Regina Troy Barrios

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Bolero

<p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/boleromanila/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong></strong>Bolero</a> never does anything by the book.<strong></strong></p><p>This is a restaurant owned by a Spanish chef, and it serves dishes that look like they belong in a Spanish restaurant—but ask <strong>Chef Fernando Alcalá</strong> and he’ll laugh. “We’re not Spanish,” he insists. “We’re Bolero.” Whatever that means. It’s not a tapas place. It isn’t traditional. And it definitely isn’t boring.</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/1751914926944POL_5953.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Bolero likes to bend the rules and still manages to delight | Photo: Paul del Rosario </span></span></span></div><p>They serve what is arguably the best<strong> Basque burnt cheesecake</strong> in a city obsessed with Basque burnt cheesecakes. But no, you cannot box it up and take it home. You eat it here. Indoors. On a proper plate. It’s the rule. Don’t ask.</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/1751915665037POL_6037.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">This Basque cheesecake won an award in Spain and now ruins diets in Manila | Photo: Paul del Rosario </span></span></span></div><p>So I should’ve known that Bolero wasn’t going to celebrate a classic first-year anniversary like most restaurants do. Instead, it threw a party for its 18th month. Why 18 months?</p><p>Fernando shrugs, grins, and says with a wink, “Well, at least now we’re legal.”</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/1751914940846POL_5960.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Chef Fernando Alcalá runs his kitchen with skill and a sense of humor | Photo: Paul del Rosario </span></span></span></div><h2><strong>The Restaurant That Refuses To Be Defined</strong></h2><p>Bolero has been playing by its own rules since day one. It doesn’t serve the usual Spanish greatest hits. There’s no paella, no tourist-trap tapas, no croquetas served in a tiny cast iron pan. (I checked.) Instead, what you get is bold, modern, beautifully executed food—the kind of dishes Madrileños might seek out when they want to escape the clichés and eat somewhere exciting in their own city.</p><p>Technically, yes, you could call it Spanish. But why bother? As Chef Fernando puts it: “We’re nothing. We’re just our own special thing.”</p><p>If his name sounds familiar, that’s because Chef Fernando Alcalá, of Michelin-recognized Kava in Marbella, was named<a href="https://edicionesanteriores.madridfusion.net/en/blog/fernando-alcala-del-restaurante-kava-marbella-cocinero-revelacion-2019-en-realemf19/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Chef Revelación 2019 at Madrid Fusión</a>. Here in Manila, he’s joined by his partners Felipe Diaz de Miranda and Luis de Isasa Muñoz, the self-styled Three Musketeers who brought Bolero to life in BGC. The partnership works like a good bottle of Rioja: strong, smooth, and a tad irreverent.</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/1751914977524POL_6069.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Two of Bolero’s founding minds: Fernando Alcalá and Felipe de Miranda | Photo: Paul del Rosario </span></span></span></div><p>There’s no need to categorize Bolero. It has long outgrown the Spanish box. What it serves is global food filtered through Fernando’s head and hands, where it gets reimagined into something playful, layered, often surprising. You’ll find dishes inspired by Peru, Lebanon, Jamaica, even Greece. The point isn’t to chase trends or check boxes. It’s to follow curiosity, have a little fun, and make something that tastes like nowhere else.</p><h2><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/1751915008708POL_5941.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">In Bolero&#x27;s kitchen, curiosity leads and borders disappear | Photo: Paul del Rosario </span></span></span></h2><h2><strong>Then Came The Food</strong></h2><p>We began with Negroni because I like Negroni. Bittersweet and bracing, it was exactly the thing to open up the palate. Others at the table went for cocktails that offered a glimpse of the bar’s more playful side. Bolero’s bar program, much like its food, walks a clever line between classic and cheeky.</p><p>Chef Fernando has a way of making things feel polished without ever feeling precious. Nothing here tries too hard, but everything lands just right. Dinner had an elegance that didn’t announce itself. It simply arrived, plate after delicious plate.</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/1751915054706POL_5967.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Nothing tastes better than an elegant, chef-driven dinner with a cheeky twist | Photo: Paul del Rosario </span></span></span></div><p>Before we knew it, the table was covered in a mosaic of dishes. <strong>Cheese fondue and homemade doughnuts</strong>—gooey with five melting cheeses—were playful, subversive, and unexpectedly comforting. <strong>Roasted eggplant</strong> with homemade sour cream and boquerones looked rustic but was a surprise standout. Frankly, no eggplant has the right to taste that good. A<strong> creamy tomato salad</strong>, reminiscent of gazpacho but silkier, offered a cool contrast to the <strong>signature chicken wings</strong> stuffed with spicy pork and finished with curry mayo. Even the<strong> ricotta and green onion waffle</strong> made its mark—delicate, aromatic, lifted by a twist of lemon and mint.</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/1751915077148POL_5977.