Formerly a seafood driven restaurant, Bait's by Joseph Margate extends its fresh and delicious offerings from the Philippine seas to meatier frontiers by revitalizing the menu to include more protein options of beef, pork, chicken, and lamb. Seafood lovers now mingle with their carnivorous friends with new items like Sisig Fries (P240), and Seared Foie Gras (P375) marble cake and coco jam for appetizers, while hearty mains such as Beef Tenderloin Salpicao, "BFC" Bait's Fried Chicken Sandwich (355), and A5 Wagyu Ribeye (P700/100g, P1,300/200g) are available. Comfort food for the pork lover can be found through the Pork Belly with Kimchee Fried rice and Fried Egg, or the Crispy Suckling Pig (P590) with rosemary potatoes.
For your daily fix of coffee, they now offer unlimited premium arabica coffee daily from 10am to 5pm at Bait's, making the restaurant a good choice for your caffeinated breaks or power meetings. For noontime dining, Bait's offers a regular Lunch Promo where the restaurant features a daily dish from Monday to Friday, offered at a cheaper price — only P250 — for lunch. Lunch breaks are made more affordable, yet still deliciously filling.
Degustation by Chef Joseph Margate
Gourmands wanting to let their palate experience more of the culinary expertise of the chef are recommended to participate in Chef Joseph Margate's tasting dinners, where the chef is able to create a degustacion that changes in theme often, making use of different ingredients in novel and flavorful ways.
Previous dinner degustations include a "Head to Tail" theme where Chef Joseph used different parts of the pig as highlight of every course, and a degustation where each course has a specific ingredient in mind to highlight. This limited offering is off-menu, new items created only for the dinners, every plate a unique experience as the chef himself will be present to tell you more about each course served. You'll never fully be aware of how the chef will present the key ingredient, and the surprise element in every course and conversing with the chef and your dining companions about the food and how it has been translated on plate is truly the charm of the Bait's degustation.
At one of Chef Joseph's tasting dinners, his 9-course spread included yellowfin tuna tartare with bits of orange and seaweed made extra refreshing with coconut oil, that the flavors are bright on the palate. Our third course highlighted foie gras, and Chef Joseph arrives to present to our table a banh mi style sandwich of pig's head terrine with the chef shaving foie gras on top of the sandwich. It was incredibly melt in your mouth, the shaved foie gras coating your palate and colliding with the pork, then meeting the soft bread. The chef shows his expertise with meat is just as great as his output of seafood in another course focusing on pork: milk-based pork ravioli with brown butter and sage with flavors so comforting and well-balanced that if I didn't have any other courses prior and dessert to look forward after, I will happily enjoy a big bowl full of the stuffed pasta. Perhaps the best dishes served at the degustation can find themselves into the regular menu — an always-hungry girl can hope, but at least I had the chance to savor every morsel of it while I could that evening.
The tasting dinners by Chef Joseph Margate at Bait's happen every Thursday to Saturday, 7:30pm. Two versions are always available: 9-course (P2,400/person) and 5-course (P1,400/person), with limited seating. Contact 0917-860-4764 for reservations.
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Bait's by Chef Joseph Margate is located at the groud floor of Signa Designer Residences, Valero corner Rufino Streets, Salcedo Village, Makati. Connect with #BaitsManila on social media: /baitsph on Facebook and @baitsmanila on Instagram.
