A Home For Great Coffee And Aussie-Inspired Brunch

Dining establishments have been sprouting around the metro with such regularity in this post-pandemic world. Nobody’s complaining, though. After all, it’s always nice to have more options when it comes to eating out. 

While many of the new kids on the block banner big words or trends like “sustainable” or “farm-to-table” or “fusion,” only a handful actually have the passion for these culinary buzzwords. 

Maker & Made in BGC is one of the few. 

From Singapore to Manila

Maker & Made’s dream team is composed of five thirty-something millennials who trace their friendship back to when they were all still working in Singapore. The brunch restaurant is the brainchild of founding owner, CEO, and executive chef Rue Ribon. She is joined by her equally talented and hardworking co-owners: head barista and director of beverage Freddie Aguirre and director of operations Elaine Figueroa. 

Completing the team is executive sous chef and head baker Paolo Galang and administrative executive and head of food and beverage operations Hannah Micah Lacbayan. 

“We have been friends since way back. We were working in Singapore for more than a decade; we met there,” Rue recounts to us over melt-in-your-mouth croix ensaymada, a customer favorite, and a steaming cup of flat white with beans sourced from Mt. Apo. 

After spending a decade or so in the Land of the Merlion, each with a thriving career providing a steady source of decent income, many people might be surprised to know that this group of friends left all of those behind to take a leap of faith in the local food and beverage scene—especially after a pandemic. 

For Rue, the culinary brains behind Maker & Made, the decision wasn’t exactly a difficult one to make. “My goal has always been to open my own (restaurant), with a deeper purpose and meaning,” she says.  

And that vision and goal is now a reality: a restaurant in the most happening spot in Metro Manila, and one that’s always packed from as early as 6 a.m. until 5 p.m., when it closes much earlier than most other establishments to let its staff spend time with their family at home. 

On weekends, things are even much busier, with the queue going for as long as a one-hour wait. 

Australian-inspired menu, Singaporean work ethic

Rue’s travels to and immersion in Australia serve as the main inspiration behind Maker & Made’s menu.

A foraging trip with an Australian chef made Rue realize the importance of terroir, a French word used to describe how a region’s climate, soil, and terrain affect the taste of produce, and consequently, of the food that we consume. 

And that day spent foraging for mushrooms left a question lingering in Rue’s mind: “We are similar to Australia (in terms of natural resources); so why not bring Australia to the Philippines?” 

And bring the Land Down Under up to hot and humid Manila is what Rue did. 

Elevating sustainable dining

The Maker & Made team doesn’t just walk the talk when it comes to sustainable dining, but take leaps and strides in making sure their offerings don’t only adhere to environmental sustainability, but also help uplift local farmers’ lives. 

“The food here, we do a lot of upcycling. We do a lot of sustainability efforts. This one (croix ensaymada) is one of the upcycled items in the kitchen,” Rue says. Trimmings that could not be used for another pastry are used to make another item on the menu. The croix ensaymada, however, has become so popular that very soon they will no longer need to upcycle it. 

Regardless, Rue and her team are bent on ensuring that wastage is kept at a minimum. To help them achieve this, they practice bokashi, a Japanese method of composting organic waste using fermentation and is an eco-friendly way to recycle kitchen scraps. 

In the Maker & Made kitchen, for instance, pineapple peels are turned into a special fizz, much like kombucha.

“We use all the trimmings or leftovers of customers. We put them in the composting bucket, then we put a layer of bokashi, so leftover-bokashi-leftover-bokashi. There's a GreenSpace collector collecting for us and will bring it to Caliraya Farms which will compost it naturally,” Rue explains. 

Rue takes pride in how they use a lot of local produce. “We work closely with different farmers, for example, in Benguet, Good Food Community, Caliraya Farms,” she enumerates. 

A sustainable feast

During our visit, we were treated to a feast of brunch favorites. Knowing that the ingredients are ethically sourced made gorging on the delightful spread a bit guilt-free. 

