We went to the newest food court in Bonifacio Global City on its first day of opening, September 3.
Getting there: the best way to reach it is to go down the escalator located next to Because Coffee, at the ground floor of One Bonifacio High Street mall, near the park across Shangri La at the Fort. If you go from the inside of the mall, you may get confused by the signs, one of which points up, and another one points down, since you will need to go up and down the escalators when you are inside the mall.
It has sufficient seating chairs at the moment, but the Food District appears to be only 60% finished. The establishments run by the food court operator, FOO’DEE, for example, are not yet open. More customers may visit the food court when all stalls are open.
In terms of space, the Food District may not be larger than the food court at Uptown Mall, but it looks like it has more stalls.
Currently, the most popular establishments there are:
– Hawker Chan, a Chinese style roasted meat eating place from Singapore. A rice plate with a few slices of meat costs under P160, while a 3-meat platter without rice is P298.
– Macao Imperial Milk Tea, the first BGC branch of another popular milk tea joint.
– Zark Burger, a local burger brand that originally started at the university belt in Manila. Its burgers are known for its high grease content.
– Pepper Lunch, a chain restaurant that serves beef and rice in hot plates. It has a branch in nearby Stopover Pavillion already.
Some stalls were giving away promotions during the opening. Banh Mi Kitchen which sells Vietnamese style sandwiches, for example, sells 3 small sandwiches for P149 instead of the normal price of 3 x P99.
A local food stall Inihaw, gives a few lumpia for each meal purchased. A stall called The Roast Beef Counter had a buy 100 gram get 200 gram promotion yesterday.
For those who wants to eat desserts that sound healthier, there is Ilaoilao that sells frozen yogurt, and Avocadoria.ph that has avocado shakes. Both have long lines today and yesterday.
Photo above: this Korean/Japanese street food area is like a food court within a food court
If you are looking for more exotic fare, there is an Indonesian home-cooking restaurant Bakmi Nonya, which has a branch in Eden Food Center three blocks away, a Japanese restaurant called Aburi, and a corner that has several Korean/Japanese street food stalls (takoyaki, Korean rice cake etc.).
We tried Aburi today, and ordered their chirashi bowl (P185). It had several pieces of raw fish including salmon and a crab stick, and these ingredients were torched at the table (aburi). The raw fish was of decent quality.
There is also a narrow hall way lined with tiny stalls that sell value food items and drinks that you can usually find in the local streets.
Regular lunch place
Food District is conveniently located, has a wide range of stalls that are affordable to most of the salaried employees in the area. You can have a meal for as low as P150, and snacks for under P100. While the interior design is not super chill, for the above reasons, it will become a regular lunch venue for many of us.
