Not all restaurants are created equal. While there are cafe, diner, fast food chain and restaurant that offer different sumptuous cuisine, inviting buffet or quick snacks, there are also food hubs that we visit because of the unique experience they serve. I am not that foodie kind of traveler. Splurging on calories and sweets are of lesser priority in my itinerary except for the restaurants where I could take in fun while eating and could enjoy capturing the vibes more than gustation. Here are the first batch of the restaurants in Metro Manila that serve experience.

1. Barkin’ Blends Dog Cafe

FB: https://www.facebook.com/barkinblends
Location: Katipunan, Loyala Heights, Quezon City

I am a dog owner. So when I learned about this store, I myself performed the old trick that I know – to wait, for its opening. For humans to go to the Dog Zone, human should pay PhP 180 inclusive of a drink. Human is entitled to play around with eleven doggies for two hours. To my surprise, there are already returning customers who memorized the names of the canine club. Trick here is to come inside when it’s not crowded and the dogs are not yet tired. Skye is my favorite because he’s a husky, close breed to my Alaskan Malamute.

2. Caffera

FB: https://www.facebook.com/CafferaPh
Location: Maginhawa, UP Village, Quezon City

For photography enthusiasts, this cafe is for you. I love how they aptly used pixels as the measurement of the caffeine content instead of milliliter. It has smaller floor area than I thought but it is filled with photography related items. Drinks are served in lens mug. This concept store is setup by Thomasians.

3. Chemistea

FB: https://www.facebook.com/chemistea.cafe
Location: Project 8, Quezon City

Mad-science followers and fans of Breaking Bad and Dexter Laboratory will enjoy sipping sweet solutions of milk tea served in laboratory flasks. And you won’t recognize the geeks from the nerds when these guys mingle and battle it out over board games. I saw a chemist crew explaining some game theories and rules to customers experimenting new games so you won’t feel alienated.

4. Heroes Concept Store

FB: https://www.facebook.com/maxiheroes
Location: Bonifacio High Street, Taguig

If you’re a fan of superheroes and supervillains and you want to experience dining with them, this heroes hobby lounge with variety of miniature and life-size statues is a “hideout place” to be. You can stare all you want the characters of both DC and Marvel movies portrayed in their respective and recent cinematic universes while enjoyed their Grilled Wings. Serious hobbyists also flock to buy authentic collectibles displayed in the store.

5. Mama Chit’s Coffee House

FB: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mama-Chits-Coffee-House/174718579250614
Location: San Roque, Marikina

While the name suggests it is serving coffee, every customer who had been in Mama Chit’s will agree that its more popularly known because of its family-size burgers. Previous publicity said that it housed the largest Coca-Cola collectibles but you can see also old memorabilia of pop culture. Due to its popularity and proximity to the parish church, it was jam-packed when I visited the retro place in a Sunday afternoon.

6. Movie Stars Cafe

Website: http://www.moviestarscafe.com/
Location: Seaside Blvd. SM Mall of Asia, Pasay

The restaurant caters for the movie buffs and flick chicks out there. Not only you’ll see life-size props and statues of the iconic protagonists and antagonists, you’ll also see them live serving your food and taking photographs of you. The most entertaining part is their sing and dance performances adapted from the popular blockbuster movies.

7. NBA Cafe Manila

FB: https://www.facebook.com/nbacafemanila
Location: SM Aura, Fort Bonifacio

Basketball is one of the, if not the number one, most popular sports in the Philippines so it is suitable to bring a NBA Cafe here in Manila for the basketball enthusiasts. The American sports bar and grill has a number of enormous widescreens for viewing pleasure. The concept restaurant is also decorated with wallpapers, jersey, autographed balls, and other collectible of famous NBA players.

8. Project Pie

FB: https://www.facebook.com/projectpiephilippines
Locations are listed here

Keyword: Artisanal. Project Pie is brought here in the Philippines in tradition of giving the customer the freedom to build his or her favorite pizza. I was cheerfully introduced to how these artisanal stuff work. I based my own project from a suggested defaults and then added and removed (who eats anchovies here?) ingredients. I saw how they created a masterpiece. I teamed it up with a bottle of beer. And all slices are mine. Because pizza.

9. Satchmi

FB: https://www.facebook.com/Satchmi
Location: SM Megamall Fashion Hall

Hipster and analog – That’s how I described this coffee shop. Describing itself as the Curators of Functional Luxury, they are selling records and turntables. It has a display of analog photography items too. Feel good, hear good and sip good chocolate or coffee drinks. You can borrow one album record and replace your face with its art and share the selfie online.

10. 100 Revolving Restaurant

FB: https://www.facebook.com/100RevolvingRestaurant
Location: MDC 100 Building, Libis, Quezon City

I got curious with this only existing revolving restaurant in the Metro Manila. While I might include this fine dine-in restaurant by Chef Jessie in another list called “Places Where Singles Will See Enough Couples”, the experience is one-of-a-kind. It takes two hours to complete the 360 panoramic view but I managed to capture some and squeezed the experience in half a minute timelapse video below: