Food for family and friends

When you are with family, you would once in a while try new restaurants and new cuisines. The adventure of “discovering” something new and unique, sometimes totally unexpected, gives you quite a gastronomic thrill. But, eventually, when you celebrate special occasions, such as birthdays and anniversaries, especially those that involve beautiful memories of the past, you go back to your comfort zone—good ol’ Filipino dishes—just the way your lolo and lola prepared it. With plenty of love and affection as they are cooked.

It is the same when you’re with good friends and former classmates. People that you grew up and shared awkward years with. Friends who knew you long before you even discovered the real person within you. Persons you’ve laughed and cried with over the pettiest achievements and heartaches. When you eat together, you tend to rely on your comfort food not just for the flavorful treat but also for the memories that come with them.

This is the kind of food that you find at Friends & Family, a restaurant under the Raintree umbrella that serves straight up Filipino food or, as chef Kalel Chan puts it, “Manila food.” Says he: “It’s all the dishes that are a hit in our neighboring provinces as well as twists on comfort all-day dining classics. Friends & Family is an ode to our Lolo and Lola’s era, a tribute to Manila’s neighborhood eateries and diners of yesteryears.”

Check out the restaurant’s best-sellers and must-tries: Classic Sisig, Crispy Catfish and Buro Platter, F&F Barbecue Platter, Garlic U.S. Beef Tadyang and Beef Belly, Sizzling Bulalo Steak & US Beef Belly with Gravy, Birthday Spaghetti with Hotdog and Marshmallow, Chili Garlic Laing, and Ube Champorado.

For one, the Crispy Catfish and Buro Platter is basically the Kapampangan heirloom dish of fried catfish (but rendered the Thai way) served with traditional buro (fermented rice), mustasa leaves, with green mango salad (the Thai partner for crispy catfish), red onion, fresh ginger, ground peanuts, calamansi, patis (fish sauce), garlic, and fresh chilies. This dish has been on the Friends & Family menu since the restaurant opened in 2018, and it continues to be one of the top-sellers.

The Birthday Spaghetti with Hotdog & Marshmallow and the Chili Garlic Laing, meanwhile, are two of the most ordered items when it comes to platters for delivery. The platters are food trays that are good for 10 to 15 persons, and the other four platters available are Pork BBQ Platter, Classic Pork Sisig Platter, Embotido Platter and Lumpiang Shanghai Platter. The Birthday Spaghetti conforms to the typical Pinoy sweet spaghetti with beef sauce and hotdog slices, topped with grated Cheddar cheese, and served with additional cocktail hotdogs with toasted marshmallows on skewers. The Chili Garlic Laing, one of the best in the metro, is topped with fried chili, tinapa flakes, and creamy coconut milk.

Just recently, Friends & Family rolled out a new menu. The new dishes are Pinsec Dynamita (Baguio sili with ground pork, cheese, and cilantro, with sweet chili sauce); Kawali Chips (fried thinly sliced pork, served with housemade sinamak); Grilled US Bone in Pork Loin “Bistek Style” (with caramelized onion, garlic confit, and housemade atchara); dinakdakan (grilled pork belly, sinamak vinegar, mayonnaise, chopped chili and onion); and shrimp rebosado (battered shrimps fried to a light golden crisp).

Friends & Family is located at C3 Building, Bonifacio High Street Central, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.