“Secret Recipe, a lifestyle café chain has become a household name following its debut in Malaysia since 1997. Secret Recipe has successfully established its brand name in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and China by virtue of its fine quality cakes, fusion food and distinctive service.” (www.secretrecipe.com.my) Finally, a Malaysian Restaurant to rave about! Let us welcome Secret Recipe to Manila!
Thanks to Secret Recipe for bringing in their award-winning cheesecakes and hot dishes in Manila. Everything we ordered was spicy and I just loved it! The Tom Yum Kung was so spicy hot that even my dad-eating-chili suggested that we should have requested to tone down the chili levels of the soup. I love their signature Singapore Laksa and at last, we can taste a close to authentic laksa here in Manila. We also now understand why the Irish Lamb Stew won a lot of awards because it is so soft and tasty that you want to clean the bones with your mouth. As for the cheesecake we had, they were not too sweet and we loved the oatmeal base. Just a warning though, if you don’t like spicy food there is a high probability you won’t like their dishes — better stick with their cakes.
Thanks to Jen Tan for the tip on Secret Recipe, now on their 2nd week of operations in Manila. Since they are on soft-opening, expect that the service won’t be perfect and the kitchen is still stabilizing their operation. The staff were patient and friendly with my son Aidan despite the fact that he started to tear apart the restaurant — thanks guys!
To Secret Recipe — When can you bring in your Sugar-free Moist Chocolate Cake, hi-fibre Cheesecake, and trans-fat free peach cream cake?
Secret Recipe’s Lifestyle Ambiance
The restaurant interiors are refreshing because of the bloody Red, White and Wenge color combination.
As you enter, you’ll be greeted with their award winning cakes. I think their cakes are just marketing hype and I would not even rave about them. Most of them look standard cakes, and the only key difference is that their cakes are not that sweet. Their cakes won’t even stand a chance with Conti’s, or Roshan’s, or the serendra trio of Sonja’s-Miss Desserts-Xocolat. I’m waiting for Secret Recipe, to bring in their Healthy Cakes — they look yummy from their website.
The ambiance is defined by Great Food Shots, Chandelier lighting, Bloody Red Couches and White on White all around…
Recommended Food @ Secret Recipe
Secret Recipe Menu (Biggest Version)
Secret Recipe Cakes Menu — Check out their “award-winning” cheesecakes.
Pasta – will try the tom yum spaghetti next time.
Kid’s Club – thanks for being considerate about the kids who might not like the spicy food. Otherwise, you can buy from the 24 hours Mcdo beside Secret Recipe.
Asian Classic – The Thai style fried rice looks yummy.
Noodles – Singapore Laksa is a must try!
Chicken – I’ve always crave for the Black Pepper Crab of Singapore and the Grilled black pepper chicken is the closest taste I can find in Manila.
Fish and Lamb – The Irish Lamb Stew is worth every penny. Served with warm bread.
Carrot and Ginger Soup (P80++). The ginger adds the spicy kick to this soup.
Green Apple Kasturi (P90++). Green Apple + Lime + Plum. Unique but nothing to rave about. Better drink this immediately as this does not taste good as it was the first sip!
Noodles in tom Yum Kung (P220++). Flat rice noodles in our very famous spicy tom yum soup with King prawns. I dare you to try this 🙂 It was weird to have noodles in my tom yum. This soup is good for 3-4 persons sharing it.
Singapore Laksa (P220++). The deliciously fragrant Singapore laksa is flavoured with special in-house creation of shrimp paste, lengkuas, chillies, and polygonum leaves. I’m now craving for this. I’m not sure if it was the shrimp paste that gives the distinctive flavor of this soup. I can still remember the tofu which has a sponge like texture and characteristics and absorbs the laksa. The moment you bite into the tofu, it unleashes the soup into your mouth filling it with a unique asian taste that I am lost for a description for it. Too bad the noodles was just overcooked but other than that this is truly a winner!
Grilled Black Pepper Chicken (P180++). Grilled chicken smothered with black pepper sauce, served with herb rice and fresh garden salad. I loved the pepper sauce and how I wish they can use it to create a black pepper crab version. My wife did not really like the pepper sauce though, too spicy for her.
Irish Lamb Stew (P380++). Tender lamb shank slow-cooked with seasonal vegetables and fresh herbs, served with baked mashed potatoes and our home-made bun. We wanted to use our hands to clean this lamb shank because each piece of the lamb was tender and tasty. Worth every peso and best to share this with a group of 3-4 people. The only dish which was not spicy.
Chocolate Banana (P100++). Extremely addictive, loads of banana slices on bed of chocolate cream with chocolate chiffon and coated with melted home-made chocolate. The chocolate mousse was good but the chocolate cake itself was dry. Not worth craving for…
Marbled Cheese Cake (P100++). Smooth creamy baked cheese on crunchy oat nut base. This is what you call fine cheesecake, because every aspect of the cake was perfect. Not too sweet and the oatmeal base makes the cake desirable each time you take a bite from it.
