Makilala

From chefs Jeff and Nuit Regular — the team behind Pai and Sabai Sabai Thai — Makilala is a genuinely personal project: a love letter to Jeff and his brother Joel Regular's Filipino heritage, built after years of running two of Toronto's most celebrated Thai kitchens.

The room leans hard into the concept rather than treating it as set dressing. A market-style entrance opens onto a barangay-inspired dining room complete with a stage and a bar styled after a sari-sari store, the small neighbourhood shops found across the Philippines.

The food

The menu runs through the Filipino canon done properly — chicken adobo, sinigang, lumpia Shanghai, whole roast lechon — with kamayan-style feasts (eaten by hand, off banana leaves, family-style) as the format built for groups. It's a menu designed to be shared loudly, not picked at quietly.

The room

Karaoke is part of the concept, not an afterthought — the stage gets used, and the sari-sari bar keeps the room feeling more like a party than a formal dinner. It's the kind of place built for a table of six or eight rather than a quiet date night.