Casual dining and booze at the 'Cue Modern Barbecue in BGC

Earlier this month, we had been to the ‘Cue Modern Barbecue branch in Bonifacio High Street Centrale in BGC in the ground floor of Building C3, right beside the fountain plaza and tiers of concrete staircases that serves as mini-amphitheater for some open-space entertainment.  

Campfire-style Skillet of Queso Fundido

It's white cheddar, chorizo, cilantro, and red tomatoes...

... that you have to scoop out and place as filling on a lightly toasted flour tortillas.

The restaurant has an elegant façade with fancy interiors.  Some tables and two sets of tables with two canvass tents are placed on the porch just right in front of the store for a casual outdoor dining where you can take fresh air, listen and take a glimpse of some live musical entertainment or hear the natural nuisances of children gleefully running around the pulsating jets of fountains in the nearby plaza.

Hot Pork Belly Tips

It is a thick sticks of fried breaded pork...

...served with 3 kinds of dips that includes Dijon-honey and bourbon char siu barbecue dips.

Inside, you can be seated near the mini-bar of the main bar for you to easily choose and pick your drinks. There are few more tables inside the resto for small groups of diners and for those who prefer to dine in air-conditioned place. 

Cheesy popcorn is served while waiting for the main dish.

The decorations inside accented with framed images of pork, poultry, and beef meat parts certainly reminded me of 8 Cuts Burger Blends, which we learned is related to the ‘Cue Modern Barbecue. 

The framed meat parts of  familiar food animals reminded me of 8 Cuts Burger Blends.

Dining here may require advance reservation if you prefer to be seated in preferred side of the resto of if you are with a group of diners. So make that call now to reserve your space.

The ‘Cue Modern Barbecue branch in Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City

The ‘Cue Modern Barbecue is an American steakhouse that opened a branch in BGC last May 2012. Though the name of the resto expressly mentioned “barbecue” the stuffs it serves are not just limited to grilled or barbecued dishes. There are a lot of choices to select from. They have a variety of dishes made with seafood poultry, pork, and beef prepared and cooked the American way.  The staff occasionally mark  particular dishes as their picks, and put warning sign on the menu that some are spicy-flavored. 

For the booze, they would serve cocktails and other spirits, beers, and wines.  For your pulutan, you can order their pica-pica, finger foods, and spicy appetizers

Two glasses of lovely but kicking cocktails:  (Left) Bonifacio Sour, a concoction of Buffalo Trace Bourbon with lemon, Calamansi, egg white, and red wine float and served in short glass. (Right) Sweet Soul Picnic, a concoction of Sauza Tequila Gold with fresh watermelon agave and fernet branca, also served on short glass and on the rocks. 

All the prizes in the menu are inclusive of VAT. Only a service charge of 10% will apply, but for the nice dishes and superb cocktail concoctions they served, you will not mind giving tips to the serving staffs.

'Cue Modern Barbecue

Space NELG 105 (Building C3), Lower Ground Floor

Bonifacio High Street Centrale

Bonifacio Global City (BGC)

Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City

P h i l i p p i n e s

landline:    (02) 621-4052

cellphone: (+63) 917-899-2283

Email         cuemodernbbq@momentgroup.ph

Website     http://momentgroup.ph/

+Mercato Centrale

The first Trinoma Food Crawl - we almost crawled the floor after

Upon the invitation of the number one food magazine, YUMMY, of the Summit Media, Margette and I joined select group of metro's well-known food and lifestyle bloggers on November 6, 2014 trying the best dishes from TriNoma’s premiere restaurants dubbed as the very first TriNoma Food Crawl.

We had a great experience in our food crawl. It was not just about filling our tummies, but also filling our minds by learning more about Asian food cultures, and our hearts got that sense of endearment when we were served with those sumptuous meals. Thus, my wife and I didn't mind we almost crawl the floor after we raided the 5 restos dahil sa kabusugan. So YUMMY indeed!

It was really meant for us to say #ilovetrinoma.  

Thanks a lot Yummy!

Ginza Bairin 


Hanamaruken Ramen


Mango Tree Bistro


Wee Nam Kee


Pearl River Cafe

Thank you to these young people who were behind the first Trinoma Food Crawl.

The November 2014 issue of Yummy glossy magazine.

Click here to virtually browse through Yummy electronic magazine teaser online.

