Maginhawa Street, Quezon City: where to eat and drink

For breakfast and lunch

Rodic's Diner Maginhawa is where to start. Rodic's was founded in 1949 and is famous for one plate: tapsilog, the beef tapa ground fine so it flakes, glazed sweet, on garlic rice with a fried egg. Generations of UP Diliman students ate it at the campus Shopping Center. Pour some vinegar over it to cut the sweetness. 129 Maginhawa Street. ₱. Sunday to Thursday 7am to 9pm, Friday and Saturday until 10pm. Good to know: it opens well before the cafes, so it is the breakfast stop.

Talisay The Garden Cafe is chef Myke "Tatung" Sarthou's tribute to his hometown of Talisay in Cebu, in a renovated old house with a garden outside the windows. The cooking is familiar Filipino food done carefully, with Cebuano dishes in the mix: the crispy pork belly adobo (₱690) and the lengua pasta (₱395) are the ones to order. It is the calmest sit-down meal on the street. 44 Maginhawa Street, UP Village. ₱₱. Daily, 9am to 10pm. Tip: book on weekends on (02) 8293 9077.

Pino Restaurant has fed Teachers Village for years from a wood-beamed room on Malingap Street. The bestseller is the kare-kareng bagnet (₱777), crisp pork belly in a peanut sauce with house bagoong, and the Pinoy Breakfast Platter (₱697) is tapa, tocino and longganisa on one plate. Its sister restaurant Pipino serves a vegan menu at the same address, which makes it the easy choice for a mixed group. 39 Malingap Street, Teachers Village East. ₱₱. Daily, 10am to 10pm. Good to know: Mugen, a small cocktail bar, is upstairs; more on it below.

Two smaller lunches if you want something lighter. Namnam20 is a Vietnamese room behind an old archway and a tiny courtyard at 20 Maginhawa, with a short menu of two noodle bowls and two kinds of spring rolls (open from 11am daily). Crazy Katsu, started in the early 2010s by three band drummers, has served katsu and rice bowls at 81 Maginhawa ever since (daily, 11am to 9pm).

For coffee and dessert

SGD Coffee Bodega is the coffee stop for people who care about the beans. SGD (say it "Sagada") roasts coffee grown by farmers in Sagada in the Cordillera, and its Sagada roast won a Medaille Gourmet in Paris in 2017. Order it black. The window seats are nearest the power outlets, and the street is quieter than Maginhawa itself. 45 Maalalahanin Street, Teachers Village East, a block from Pino. ₱. Daily, 7am to 9pm.

X Wave Specialty Coffee is the cafe to sit in for the afternoon, with proper tables, plenty of power and a thoughtful coffee list. It is upstairs on the busiest part of the street and stays open until midnight, so it also works as a late stop. For more rooms like it, see The Best Cafés in Manila to Actually Work From. Unit 2A, 2nd Floor, 80 Maginhawa Street. ₱. Daily, 8am to 12am.

Papa Diddi's Handcrafted Ice Cream makes ice cream on a carabao's milk base, with produce from local farms and markets. The flavours change often, and there are shakes and cakes too. Maginhawa Street corner Mapagkumbaba, Sikatuna Village. ₱. Monday to Friday 10am to 10pm, Saturday and Sunday until 11pm. Tip: it is at the Sikatuna end, about a kilometre south of Talisay, so save it for the end of the walk.

For dinner

Friuli Trattoria has made pizza and pasta on Maginhawa since the early 2000s. It began as the cheap Italian place for students and kept a loyal crowd of every age. Start with the Tre Formaggi pizza (₱295), the bestseller, with mozzarella, cheddar and blue cheese. It is good for a group on a budget. 79A Maginhawa Street, UP Village. ₱. Listed as open daily until 2am. Good to know: call 0917 887 8411 for a big table; its website shows GCash and cards.

Mugen Ramenya is chef Jorge Mendez's ten seat ramen bar, open since August 2025 and a Tatler Best 2026 pick. The broths are slow simmered and the bowls go well past the usual, from a crab ramen to a wagyu and tendon ramen and a Hakata pork tsukemen. There are no reservations: you queue in person, order and pay while you wait, and the wait often runs past an hour. For more bowls across the city, see The best ramen in Manila, by area. 108-B Maginhawa Street, Teachers Village East. ₱₱₱. Daily, 4pm to 11pm. Tip: join the queue close to opening.

