If you have a lunch budget of less than P200, your choices in the Fort, especially BGC, are quite limited if you are tired of fast food or convenience store food, and want a nicer place to have your lunch.
However, in early May 2018, a new food hall has opened at 5th Avenue that offers good food choices and nice sitting area that can meet a tight budget.
Eden Food Hall is located on the second floor of the 5th Ave and 32nd St building, across St. Luke Medical Center and S&R supermarket. It occupies the space that used to be that of an upscale Japanese restaurant called Toki.
The food hall has about sixteen food stalls. In the middle of the food hall is the drinks station, serving soft drinks, alcoholic beverages as well as espresso drinks.
The place has a casual glam feel, with modern lighting and assortment of trendy chairs. It even has two hanging sofas!
For food, there is quite an international variety. There are stalls that specialize in: Thai, Japanese, Chinese and Indonesian food, as well as tex-mex and chicken wings. There is also a salad bar and a shawarma stand.
We tried pad Thai with shrimps. At P220 it is a little expensive for a food court, but you get two big prawns and a big portion of noodle, and the taste is quite authentic.
For best value for money, though, our top pick for now is a stall that serves local dishes that include rice congee (lugaw) with crispy pork and fried tofu for only P100. 12 pieces of gyoza from a gyoza stall for P150 comes in a close second.
A chicken wing stall, Pepa Wings, also have good value and tasty food. They sell a set of six wings for only P149 and offer several flavors!
With this food hall, it is not difficult to keep within a P200 budget while sitting in a chic ambience, as long as you do not order any espresso drinks, which are priced at Starbucks level. Soft drinks like Coke are sold from P50.
If you want to try this food hall, our experience is that it is more crowded on non-paydays than on paydays. Or, since this place is supposed to open 24 hours a day everyday, you may want to come at non peak hours if you want to feel the spaciousness of this nice food hall.
With such affordable prices, we are hopeful that it has a good chance of lasting longer than its predecessor at that location.
