestral cuisine, as well as craft drinks. We chose to wait on the balcony while waiting for a friend, and although the ambience and music were enjoyable, it was uncomfortably hot in that area, possibly due to its proximity to the road.

Once inside, the unique decor, featuring star-shaped lights made of Capiz shells, intricate cement walls, and folklore murals, transported us to a different world, reminiscent of a grandmother's ancestral house it truly provided a break from the bustling city.

As for the food,I highly recommend trying the Poblechon sisig, which includes their own lechon belly, pork ears, 63-degree eggs, red onions, and green chili. Another standout was the bagnet platter, consisting of bagnet chips, thick-cut bagnet, sukang alamat, served with coconut-crab fat sauce and lechon sauce. Both dishes were flavorful and satisfying.

Moreover, Alamat is renowned for its selection of locally sourced craft beers from various regions in the Philippines. So I decided to try their “De Futa Madre” craft beer, which had a strong coffee liqueur aftertaste. This bold and intense malt beer, with an alcohol content of up to 8%, might be overwhelming for those new to craft beers- like me. I recommend pairing it with dishes that have intense flavors. If you're not looking to spend too much on craft beers in one night, you can opt to try them individually.

Overall, the food at Alamat Pub was sinfully delicious, offering a taste of the forbidden. Cheers to Alamat for championing Filipino cuisine and providing a unique...

A little insight into Filipino culture — Filipino words are tricky in the sense that one word can have variable meanings depending on the layer of nuance it refers to.

Alamat - is a noun that means legend but in slang is used as an adjective. A person who is an alamat cannot just be mundanely cool, he has to be outlandishly awesome or über cool!

Alamat Filipino Pub & Deli certainly lives up to its moniker with Filipino originality at its best, showcasing local ingredients and serving unique takes on ingredients we usually associate with everyday cooking staples. Their signature kalamansi mojito and Salabatman (made of Salabat or ginger) did not disappoint! Again, the play with words is evident - it can mean salabat man (ginger man) or a fun mix of the word salabat + batman. Either way, its a fun way to mess with your mind!

What is even more admirable is their foray into creating a signature liquor - the Sirena (Mermaid) Blue Pea Gin - it has a periwinkle blue shade from a local flower known as the Asian pigeonwings or blue pea (Clitorea ternatea, yes, the scientific name is real..) and has hints of orange peel, lavender and cardamom. Take it straight with a slice of citrus and watch it turn into a nice shade of purple! This would make an awesome pasalubong for tourists and balikbayans who want to bring a piece of the Philippines wherever they may be in the world.

Just like a legend, Alamat will stay in your collective consciousness as a go-to bar when you’d like to do a bar crawl along Don Pedro St. in Poblacion. Head next to their sister bar Agimat because I...

The craft beers are extremely over priced and I've had good house draft beers in the US that averages $6 to $8. The cocktails are priced the same like they are in the US so I'm perplexed why would I go this far to get a cocktail drink that I can get at a fancier bar in BGC , Rockwell, or Makati. I was under the impression that these local bars came into being because, they were privately-owned homes that were turned into restaurants and bars. If you want to attract more people you have to compete with either lowering your price due to difficulty finding parking around the residential area or the fact that most of these houses don't even pay rent anymore. And if they do, its gotta be cheap because it was never zoned to be commercial in the first place. Something had to give. I mean if you are spending anywhere between $10 - $20 with a drink that's not a local menu. Which means they are raking in daily earnings just as good as the US local bars but paying their bar tenders and servers a local salary. Apparently. There's a big hype about Poblacion area, and after seeing it for myself. It's only worth it for me if it makes sense to spend $10 for a "craft" beer.

Also, this place is more of a sitdown bar at night and there's just too many tables to move if your thinking about coming here to drink and get some...