Secret Recipe @ Fort Bonifacio Global City
32nd Street Corner Fifth Avenue Fort Bonifacio Global City
In the ground floor of the newly opened HSBC building and beside the 24 hours Mcdo.
In front of Pricesmart/ S&R, and St. Lukes in the Fort.
hey thanks for this! might try this one soon!! i think the main courses are a bit pricey, but i’m excited to try out the cakes 🙂
Another recommendation I intend to try out. Thanks for the lead again. Will be in KL midMay. Hopefully, will get the chance to try the other stuff not yet available in Manila.
What a great coincidence! On the way home tonight, I glanced at the HSBC building and caught sight of the Secret Recipoe sign and wondered – what in the world did they serve there? Now I wonder no more. Will take you up on the laksa. As of now, the hubby loves the laksa served by two women – a Malaysian and a Singaporean – at one of the BF Ruins Night Market food stalls. We’ll see how this new resto’s laksa stands up to that one. 😉
We went to Secret Recipe last night. We tried the laksa and think it tastes more like tom yum actually. The laksa we’re looking for has a bit more of the hibe (small shrimp) taste and a stronger coconut creaminess-like the one served by a Malaysian/Singaporean food stall in the BF Ruins Night Market. The grilled black pepper chicken’s very good. Kudos to them on the sauce! We tried the award-winning marble cheesecake. It’s good but I’m missing the density and texture that I’ve found in those at Taste of L.A. and at Gulliver’s Steakhouse. Now THOSE are places that serve award-worthy cheesecakes. We took home a couple of savory pies and will let you know how they are. All in all, this eclectic cafe with an Asian slant (broken by a few Western dishes – fish and chips, Irish lamb stew) comes with reasonable prices. I’m willing to return to try out more of their dishes, but will desist from indulging in more cheesecake.
hello, may i ask if you know where the BF Ruins Night Market might be (i’m thinking BF Homes, Paranaque, but i really have no clue)? i’d love to try the laksa there. thanks!
great blog, by the way! i love that you focus on the not-always-so-obvious charms of manila.
oh, i just googled ‘bf ruins night market’ and found another entry on this blog that features it. so i guess i already found the answer to my question. thanks.
I had the original cornish pie I bought from Secret Recipe last night. It’s gigantic – but more than that, it’s quite scrumptious. Two thumbs up. Reheats well in the toaster oven. (Would advise against nuking it – sayang ang texture ng pastry shell niya.)
My family was just talking about where to have dinner this Sunday and we decided to go somewhere inside the Fort but haven’t chosen the exact place yet. Now we know where. Thanks! =)
wow! is this a franchise? or did the owners bring it here? i was really surprised to see that they opened here. i never got the chance to try their hot dishes everytime i went to their shop in singapore. i must say that their cheesecakes are yummy. and the choco banana is one of the most popular items in their menu. now, i don’t need to travel abroad when i want secret recipe desserts! thanks for the heads up anton!
Ever since we left Malaysia, my wife have been craving for their Chocolate Indulgence cake, while I crave for the White Chocolate Macadamia. I am very excited to see it in their menu. Although my wife will be sad.
Never tried their laksa, because the hawker stalls in KL are many times better.
Last Wed, right after I got off work, my family and I went over to Secret Recipe. It was a few minutes past 11PM when we got there. The owner still allowed us to take away some of their cakes. We bought the White Chocolate Macadamia, Chocolate Banana, blueberry Cheesecake and the Chocolate Truffle. It was very much satisfying. And the owner even mentioned that they are soon opening branches in malls.
Sa wakas! 3 countries later, nakakain na rin ako dito! Hahahaha…. 🙂 I am not sure why I always don’t have the time to drop by this when I am conveniently located to this shop in Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. So strange talaga!
We pretty much ordered the same as you did. What’s so funny for me is…I have been to Singapore a number of times but I only get to try laksa the 1st time here. It was not a bad experience naman. I got to try this now because they used milk instead of coconut milk. (although technically speaking, dapat coconut milk sya, right?). Unfortunately, I can not give it an accurate assessment because my tongue was already immobilized by Tom Yum Kung 😉 But from whatever little sense my palate has, it tasted okay. I would probably try it on the next visit.
On my Tom Yum Kung, my problem was that it appeared oily to me. Pero bigla ako napaisip kung oily nga ba ang Tom Yum o hindi, pero parang hindi eh.
The blackpeppered chicken tasted like black peppered crab. Same taste ang sauce nila e!=)
Bad experience with the Grilled Bass—I almost had a heart attack seeing the Grilled Fish drowned on herb butter. As in – THICKLY SPREAD ALL OVER THE FISH. Furthermore, we have to have it recooked coz its still raw. And I really don’t think we got our bass back. The fish we had back doesn’t taste any bit like sea bass.
