I've been in Manila for about 6 weeks and this is my first time to dine-in at a restaurant/cafe. My friend reserved their patio for Sunday brunch to celebrate her birthday whilst still adhering to health protocols and guidelines.
Antipodean is a restaurant cafe that offers a wide selection of coffee, beverages, breakfast menu, regular menu, take-out food and essential pantry items you might need. From what I've gathered, this is a chain that is present in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. This branch located in the heart of Makati CBD is the first in the Philippines. The owners are hands on and they interact with their diners and assist their staff.
What was nice about Antipodean is that upon reservation, they asked if we were from the same household or friends -- for friends, they provided spaced out seating and plexiglass placed diagonally to enable social distancing.
We started out with coffee -- I got a soy mocha and it was wonderful! I normally opt for almond or oat but they only had soy -- good thing is that their soy wasn't overpowering the mocha. The coffee was smooth and had a good caffeine kick to it. Oh how I've missed drinking coffee leisurely inside a cafe.
For brunch, I ordered their Nasi Goreng since they only have tempeh as their GF option for other dishes and I'm not fond of tempeh. My dish was delicious and filling. Enjoyed the flavours of the satay and their fried rice -- makes me want to go back to Bali again.
Their service was good, we were a big group seated on two separate tables so a couple of orders were mixed up but overall, the staff handled it pretty well.
Definitely a great option for awesome coffee and food in Makati and just across Greenbelt Mall. read more