hayop, Manam's sister restaurant, brings elevated Filipino flavors to Singapore
With so many Filipinos calling Singapore home, one would think Filipino food would be everywhere. For some time, quality dining experiences featuring this cuisine were absent, limited to stalls in hawkers and Lucky Plaza or casual restaurants peppered throughout the city-state. That is, until The Moment Group opened its fine casual counterpart of Manam in the Lion City: hayop.
For those unfamiliar, Manam is a go-to spot for locals and visitors seeking comfort Filipino food, often the first place people think of when entertaining friends and family from abroad. And now, there’s hayop, bringing a sophisticated take on local flavors to Singapore.
Co-founder Abba Napa, who considers Singapore a second home, saw an opportunity to test the waters after a 2019 pop-up proved incredibly successful.
“We were overwhelmed by the interest for those dinners, selling out within 24 hours of our releasing tables to the public,” she recalled. “We were most overwhelmed by the support of the Filipino community after the dinners ended, championing us to open a permanent restaurant.”
The decision to open an international location was a significant undertaking as the team had initial reservations. Abba explained, “It is always hard to live up to the taste of nostalgia especially for Filipinos living abroad.” She also expressed concerns about introducing local cuisine to a wider audience.
In the end, their vision prevailed. They aimed to “create a dining room that Filipinos could be proud to bring their friends to introduce Filipino cuisine.”
And it’s exactly the feeling entering this intimate restaurant on the corner of Amoy and Boon Tat streets. The space uses decor that celebrates Philippine history and culture—from its wallpaper with archival 19th-century images to the woven basket-inspired bar and the pendant lamps that look like fishing nets. The warm lighting highlights the details of the decor, adding to the restaurant's intimate and cozy feel.
‘Filipino food as it is’
With Singapore having a diverse culinary scene, it meant hayop could stay true to its Filipino roots and flavors. “It was always a non-negotiable that we wanted to stay true to the flavor spectrum of Filipino cuisine,” Abba told PhilSTAR L!fe. “The ‘flavorful-ness’ of the cuisine was something we were not going to dilute because that is important to the nostalgia for the Filipino craving a taste of home.”
hayop's menu features a mix of familiar Manam favorites, such as Crispy Palabok, Wagyu Watermelon Sinigang, House Crispy Sisig, and Ube Shake, alongside more innovative offerings that push the boundaries of traditional Filipino cuisine.
“[Manam] has always been about a vision of serving classic and reinventive takes on familiar Filipino comfort food side-by-side through a contemporary lens,” Abba told L!fe. “With hayop, that line is decidedly blurred and it is, simply to us, Filipino food as it is, now—both nostalgic and new.”
Our dream was to create a dining room that Filipinos could be proud to bring their friends to introduce Filipino cuisine.
Some of its dishes include its take on the Inasal na Panga, a charcoal-grilled maguro jaw marinated in annatto, calamansi, and ginger and lemongrass oil. The dish was created by chance when a friend of hers sent her samples of Japanese seafood.
“As I was trying the hamachi jaw, simply grilled over coals, it just came to me (likely because hayop was on my mind all the time then) that it had enough robustness to take on a light inasal marinade,” she shared. “To us, it worked. It’s a sleeper hit today at hayop and I’m glad.”
Wagyu Watermelon Sinigang
Wagyu Watermelon Sinigang
Lumpia
Dilaw na Adobo
Inihaw na Panga
Buko Pie
Asim and Alat cocktails
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The beloved Watermelon Sinigang, a family recipe of co-founder Eliza Antonino's mom, gets a notable upgrade at hayop. Instead of regular beef, it uses grass-fed New Zealand Wagyu bone-in short rib that melts in your mouth.
“I had been eating her watermelon sinigang for years at the beach and I thought it was a perfect example of that balance of nostalgia and excitement in a dish, especially at that time.”
Another notable dish is the Kinilaw, a refreshing combination of Kuruma ebi, green chilies, coconut milk, ginger-infused sukang tuba, and crispy fried prawn heads. For a unique twist on a classic, try the Adobong Dilaw, a vibrant take on adobong puti with turmeric and, yes, roasted bone marrow.
Be sure to save room for dessert and try their Buko Pie before you leave. The parmesan crumble and whipped coconut cream are the perfect ending to your meal.
hayop’s menu, including the sisig and tuna panga, is undoubtedly tempting, but the restaurant's bar is equally enticing. An extensive cocktail list awaits, each drink a celebration of the Philippines' unique flavor profile: the sourness of asim, the saltiness of alat, the sweetness of tamis, the bitterness of pait, the spice of anghang, and the savory depth of malinamnam.
‘Truly hayop!’
hayop is all about sharing the authentic flavors of the Philippines—the kind of food Filipinos crave and Singaporeans are about to discover. And judging by the packed house almost every night since their opening in July 2024, it's a discovery many are eager to make.
“We ourselves—on our days off from being restaurateurs—are adventurous eaters. [We] love dining out, love experiencing new flavors,” Abba said. “We hope that our brand of Filipino cooking and hospitality attracts the same kind of diner that we ourselves are. And if we are able to accomplish that—get adventurous eaters to discover our cuisine, and hopefully appreciate it—to us, that would be amazing.”
While Abba hasn't ruled out future hayop locations, her priority remains the Singapore restaurant, ensuring its continued success.
“We would love to do it again,” she said. “I think it’s important, however, that it doesn't take away from giving hayop the attention it needs to continue making Filipinos and their guests happy in Singapore in the times to come.”
hayop is located at 104 Amoy St., Singapore.