The following are our blogs for the TriNoma Food Crawl:

• Wee Nam Kee's Two Great Dishes in their 2014 Brand New Menu
• Hanamaruken's Bowl of Happiness & Drunk Man Rice Bowl
• Dining authentic Japanese food heritage at Ginza Bairin
• Mango Tree Bistro's Two Thai Signature Dishes This year 
• Pearl River Cafe's Cantonese casual dining dimsum resto in TriNoma mall

Tampopo's Deluxe Black Pig Shabu Ramen and Perfect Katsudon

The TAMPOPO, a Japanese restaurant based in Singapore has another branch in Metro Manila, a casual fine dining  resto in Bonifacio High Street, BGC. It is joining the heating competition of serving the best ramen, tonkatsu, katsudon, and other  authentic Japanese foods in the Metro.

Mr. George Huang, co-owner of Tampopo's Philippine Franchise and the Marketing Director of Tampopo's Philippine franchise, briefed us the history of Tampopo and the features of their best ramen and katsudon dishes.  He recalled that Tampopo store was  founded by A Japanese fellow named Takaaki Takagi san who went to Singapore to work in a drinks company, the Pokka, for several years. When Takagi resigned from Pokka, he decided to stay in Singapore and started the Tonkichi, one of the best Tonkatsu Restaurants in Singapore and eventually in HongKong. Later on, he founded another Japanese restaurant in Singapore and called it the Tampopo, deriving from Japanese tanpopo (タンポポ) which literally means "dandelion", a kind flower that could withstand hard weather conditions. Opening the first Tampopo restaurant was inspired by the 1985 Japanese comedy film of the same name, Tampopo, that was popularly publicized as the first "Ramen Western" written and directed by Juzo Itami. 

Tampopo at the upper level of C2 Building of the Bonifacio High Street in BGC, Taguig City

Takagi is very particular in the ingredients that he wanted to maintain his patronage and of being nationalistic that he has  to import from Japan all the ingredients needed for his dishes in Singapore. 

The Philippine franchise of Tampopo is co-owned by George Huang, Ty Tang, and the celebrity Chris Tiu. It is the Tampopo's first branch outside of Singapore. The branches (another one is at the new Promenade in Greenhills) become the first 2-in-1 ramen & tonkatsu specialty resto concept in the Philippines.

The ramen and tonkatsu are fantastic Japanese foods. Part of the challenge faced by the Tampopo in running the resto is the assurance of serving fine authentic Japanese dishes as it requires expensive and bigger kitchen. They sacrificed some space for the installation of the needed kitchen and even extended more space for the ceiling.

They also have to put more space for storing supplies and other inventories as they are bringing in almost all the items and supplies from Japan to keep their dishes authentic.

Tampopo is proud of what  they called as the perfect tonkatsu. They used great pork they imported directly from the US. Cooking underwent through the proper technique of handling and storing the meat, the proper tenderization, and the use of proper seasonings. Tampopo uses special bread crumbs that come all the way from Japan. Diners are assured that whatever ingredients  the Tampopo is using in Singapore, they also used it here in the Philippines. The frying is done using pure vegetable oil with no additives or fillers in it. The dish is fried under a  regulated proper temperature setting to produce a juicy tonkatsu.

Tampopo also take pride of using kurobuta (black pig meat) to go along with their ramen and katsudon. The meat  is juicy and there is a lot of marbling in it.

De Luxe Tampopo Black Pig Ramen - in a  milky cream-colored pork bones soup. The soup actually has no dairy product added in it. The milky texture of the soup is the result of boiling the pork bones up to 48 hours straight or at least two days.

The ramen has Kyushu noodles, strips of kurobuta (black pig meat), and boiled egg with yolk that is still runny in it using chicken egg previously marinated in their secretely-formulated tea marinade. The serving is topped with sweet yellowcorn and chopped spring onion.

Pork Loin Yanagawa - has perfect tonkatsu of premium pork imported directly from the US, coated in bread crumbs from Japan.   

It is served on the side with rice and Tojiru soup, a special miso soup with slices of meat and vegetables in it.

You can even have these popular Japanese drinks at Tampopo's casual fine dining in Bonifacio High Street, BGC.

The classic Japanese dishes are just all over the walls that double as the Tampopo's menu