Regina Troy Barrios

First Look: Shidō Is Makati Shangri-La's Most Ambitious Restaurant Opening In Years

Article (news)

You don&#x27;t simply walk into <a href="https://www.shangri-la.com/en/landing/makati-shido/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Shidō</a>. You wander through it.You step through the same entrance that for decades led to Inagiku, Makati Shangri-La&#x27;s long-running Japanese restaurant, and for a moment everything feels unchanged. Then the old familiarity gives way to surprise as you find what appears to be an entire Japanese artisanal village, all pale wood, Japandi restraint, with chefs and craftsmen at work at every turn. A cocktail bar sits just around one corner. A robata grill behind another. Sushi chefs bend over their work in near silence. A teppan counter hisses and clatters with the sound of oil hitting hot steel, spatulas tapping the griddle. And then the space opens into the main dining room.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1782721252549SHIDO Main Dining.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Natural wood, quiet luxury, and Japanese minimalism define Shidō&#x27;s elegant dining room | Photo: Makati Shangri-LaClearly, Shidō isn&#x27;t one restaurant. It&#x27;s six artisanal kitchens under one roof, unfolding one after another, each revealing a different expression of Japanese craftsmanship.</div>The clue is in the name. Shidō (始動) translates loosely as &quot;setting things in motion.&quot; Here, motion isn&#x27;t about speed but discovery. Dinner becomes a gradual unfolding, each stop revealing another way of experiencing Japanese cuisine. It is the first major restaurant Makati Shangri-La has opened in years, and easily its most ambitious.<h3>A restaurant meant to be explored</h3>Our evening begins at the bar with a glass of Tatsuriki Tokubetsu Junmai Sparkling Dragon, a bright and lively sparkling sake that has the celebratory lift of champagne. We nibble ankimo toast, monkfish liver spread thickly over crisp bread. Ankimo, that notorious foie gras of the sea, can make even seasoned diners hesitate. Here it is lush, elegant, and just a little bit wicked, the perfect first bite.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1782721323191SHIDO - Ankimo Toast2.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Ankimo toast | Photo: Makati Shangri-La</div>From there, we&#x27;re encouraged to explore the other stations.At the sushi counter, Kyoto-style bluefin tuna toro temari sushi are served. They look like small jewels, the rice almost shy beneath the fat, the fish so silken it seems to dissolve before you have quite tasted it. But the real pleasure is watching the chefs: their hands moving with the calm precision of people who have mastered their craft for thousands of hours so that every cut is clean, every gesture spare.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17827215826922.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Bluefin tuna toro tamari sushi; Chef Daisuke Nishimura presents pristine bluefin tuna | Photo: Makati Shangri-La</div>But at the robatayaki station the mood changed entirely. Awe gave way to pleasure. Flames shot up high enough to warm our faces, and the smoke came scented with rendered fat, the kind of smell that makes you hungry even when you are already eating. We had the shingendori chicken ibushiyaki, finished with house-made yuzu kosho, and loved the way the citrus sharpened the smoke instead of bludgeoning it, as yuzu kosho so often does. Tucked into the farthest corner, the counter felt wonderfully intimate without feeling closed in. I was thinking this is exactly the sort of place I would save for a small, happy celebration with friends.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17827214850551.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Fire, smoke and precision at the robatayaki grill; shingendori chicken ibushiyaki | Photo: Makati Shangri-La </div>At the teppan, the meal shifts again. Tamago tofu with tomato salsa feels like gentle relief after the smoke and char of the robata. And then I stop by the bar again for another cocktail.Poch Ancheta runs the bar program. Trained under Jericson Co of The Curator and Back Room, he treats Japanese ingredients as if they were things to be handled with reverence, which in a way they are. His house gin, which I adored, is all juniper, umeshu, a briny seafood note, chrysanthemum, and a whisper of sampaguita. It is beautifully aromatic, yet never tips into perfume. <div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1782721654513SHIDO - Kawaguchicko.