Location: Ground Floor Cattleya Condominium, Salcedo Street, Legaspi Village, Makati City
Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday 11:00am – 10:00pm (Closed on Sundays)
Telephone Number | Reservations: +632-8331812, +63 998 840-6268
Official Website: www.bondibourke.com
Facebook: Bondi Bourke PH
Instagram: bondibourkeph
BONDI AND BOURKE Makati Menu
BONDI and BOURKE: Australian Cuisine Restaurant by Chef Wade Watson
It’s rare to see a restaurant in Manila shores with a Chef like Wade Watson overseeing the open kitchen dynamics. Entree names are shouted to the team as orders start coming in, Chef Wade Watson never breaking a sweat as plates after plates of Australian beef burgers come out of the kitchen. Waitstaffs examine the plates before serving to customers, the small yet important action setting it apart from the rest of the restaurants who only do mechanical work without discernment. At one point, Chef Wade Watson threw on the apron himself and started grilling the burgers. I can’t help but nod in agreement as I observed the newly minted Australian restaurant that’s tucked along the quiet Salcedo Street. BONDI AND BOURKE (Stylised as Bondi&Bourke) is showing the metro how it’s supposed to be done.
Chef Wade Watson’s first restaurant after coming out of Cebu’s Abaca Group of Restaurants seems to be going on the right track. While not the metro’s first Australian-themed restaurant, as everyone knows that the Outback chain has slightly waned throughout the years, Bondi and Bourke is more aptly termed as one of the city’s first specialty Australian cuisine restaurant. Its menu presents vast comfort dishes from burgers, to Australian pies, and steaks, the selection of which are extremely popular to the city’s meat-accustomed palate.
While reservations up to a week in advance are absolutely recommended at this new Australian joint as tables easily fill up and you don’t want to end up dining al fresco, Bondi and Bourke’s ambience is light, casual and airy, something that both fits a family luncheon and a romantic dinner at night.
GROUND BEEF BURGER – Php 595
A tad pricey than the usual burgers in the metro, Bondi and Bourke’s the Beef Burger is a regular entree that’s ordered by each and every table. Packed with caramelized onions, a generous helping of lettuce, tomatoes, fried egg and bacon, the burger buns are humongous to take a bite by the mouth and a little bit too large than the patty inside.
The ground beef patty deserves praise for its tasty flavors all the while keeping it lean, but what stands out from the burger is the innocent pickled beet. Acidity brought balance to the whole burger, and I can say wholeheartedly it is one of the best burgers I’ve had in a while.
You can choose to have a salad on the side, if you feel like your cheat day has gone overboard. But the fries are deadly. You’ve been warned.
Chicken Fettucini – P395
For those who don’t eat beef, one won’t be disappointed with Bondi and Bourke’s Chicken Fettucini, the slippery, al dente pasta surprising me again as a memorable dish. If I hadn’t ordered the burger, I would have finished the entire serving of pasta on my own, the shavings of Grana Padano cheese giving it the saltier taste we’re all looking for in a bowl of pasta.
Roasted Pork Belly – P575
Bondi and Bourke’s roasted pork belly was probably the leanest pork I’ve tried, the meat slightly tough to chew. A small millimeter of fat gave away the flavor, but it wasn’t the star of the wonderfully plated dish.
The squash puree, roasted apples and asparagus went for the kill. One can skip this dish, and might want to opt for the potato puree side dish, Bondi&Bourke’s handling for that suspiciously addicting as well.
Australian Classic Steak and Mushroom Pie – P495
Bondi&Bourke’s freshly made pies make it a bestseller, almost every table had one ordered with fries. We went for the Steak and Mushroom pie, the piping hot braised beef ragout stuffed in the delicious pie chased away the rainy day blues. I’d love to come back and try out their Classic Cottage pie.
Lamingtons – P50 per piece
To cap your meal, a nice piece of Lamington isn’t to be missed. The flavors strawberry, chocolate and lemon makes it harder for one to decide which to attack, but I’d recommend to stick to the strawberry kind.
The flavor is refreshing, not overly sweet but is enough to conclude one’s meat fest at Bondi and Bourke.
At Bondi&Bourke, there’s a rare balance between its identity as a middle-range restaurant and as an exclusive dining spot in Manila. We need more of these kind of restaurants to open in the metro, those that don’t worry about scrimping the serving size and quality of its ingredients. I can only hope that Bondi & Bourke manages to remain consistent even after a year of its opening, where that crucial point in today’s restaurants becomes the determining factor whether it will remain relevant in the dining scene or risk a newcomer overtaking its spot.
This restaurant is part of the 50 Restaurants to Try in Metro Manila Before 2015 Ends.
Bondi and Bourke Rating:
[usrlist “Taste and Originality: 4” “Customer Experience: 4” “Value for Money: 4” “Brick and Mortar: 3”]