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">This eggplant tastes so good it has no business looking that humble | Photo: Paul del Rosario </span></span></span></div><p>The <strong>talakitok ceviche</strong>—cool, crisp, and laced with aji amarillo and cucumber lassi—caught us off guard in the best way. Just when you think you know where a dish is going, it pivots. That’s the joy of eating here: nothing plays it straight.</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/1751915092965POL_5981.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Photo: Paul del Rosario </span></span></span></div><p>By the time the mains landed, we were grinning like fools. The<strong> Iberico presa</strong>, grilled to a perfect blush, was indulgent and quietly showstopping. But it was the vegetables that stole the show. <strong>Coal-roasted cabbage</strong> dressed in vegan bolognese, and a riot of <strong>roasted green vegetables with romesco</strong>, were so full of flavor they felt almost decadent. I love a good steak, but the vegetable dishes here? Brilliant.</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/1751915133706POL_6029.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Jambalaya with bone marrow pretending it’s not showing off | Photo: Paul del Rosario </span></span></span></div><p>We closed, of course, with Bolero’s now-iconic <strong>burnt Basque cheesecake</strong>—an award-winning dessert back in Spain, silky, runny, and impossibly rich. Chef Fernando added a bowl of <strong>arroz con leche</strong> for good measure: creamy rice, caramel, and lime in the most comforting proportion.</p><p>What can I say? Chef Fernando has a knack for making high-level technique feel easy. Maybe even a little cheeky. The flavors are bold, the balance is spot on, and everything lands with confidence but never a fuss.</p><p>He’s clearly a technician—his palate is sharp—but that’s not what makes the food stick with you. There’s a kind of joy running through it. It surprises you, nudges you, makes you want to lean in. And just when you think you’ve figured it out, it shifts again. Nothing at Bolero ever stands still.</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/1751915210308POL_5972.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">The Metro team at the table, pretending this is work even as they reach for another bite | Photo: Paul del Rosario </span></span></span></div><h2><strong>Always Something New</strong></h2><p>So what’s Bolero doing to mark its 18th month? Not a flashy party. Not a one-night-only tasting menu. Not even a guest chef flying in—unless you count Fernando himself. “The flying chef is me,” he jokes.</p><p>“We don’t make something special just for the 18th month,” he says. “We make something new every month.”</p><p>And that’s what makes Bolero so compelling. You don’t come back to revisit old favorites. You come back because it’s always changing. Still bold. Still brilliant. Never standing still. It’s one of those rare places that evolves with you as a diner. One month it’s oxtail, the next it’s scallops, and then something you didn’t even know you wanted until the first bite.</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/1751915263128POL_6041.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Tres leches torrija with corn ice cream and spicy chocolate is a classic gone rogue | Photo: Paul del Rosario </span></span></span></div><h2><strong>The Sweet Spot</strong></h2><p>A friend once described Bolero as a place that feels like fine dining but wears sneakers. It’s laid-back, a little mischievous, but grounded in serious technique. The service is easy and unfussy, but the food, the drinks, the care? All exacting.</p><p>“It’s like a 4x4,” Fernando laughs. “An all-rounder. You can bring your dad, your date, your friends. It just works, wherever you’re coming from.”</p><p>Fernando isn’t one to obsess over trends or chase approval. “I don’t think about it too much,” he shrugs. “I just surround myself with great people so I can focus on the creativity. That’s my thing. And as long as the creativity stays fresh, we’re happy.”</p><p>Bolero begins where expectations end. So if it wants to celebrate 18 months instead of a year? That feels exactly right. Bolero was never meant to be ordinary. It was meant to be Bolero.</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/1751915283868POL_5956.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Bolero is fine dining in sneakers: cool confident and unapologetically fun | Photo: Paul del Rosario</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><div><a href="https://www.instagram.com/boleromanila/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em><strong>Bolero</strong></em></a><em><strong></strong> is located at G/F Verve Tower 2, High Street South, 26th to 27th Avenue, BGC. Follow their evolving story on Instagram </em><a href="https://www.instagram.com/boleromanila/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>@boleromanila</em></a><em>.</em><strong></strong></div>

<p>To mark its delightfully offbeat 18th month, Bolero reminds us why it’s one of the most compelling restaurants in Manila: bold, evolving, and never playing by the rules.</p>

To mark its delightfully offbeat 18th month, Bolero reminds us why it’s one of the most compelling restaurants in Manila: bold, evolving, and never playing by the rules.

Bolero Turns 18 (Months), Breaks All The Rules

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Bolero Turns 18 (Months), Breaks All The Rules

Troy Barrios

Published July 08, 2025 03:40 AM PHT

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Updated July 08, 2025 03:53 AM PHT

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