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Kawaguchiko cocktail | Photo: Makati Shangri-La</div><h3>Where everything comes together</h3>Finally, we move into the main dining room, where the evening settles into the cadence of fine dining.The Chilean seabass saikyo yaki arrives first, its flesh so delicate it yields at the touch of chopsticks. Sweet with white miso and cooked with exacting precision, it seems to melt on the tongue.The meal reaches its peak with A5 Oumi beef tempura, a small act of delicious heresy: Wagyu is deep-fried until its tempura batter is crisp enough to shatter, then dipped in a bone sauce so rich it feels almost indecent.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17827217212534.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Chilean seabags saikyo yaki; A5 Oumi beef tempura | Photo: Makati Shangri-La</div>My quiet favorite was the abalone porridge with dashi. After the walkabout, the cocktails, the smoke, and the wagyu, it felt almost indecently comforting to spoon up something so luxurious and restorative.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1782721738476SHIDO - Abalone Porridge with Dashi.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Abalone porridge with dash | Photo: Makati Shangri-La</div>Dessert, a Japanese soufflé cheesecake with strawberry compote, was pleasant enough, but the first-flush Ichibancha Grade E matcha beside it was the real pleasure.<h3>The last thing you notice</h3>Only when I got home did I realize how the essential part of Shidō that I had missed.Upon leaving, they pressed a reed diffuser into my hands, scented with the same fragrance that had drifted through the restaurant all evening. It was so faint, I never quite noticed it. And that&#x27;s when I understood that Shidō is not just a place to eat. It is a place designed to work on you quietly, through taste, through scent, through atmosphere, until the experience settles itself into your memory.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17827218654945.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>The team behind Shidō: Chef Mark Go, Chef Daisuke Nishimura, Christina Gamier, GM Jonathan Reynolds, Chef Miguel Prats, Chef Rita Libunao; a closeup of the matcha whisk installation behind them | Photo: Makati Shangri-La</div>Only then did I realize how carefully the evening had been choreographed. Every turn through the restaurant, every shift in rhythm, every station, even the scent in the air had been part of the design. You don&#x27;t wander through Shidō by chance. The wandering is the point.A restaurant is never fully known in one evening. But sometimes one night tells you enough. I&#x27;d go back to Shidō in a heartbeat, not just for the wagyu or the cocktails, impressive as they were, but for the pleasure of wandering through it again, stopping at the bar for another drink, watching the sushi chefs disappear into their work, lingering by the robata fire a little longer. The food was confident, the cocktails smart, and the whole experience unusually well considered. f this first look is any indication, Makati Shangri-La hasn&#x27;t just opened a new restaurant. It has created a pleasurable journey through Japanese craftsmanship and cuisine.<div>Visit Shidō at Makati Shangri-La, Manila, Ayala Avenue corner Makati Avenue, Makati City, follow <a href="https://www.instagram.com/makatishangrila/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@makatishangrila</a> on Instagram for updates, and reserve your table by calling (02) 8813 8888 or emailing restaurantreservations.slm@shangri-la.com.</div>

A first look at Shidō, Makati Shangri-La Manila's ambitious new Japanese restaurant, where six specialist dining concepts—from sushi and robatayaki to teppanyaki and craft cocktails—turn dinner into an immersive journey through Japanese craftsmanship and cuisine.

A first look at Shidō, Makati Shangri-La Manila's ambitious new Japanese restaurant, where six specialist dining concepts—from sushi and robatayaki to teppanyaki and craft cocktails—turn dinner into an immersive journey through Japanese craftsmanship and cuisine.

First Look: Shidō Is Makati Shangri-La's Most Ambitious Restaurant Opening In Years

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First Look: Shidō Is Makati Shangri-La's Most Ambitious Restaurant Opening In Years

Troy Barrios

Published June 29, 2026 04:40 PM PHT

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makati shangrila

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chef Daisuke Nishimura

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