The Philippines Now Has a Michelin Map
On October 30, 2025, the Michelin Guide named its first restaurants in the Philippines at a ceremony inside the Manila Marriott Hotel. Helm, chef Josh Boutwood’s Ayala Triangle Gardens restaurant, took the country’s only two star rating, for a tasting menu built around his half British, half Filipino heritage with Spanish influences worked in.
Eight Kitchens, Two Provinces
Eight restaurants earned one star. Most sit in Metro Manila: Celera, where chef owners Nicco Santos and Quenee Vilar cook contemporary Asian food pulling from Japan, China, Singapore, and the Philippines. Hapag, where John Kevin Navoa and Thirdy Dolatre rotate tasting menus through regions like Western Visayas and Mindanao. Gallery by Chele, Kasa Palma, Linamnam, and Toyo Eatery round out the Manila names. One star recipient, Asador Alfonso, sits 80 kilometers away in Cavite, which means the Guide’s very first list already points diners past the capital. Gallery by Chele also picked up the Green Star, Michelin’s recognition for farm to table sourcing and waste reduction.
The Value Picks Nobody Should Skip
Twenty five restaurants made the Bib Gourmand list, Michelin’s category for great food at a fair price. Nineteen are in Manila and its environs, six are in Cebu. Kumba, Morning Sun Eatery, and Manam at the Triangle are among the named Manila and Environs picks, the kind of everyday spots a Michelin Guide rarely bothers with in a debut year. Seventy four more restaurants made the Selected list, bringing the full count to 108 establishments across Manila, its environs, and Cebu.
The People Behind the Plates
Michelin also handed out three Special Awards. Don Patrick Baldosano of Linamnam won Young Chef. Erin Recto of Hapag won Service. Benjamin Leal of Uma Nota won Exceptional Cocktails. Gwendal Poullennec, Michelin’s international director, pointed out that much of the country’s newly recognized talent is under 30, a detail that says as much about where Filipino food is headed as the stars themselves.
If Helm and Asador Alfonso represent the two ends of this list, a two star tasting menu in Makati and a one star kitchen an hour outside the metro, then the Guide’s first read on the Philippines is already bigger than one city. Anyone building a food focused trip here now has a real map instead of a guess.
