Agimat Foraging Bar and Kitchen

Calling itself a foraging bar and kitchen, this brash upstart in the Poblacion district of Makati doesn’t pull any punches. Subtlety is not the strong suit for either chef Niño Laus or bartender (and self-styled “liquid maestro”) Kalel Demetrio, but their wild enthusiasm for local ingredients is infectious. Demetrio makes complex cocktails from a variety of local produce and liqueurs, sometimes incorporating a rare or long-forgotten fruit into the mix. For his part, Laus serves up a fever dream of a menu, deconstructing plates, mixing dishes and riffing off of traditional recipes like a mad genius. Nowhere else will you find chicharon (deep fried pork rinds) smeared in balut (fertilised duck egg) dip, for example, or the common Filipino dish called pares (braised beef stew) interpreted instead as bone marrow served with braised short ribs, sweet potato chips, fermented shallots and garlic-fried ant eggs.