COCONUTS HOT SPOT — Eating fusion food can get confusing… dangerous even.
Given the number of disastrous stories about restaurants who boast of fusion cuisine, I was a bit skeptical about Your Local. I thought I was in for a regular mix-and-match of popular Asian flavors.
Was I wrong.
They had the best fusion cuisine I’ve tried in a while. The mix of Asian flavors were there effortlessly. Clearly, they have a vision of how they want their food to be recognized.
Your Local is effortlessly fusion, effortlessly hip, effortlessly worth every centavo.
First, let’s get this out of the way, parking is such a huge pain in Makati. The best thing to do is to go on a weekend, just before lunchtime. If you could take an Uber or just walk to the place, it would make your life much easier.
It’s easy to miss the place because there are no big signs. Just keep in mind that it’s directly across a boxing gym.
Tucked in the busy streets of Legazpi Village, Your Local is everyone’s secret go-to place for healthy Asian fusion. The restaurant has a clean, industrial look. It even has an open kitchen where diners can curiously watch the hustle and bustle of food preparation.
We were pleasantly greeted by the courteous staff. On a random Saturday morning, the restaurant was filled with families, complete with babies on strollers.
Their menu is short but well-curated. It was easy to see the Asian influence in their items.
Japanese food is one of the most abused cuisines in the fusion world, but Your Local’s take on the classic donburi was definitely done right.
The torched salmon donburi (PHP540) was most flavorful rice bowl I’ve tried in years. The black rice and soft salmon were topped with generous heaps of Japanese ingredients, (mantaiko, oborno, ebiko) which gave an explosion of taste and texture in every mouthful. The bits of spring onion and salmon skin added an interesting crunch. Although the bowl was a bit on the pricey end, it was very much worth it. I don’t know where else I could get salmon as good as theirs.
Their lamb rendang (PHP540) was adjusted for the Filipino palette. This means that it wasn’t as spicy as the usual Malaysian flavor. It helped that there were strong flavors from the cilantro, sweet soy and mint. The taste was very balanced, very Pinoy-friendly.
The lamb rendang plate had a generous serving, so we ordered steamed buns on the side. So we enjoyed an instant lamb rendang bao for just an additional PHP50!
Their food is best paired with a refreshing glass of sea salt lemonade (PHP160). For more drinking options, they have a pretty extensive bar menu.
For dessert? We recommend the cereal milk ice cream (PHP280). It had traces of maccha, cake dough, fruit loops and berry mascarpone. Their serving was a bit too much for two people, but it was heavenly.
Your Local managed to elevate fusion cuisine because they weren’t mindlessly mixing ingredients from different places. More importantly, they weren’t looking to shock their diners with weird culinary combinations.
They just offered good food which happen to be made from global ingredients. And they all just blended in beautifully.
It seems that this quaint little place won my heart without even trying. I would gladly call their cuisine my local.
GF Universal LMS Building, 106 Esteban Street, Legaspi Village, Makati City; +63 2 8236206, 11am–2pm, 6–10pm.
