12/10 Izakaya Is Closing On October 31

Wasn’t it just yesterday when promising young couple Gab Bustos and Thea de Rivera opened The Girl + The Bull in Parañaque, a tiny restaurant with Instagrammable interiors (ahead of its time) and a top notch yet quirky approach to comfort food. Till now, we can still remember their signature Buttermilk Fried Chicken and best selling Faux Twix dessert.

And then in 2014, they opened a new concept. 12/10 along Guijo Street in Makati was a modern izakaya, with a unique and very interesting menu. I still remember the Uni Toast made with sourdough, fresh local uni, chicken liver and pineapple jam. And the Onigiri served like a taco, with foie gras, spring onions, balsamic maple syrup, and a housemade spicy sauce. Every single cocktail was a statement, from the F.U. Daisy named after the character in The Great Gatsby, and was a brighter, sunnier take on the classic Old Fashioned; to The Bison, a martini-inspired drink with grapefruit and chocolate liqueur. Even its location, in the non-glamorous part of Makati, lent character to 12/10. It was a cultural landmark in its own way, the original Poblacion before Poblacion was a thing. I loved it. 

So I'm saddened that 12/10 will be closing its doors on October 31. “Here we are, approaching our 6th year, yet on the cusp of bidding our home in Guijo Street goodbye,” began their farewell post on social media.

Still, it's heartening to know that 12/10 is not permanently closing but only going into hibernation. In the meantime, a new concept, Panko Pussy, has been rolled out. This is a daytime food delivery service specializing in Japanese sando and similar sandwiches. You can find it on Instagram as @panko_ph.

We're certainly going to miss 12/10, and we'll be eagerly looking forward to their next new concept.  Gab, Thea and their team have been fun and inspiring cultural tastemakers for nearly a decade now, and we have faith in them, just as we have faith in the ability of the creative, hardworking people behind our city's beloved restaurants and bars to meet the challenges of this pandemic. In the meantime, let's do our best to support them in any way we can.