Food Trip Fort Bonifacio on a P300 Budget

A nice dinner at "The Fort", for me, typically meant I would have to spend at least P500 in one sitting. I wasn't willing to do that one Saturday night and I got some friends into thinking that we can spend a maximum of P300 each on this day. I asked a friend and the name Dayrit's came up. I uttered three statements to myself while I looked it up on the net - "Never heard", "Interesting" and "Cheap".

I called up the restaurant and learned that they were not in The Fort, Bonifacio High Street or Serendra. S&R came up and a Shell gas station with 3-hour free parking for Dayrit's customers. They open as early as 7 a.m. and close at 9 p.m.! The few reviews I read about were ancient and almost all had a nostalgic attachment to Dayrit's when they were little. Someone mentioned it was one of Manila's original burger joints in the olden days. This, I thought, was worth exploring. They only have 2 branches today (the other in Magallanes). We ordered five house specialties, all with rice. The waiter added that everything in Dayrit's was home-made.

First up, my 2 top favorites are the spam and the crispy ribs.

The spam did not taste like regular "SPAM". This was better the canned meat.

The tadyang was crunchy crisp, soft and meaty with every bite.

The Macao ranked third. It looked like longganisa but had a light and different flavor.

The roast beef was dry and bland, not quite as good as people described it in the internet. It was also the most expensive.

The fresh corned beef was a big chunk of nilagang baka for us.

The traditional sago't gulaman was filled with black gulaman and hard sago. I would easily exclude this next time unless I am craving for that old arnibal taste of sago't gulaman.

The bill came and it was exactly as promised, unexpected and impossible in my dreams before this day. It was P1500 divided by 5.

I would gladly add Dayrit's (818-0168) to my Guiltless List of Restaurants in Manila. Have a taste of affordable home-cooked meals in the heart of Fort Bonifacio, undisturbed and just across the Bonifacio Stopover bus stop.