Regina Troy Barrios

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Half Saints BGC

<h2 id="isPasted"><strong>In a nutshell</strong> </h2><p>Half Saints, the Quezon City cult favorite, has landed in BGC. Inside a car showroom, it serves fine dining stripped of pretense—food with polish and soul, delivered with the same sincerity that made it beloved in the first place.</p><div><br/></div><h2><strong>Need to know</strong></h2><p><strong>Location:</strong> G/F Milestone at 5th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig (inside the Lynk &amp; Co showroom)</p><p><strong>Cuisine:</strong> Modern Asian with global accents and restless creativity</p><p><strong>Best for:</strong> The design-minded, the quietly sentimental, and anyone who prefers personality over perfection</p><p><strong>Must-try dishes: </strong>Chicharon Teriyaki, Arroz con Pollo, 4-Way Tomato Burrata Salad, All Meat Puff Pizza, and the Tokyo-inspired Arigatokyo</p><p><strong>Pro tip:</strong> Ask about their specials or limited-run dishes—even in BGC—they might not always be on the printed menu. Also, order the gin trolley (and ask for the codigo) for that full Half Saints ritual.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:900px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17599125520761.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Open kitchen, open heart—the art of cooking, laid bare | Photo: Half Saints </span></span></span></div><p>The new <a href="https://www.instagram.com/halfsaints/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Half Saints</strong></a> in BGC lives inside a car showroom—the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lynkco_philippines/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lynk &amp; Co</a> space, a cavernous hall where car parts glint like modern art under soaring ceilings. The restaurant blends seamlessly into the space, with no walls to separate it. The openness is unexpected; everything feels exposed and deliberate. From my seat, I catch a sliver of the kitchen—the choreography of a focused team. Then the gin trolley rolls up, and suddenly you understand: this is going to be an experience.</p><p>Half Saints has long inspired a quiet cult devotion. It began in a modest corner of Quezon City, built on a love of good food and a simple wish to make people happy. From the start, its mission was to serve what chef and co-owner Christine Roque calls “approachable gastronomy.” “Half Saints are people trying to do good but still rough around the edges,” she explains. It’s a metaphor for how they cook: ambitious but honest. That balance of craft and imperfection is what keeps people coming back.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:900px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1759912359354Grilled Market Vegetables.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Grilled Market Vegetables: proof that tofu and miso can steal the spotlight | Photo: Half Saints</span></span></span></div><p>The menu leans Asian-forward, its flavors bolder and more confident than before. <strong>Chicharon Teriyaki</strong> is a plate of Tarlac bagnet, nori, and cream cheese that you’re instructed to roll into a maki. “Tarlac meets Tokyo,” the server says with a grin. The dish draws from Chef Christine Roque’s roots in Camiling, Tarlac, where chicharon—crisp, golden pork belly—is a centerpiece of family celebrations. The pork’s a little tough, but the house-made hot sauce brings it to life. The <strong>Fried Thai Pork Ribs</strong> is lacquered in a patis- tamarind sauce so rich it nearly overwhelms. At Half Saints, plates are meant for sharing—but this isn’t gentle food. Pile on too many strong flavors and they start to wrestle for attention.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:900px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1759911965772Fried Thai Pork Ribs.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Bold, unapologetic flavor mark the Fried Thai Pork Ribs | Photo: Half Saints </span></span></span></div><p>Even for someone who’s not usually drawn to vegetables, the plant-based dishes are surprise hits. The <strong>Caesar Tree</strong> isn’t a salad but a hulk of charred broccoli, shiitake, chickpeas, and bacon, standing upright like some prehistoric bonsai. The <strong>4-Way Tomato Burrata Salad</strong> presents tomato in four incarnations—fresh, dried, pickled, and pesto’d—a dish that risks being gimmicky but is so well done it’s actually a quiet flex. I like this reminder of how much personality a simple tomato can hold. In a dining scene that too often treats vegetables as supporting actors, these dishes take the spotlight without apology.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:900px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1759911996713Caesar Tree.