While no still Filipino restaurant has made it to this year’s World 50 Best Restaurants list, Makati-based restaurant The Blackbird at the Nelson Tower has recently been listed at Monocle magazine’s 50 best restaurants awards.
In an Instagram post, Blackbird’s chef Kerwin Go announced the recognition all the while thanking everyone that has been part of this award.
The Monocle Restaurant Awards—now on its fifth year—is an annual list put together by the magazine’s editors to spotlight their finds on their travels that are often overlooked by major award-giving bodies like the Michelin Star.
“We were bored with the same clutch of starry chefs getting all the kudos and column inches for their ever grander (and less personal) restaurants and tasting menus,” reads their statement for this year’s Restaurant Awards.
“What about the neighbourhood favourites that our editors actually visited when they were on assignment in Bangkok, Tokyo, Toronto, and Los Angeles? We saw a niche for recommending restaurants to our readers and saw a wider goal of vaunting the work of chefs who might not make the lists you see in red-covered books monogrammed by the Michelin Man.”
This year’s list is topped by Italian bed and breakfast 1477 Reichhalter in Lana, Italy.
The Blackbird at the Nelson Tower located at the Ayala Triangle was where the country’s first commercial airport once stood and operated until 1948. The restaurant’s Art Deco premises were what remains of the airport’s passenger terminal and control tower preserved and renovated over the years.
Blackbird’s menu is influenced by its aviation past as well as Asian flavors. The restaurant established in 2014 is part of Monocle’s second annual Drinking and Dining Directory.
Photo courtesy of Blackbird
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