Pino and Talisay both work for dinner too, and both are calmer than Friuli on a weekend night.

For drinks

Escapee Speakeasy is behind a bookshelf inside Noki Japanese Fried Chicken on Malingap: push the shelf and you are in a dim, industrial cocktail bar. Signature cocktails run ₱289 to ₱390 and classics ₱199 to ₱250; try the Shinjuku (burnt cinnamon whiskey, peppermint, honey and calamansi) with a plate of Noki's fried chicken. It is quiet enough for a date. 27 Malingap Street. ₱₱. Sunday to Wednesday 5pm to 12am, Thursday to Saturday 5pm to 2am.

Flying House at 10-B Malingap, the bar and diner owned by Ocho Toleran of the band Queso, is where musicians go after a gig: buckets of beer and pizza for the table, Tuesday to Sunday from 5pm to 2am.

Mugen, the bar upstairs from Pino (not to be confused with Mugen Ramenya), is a small room with ₱280 signature cocktails, Tekken tournaments and trivia nights, open Tuesday to Saturday from 8pm to 4am. If the lantern above Pino is lit, it is open. For more hidden rooms across the city, read Speakeasy Bars in Manila, and see the nightlife hub.

How an afternoon flows

A simple plan: tapsilog at Rodic's or a late lunch at Talisay, coffee at SGD Coffee Bodega around 3pm, a slow stretch at X Wave, pizza at Friuli or kare-kare at Pino around 7pm, or ramen at Mugen Ramenya if you can face the queue, then a cocktail at Escapee, beer at Flying House, or ice cream at Papa Diddi's if you would rather go home early. Pino, SGD, Escapee and Flying House are all on or just off Malingap, within a few minutes' walk of each other. If you are still hungry late, see Late-Night Food in Manila.

Before you go

• Getting there. Most people come by car, Grab or taxi. Set your pickup to the place you are starting at, since the street is long; the picks above run from 20 Maginhawa in the north to Mapagkumbaba in the south. For trains, jeepneys and buses across the city, see Getting Around Metro Manila.
• Parking. Street parking is scarce and the middle of Maginhawa jams up at night. In February 2025 there were paid basements at MPlace (96 Maginhawa) and 99 Maginhawa Suites at ₱40 for three hours, and at the La Residencia building (114 Maginhawa) at ₱50. Overnight and on-street parking are not allowed from 7pm to 9am, when the active mobility lanes are coned off.
• When to go. Weekday afternoons are calmest. Friday and Saturday nights are the busiest, especially along the Teachers Village stretch. The Maginhawa Arts and Food Festival is set by city ordinance for the first Saturday of December; check the date before you plan around it.
• Booking. Almost everything here is walk-in. Call ahead for Talisay or Pino with a big group.
• Payment. Carry some cash and have GCash ready for the smaller places. Friuli shows GCash and cards on its website.
• Hours change. Several places here post updates on their own pages first, and Friuli's own site warns that hours may differ from usual. Check before you make a special trip.

Questions people ask

What should I eat on Maginhawa Street?

Start with the tapsilog at Rodic's, which has been the area's comfort plate for decades. For a sit-down meal, have the crispy pork belly adobo at Talisay The Garden Cafe or the kare-kareng bagnet at Pino. Friuli's Tre Formaggi pizza is the dependable dinner, and Papa Diddi's carabao's milk ice cream is the dessert.

Is Maginhawa near UP Diliman?

Yes. Maginhawa runs through UP Village and Teachers Village, beside the UP Diliman campus, and it grew up serving the students. Rodic's, one of the picks above, started at the UP Shopping Center before it opened on Maginhawa.

Where can I park on Maginhawa Street?

Use a paid basement rather than the street. In February 2025, MPlace at 96 Maginhawa and 99 Maginhawa Suites charged ₱40 for three hours, and La Residencia at 114 Maginhawa charged ₱50. On-street and overnight parking are not allowed from 7pm to 9am.

What is the best coffee in Maginhawa?

For the coffee itself, SGD Coffee Bodega, which serves award-winning beans from Sagada farmers; order it black. For a room to sit and work in until late, X Wave Specialty Coffee, open until midnight.

What is open late on Maginhawa?

Flying House and Escapee run until 2am on their late nights, Mugen, the bar above Pino, until 4am from Tuesday to Saturday, and Friuli is listed as open until 2am. X Wave serves coffee until midnight.