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">The Caesar Tree means business! | Photo: Half Saints</span></span></span></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:900px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17599120209544-Way Tomato Burrata Salad.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">4 Way Tomato Burrata Salad is full of endless personality | Photo: Half Saints</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>The <strong>Arroz con Pollo</strong> is easily my favorite dish: chicken thighs creamy with coconut milk, pimiento, cilantro, and a hint of chili. It sneaks up on you—simple at first bite, then suddenly impossible to stop eating, as the other cleverly executed plates fade into the background. The <strong>All Meat Puff Pizza</strong>, already a cult favorite from the Quezon City branch, remains a crowd-pleaser here—bacon, chorizo, house-made sausage, arugula, and chili honey on a buttery, flaky crust that’s a revelation in itself. It’s also the only pizza on the menu that isn’t meatless, which somehow makes it feel a little rebellious.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:900px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1759912117374Southeast Asian _Tacos_(1).jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Scallion pancakes reinvented into Southeast Asian Tacos | Photo: Half Saints</span></span></span></div><p>For dessert, there’s the <strong>Arigatokyo</strong>—the Tokyo-inspired spin on their bestselling <strong>Merci Buko Cream Puff</strong>—made with first-pressed coconut cream, young coconut meat, and roasted pili nuts tucked into an oversized choux au craquelin. The coconuts still come from the same kariton vendor who supplied them back in their Quezon City days in 2018. And while its name may be a playful pun, the dessert itself is no joke: easily one of the best buko desserts in the city.</p><p>You sense the old Half Saints in this new one—not copied, just matured. The flavors, the ease, the small acts of care have simply moved to a shinier ZIP code. The room holds the same contrasts: stone and copper, a rope installation tangled yet precise, service that’s deliberate without being stiff. “Different location, same approach,” says co-owner Jo Arciaga. “We want to help people in BGC make memories, the same way we did in Quezon City.”</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:900px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1759912167773Soft Shell Crab Risotto(1).jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Soft Shell Crab Risotto is pure decadence with its taba ng talangka | Photo: Half Saints </span></span></span></div><p>For its BGC debut, Half Saints has paired up with German tableware brand <a href="https://www.instagram.com/villeroybochph/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Villeroy &amp; Boch</a>—a match that makes sense for a restaurant so obsessed with detail. The plates are beautiful, but they let the food keep the spotlight. It’s a partnership that feels less like branding and more like shared philosophy: design as quiet precision, craft as care.</p><p>So is Half Saints flawless? Not really. A few flavors overreach, and the gin trolley could use a tighter edit. But that’s also what makes it alive. The food is earnest, skillful, sometimes messy, always sincere. In a city obsessed with polish, Half Saints reminds you that warmth and imperfection can be their own kind of grace—and it’s that very humanity that makes the experience so deeply, unexpectedly delicious.</p><div><br/></div><div><em>Come taste it for yourself at </em><a href="https://www.instagram.com/halfsaints/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Half Saints</em></a><em> BGC, G/F Milestone at 5th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Follow them on Instagram </em><a href="https://www.instagram.com/halfsaints/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>@halfsaints</em></a><em>.</em></div>

<p>Half Saints, the beloved Quezon City restaurant known for its inventive, heartfelt cooking, opens in BGC’s Lynk &amp; Co showroom—trading its cozy charm for a bigger stage and bolder, more Asian-forward flavors.</p>

Half Saints, the beloved Quezon City restaurant known for its inventive, heartfelt cooking, opens in BGC’s Lynk & Co showroom—trading its cozy charm for a bigger stage and bolder, more Asian-forward flavors.

First Look: Half Saints Begins A Bold New Chapter In BGC

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First Look: Half Saints Begins A Bold New Chapter In BGC

Troy Barrios

Published Oct 03, 2025 04:45 PM PHT

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Updated Oct 08, 2025 04:42 PM PHT

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