For starters we had their Mushroom Croquettes made from oyster and shiitake mushrooms. It comes with raisin chutney—a mix of golden raisin, orange juice, a bit of chili—and basil aioli. “The sweetness comes naturally from the golden raisin and the mushrooms add a bit of Asian flavor,” says Rue.

Up next was their bestselling Tapa Benedict which is as Instagram-pretty as it is yummy. The beef was braised for three hours in Maker & Made’s own tapa sauce and sits atop a sourdough pan de sal toast.

Rue shares that the levain they use for their sourdough pan de sal follows a 160-year-old recipe which was given to her by a French chef with whom she worked in Singapore. All their breads take 36 hours to make.

The Tapa Benedict is then slathered with Béarnaise sauce and topped with breadcrumbs made from trimmings. It comes with local farm eggs on the side and rocket (arugula) from Pedro Farms in Cavite, where they source their greens. 

The there’s their Mushroom Scotch Egg with Eggplant and Mung Bean Hummus. Of this dish, Rue explains: “The usual scotch egg is coated with meat, but we want wholesome food to cater to vegetarians. We also want to let diners know that even if it’s vegetarian it can taste as good as meat.” 

The scotch egg nestles on top of a mushroom farce and hummus made from eggplant, tahini, and the humble mung bean. “The dish is meant to elevate the monggo, to let people know it can be made differently,” Rue says. “We want to use the products that we have to let people understand that we have everything we need here in the Philippines, and we don’t have to buy from other countries. We just have to be more creative.” 

Completing the mouthwatering ensemble are pan de sal chips upcycled from leftovers. “Walang tapon,” she adds with a knowing smile. 

The team also let us try their Orange Croissant with oranges from the Mountain Province. “I’m very impressed with the oranges there,” says Rue, who describes the seasonal Bauko variety of oranges as having a distinctly deep tang. 

The cashew frangipane, meanwhile, lends the croissant a unique kind of sweetness. “Instead of serving the usual almond croissant, why not use cashew? That’s what we have, and we used this orange (Bauko) as the frangipane,” she says. 

Another eye-catching and bestselling dish that was served was Maker & Made’s version of a Farmer’s Breakfast. Everything that goes with the dish, except the bacon, is made in-house.

The sausage is a mixture of beef and marrow, plus a sprinkling of sage, rosemary, thyme, cumin, and other spices and herbs. The “potato royale” is their version of hash brown with the added richness of caramelized butter. 

Completing the filling dish is sourdough pan de sal, kale sautéed in garlic, fermented shiitake mushrooms, and pickled tomatoes, which is a hit among the Metro team—a delightful medley of sour, sweet, and spicy.

The other dishes we tried, every one of which was sumptuous, were the Salmon Stracciatella Toast, using burrata made by Bacolod’s Casa del Formaggio; Ricotta Banana Hotcake, with in-house ricotta; and Mango Yogurt Panna Cotta spiked with spicy pineapples for dessert. 

Farmers first

Rue, Elaine, and Freddie could hardly contain their happiness when asked how they feel about seeing customers looking all satisfied while dining on their food. 

“It makes me happy. It makes me want to do more, to make more food that will uplift local produce,” Rue says. 

For now, the team intends to focus on their BGC branch. “Stability muna at foundation,” she adds. Short-term goal is to start opening for dinner on Fridays and Saturdays. “There are a lot of people we can’t cater to. They come here at 5 or 6 p.m. and they’re so disappointed we’re closed. At least 5 p.m. pa rin kami mag-close on other days,” Elaine says. 

The Maker & Made team are also in the process of creating cocktails with a touch of local flavors and expanding their offerings beyond brunch. 

Maker and Made is open daily from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. | 0928 488 1325 | FB: @makerandmadebgc | IG: @makerandmadebgc | Milestone at Fifth Avenue Building, 5th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

Photos courtesy of Maker and Made