Shangri-La Plaza’s Latest Epicurean Escape

This article was initially featured on Esquire on April 10 2025 authored by Jar Concengco.

What was once a dark and fragmented part of Shangri-La Plaza is now a bright row of restaurants that connects you from one end of the main wing to the other. Streetscape—a play on the words street, eat, and escape—has transformed and modernized the area with the introduction of a variety of exciting restaurants from the local and international food scene.

Occupying 3,000 square meters on the ground floor near the entrance of the main wing, the new restaurant hub of Shangri-La Plaza is designed to be a place for people to connect through food.

Tim Yap, who hosted the launch of Streetscape, reminisced that this area was where the old National Bookstore was. The previous restaurant setup did not have access into the mall and only simply faced the road. With the exception of harlan + holden coffee and Refinery, the restaurants facing the road can be accessed from within the mall.

Unlike the previous setup where restaurants only faced the road and lacked mall access, the current Streetscape now allows access from within the mall for most of the establishments facing the road, with the exception of harlan + holden coffee and Refinery.

The al fresco area is a pleasurable stroll under the shade of African talisay trees with a water feature to drown out the buzz of cars passing by. One can easily while away time with a leisurely brunch at Wildflour Café and Bakery’s wide selection of pastries and French-American dishes.

Manam, the Moment Group’s comfort Filipino restaurant, was one of the first restaurants to open in Streetscape at Shangri-La Plaza. “We opened May last year making us one of the first to open here. Streetscape is such a great eating destination,” Group Public Relations Head of the Moment Group Maita Quesada says.

For those with a hankering for Italian cuisine, a mano brings its award-winning pizzas (ranked as the 70th best pizza in the world by the 50 Top Pizza awards) to this part of the Metro. For some tapas, be transported to Spain with chef Luis Martinez’s fresh takes on Spanish dishes at Sala Martinez, a beautiful, cavernous space of terracotta and rattan designed by Marta Sanchez. Organic, farm-to-table, healthy fare can be found at The Wholesome Table, a restaurant that celebrates clean eating without sacrificing taste.

The very first branch of Longhorn Steakhouse in the Philippines is located right at Streetscape. This Texan-themed restaurant from the United States is best known for the Flo’s Filet, a tender center cut coated with Longhorn’s signature Grill Seasoning. Chef-driven restaurants such as Juniper by Chef Josh Boutwood brings Boutwood’s signature style of refined cuisine to the forefront (making this outpost his northernmost restaurant to date). harlan + holden coffee outside features their usual polished concrete finish, complemented by the addition of wooden columns and their logo on electric marquees.

Joy Polloso, Executive Vice President for Retail and Commercial Shang Properties, Inc. says, “This is Shangri-La Plaza’s new story of inspired living. A place where you can stroll, unwind, savor and escape everyday right here at the heart of the metro.”