The saving grace of our Pop Day meal is the dessert! We love it for not being sweet! Hehe..The Choco Banana was not dry naman in our case. It was just okay – the right softness and sweetness. The Brownies Ala Mode was the drier one naman for us. We also got Mango Delight which was our top favorite :)I can not believe I finish off two cake slices! There goes my weight 😛
actually dun have any special comment la but i really like the cake of secret recipe because the cake there is really nice exspecially the marble cheesecake,tiramisu,chocolate cheese and mocha walnut. and for me i prefer to do cake but i cant find the recipe cake of secret recipe…….haha……i hope i can work at secret recipe so i can learn their’s cake there……………………………………………………thanks………………………..
the food wasnt bad but the service was really poor…
there was a customer who asks for the roasted chicken with turmeric sauce and she claimed it was fried not roasted.. and my friend got mad when waited for her chicken cordon bleu for almost an hour!
poor service, and the reataurant sucks!
Bad!!! I like spicy food but the noodles in tom yum kung was way too spicy. The prawns were not fresh too. The pan-grilled dory with lobster sauce I thought was okay, but my husband and son thought it tasted fishy. They both couldn’t eat it. The beef in the vietnamese beef noodle soup was hard and it had a lot of fat. We ordered the marble cheesecake because we thought that this place was known for their cheesecakes. We were so disappointed. It wasn’t heavy enough and it lacked sourness. The oreo cheesecake was probably one of the WORST desserts I’ve ever tried. Imagine the JELL-O oreo cheesecake mix. The service was also bad. We waited a long time for our food to be served. I give this place 0 stars. I think they should just keep their restaurant a secret.
Im craving for their singapore laksa, it really taste good as compared to the others i tried!!! I would definitely go back for more. We had the tom yum kung noodle soup which my dad loves because of its authentic spicyness. The cakes were great as well especially the chocolate indulgence and mango delight + our favorite the brownie A LA MODE!! great value for money food! Will wait for them to open in GH area…=)
Hi Anton,
Can you please give me detailed instructions on how to get to the Cucinella resto in Tagaytay? My husband and I looked for it one day, but couldn’t find it. thanks!
hi..i like to know either the food in secret recipe in manila is halal or not coz i’m from malaysia n muslim of course.secret recipe in malaysia totally halal.i always go to manila and its difficult to find halal restaurant here.
Hi Jie
Yes, Secret Recipe is HALAL certified in Malaysia. Here in Manila though we haven’t secured our certification. However, we assure that all of our products are in full HALAL compliance as we import almost all our ingredients from Malaysia.
Hoping to see you in one of the shops.
Secret Recipe is located
@ Fort Bonifacio (as seen in this blog, thank you Anton)
@ Level 5, Shangrila Plaza Mall
@ Level 4, Robinsons Place Midtown
Secret Recipe Philippines
http://www.secretrecipe.com.ph
FOOD
Mushroom Soup: Powdered. May buo buo pa nga!
Crispy Chicken Salad: Dressing was lacking both in quality and quantity. The meat was all crisp, no chicken.
Tom Yum Noodle Soup: The instant Tom Yum Noodle pack that my sister sends from Singapore is much better.
Penang Fried Kueh Teow: My life liked it. The one in Nasi Lemak (Robinson’s Galleria) is better.
Fried Rice with Satay: It takes a special resto to go wrong with Fried Rice. Secret Recipe is really special!
Kid’s Burger Beef: Burgers had a funky sour taste. Fries were breaking off after you dipped it in catsup–isn’t that annoying?
Gourmet Pie: French Baker Chicken ala King ka na lang.
Serving Size. The other poster is right, for the price, the serving is too small. I was told the noodles were good for 2. North Park noodles is more and so much better for half the price!
SERVICE
You have to ask for everything, from your soup spoons (una ang soup, walang spoon), to water, to replacement of fallen down forks to water refills. Gosh, there were only 3 tables occupied!
You know the singular worst thing a restaurant can do is to let you wait an hour and tell you they don’t have one of the dishes you ordered? Of course Secret Recipe does this to us with their missing Pasta Carbonara. I thought it was a joke. Did waitress G apologized? No. She goes “It was the kitchen’s fault.” Like that’s an acceptable reason. She didn’t serve our free drink, we followed up. Did she apologize? No. I think Filipino culture should use “thank you’s” and “sorry’s” more often, it’s not just polite, it’s what’s right.
I got the Ensogo GC’s for this paying only P280 to get P600 worth. Our bill came out P1,475. So we paid P275 only (2 Ensogo GCs). I swear to you dear reader: If I only paid P275 for our meal, I would still feel cheated!