The Place Part of The Moment Group based in Philippines, Hayop is the newest kid on the block along the buzzing Amoy Street in Singapore, a fine casual offshoot Filipino restaurant of the highly adored Manam restaurant in Manila. I am not exposed to Filipino cuisine hence I was excited to check out the restaurant.

The interior of Hayop makes up of one main dining room with a bar counter right at its entrance, followed by larger tables towards the back of the restaurant. The dining ambience is convivial and cosy to say the least, with nice wooden touches in its interior. 

The Food The menu at Hayop takes on familiar Filipino comfort food – both classic and reinvented through a contemporary lens. It combines all-time Manam favourites and new recipes, where the portions are designed for sharing from the selection of bites, mains, vegetables, rice and desserts. 

For a start, something very light and refreshing I had was the Ensaladang Hayop (S$14) which is made up of winged beans and green mango tossed in a salted egg yolk vinaigrette dressing; and garnished with red radish, house-pickled watermelon rind, and salted egg white crumble. 

Next up was the Lumpia (S$14/ 2 Pieces) which looks like spring rolls, a Chinese inspired dish from early Hokkien immigrants in the Philippines. You get house-made mung bean crepes topped with brown butter roasted heirloom baby carrots, soy-braised young jackfruit, and pickled jicama.

The dish comes with a side of sweet soy garlic lumpia sauce made with a savoury mushroom stock where you can pour it over the crepe for added flavours. 

One of my favourite dishes on the menu is the Manam’s Crispy Palabok (S$26) inspired from a classic Filipino noodle dish, Palabok. The modern interpretation here comes with a crispy glass noodles, charred baby cuttlefish, tiger prawns, chicharron, tinapa flakes (smoked fish), crispy garlic, and spring onion.

Upon serving, shrimp and annatto sauce is poured over the noodles, where the noodles then crumbled almost instantly into soft noodles in a savoury yellow broth.

I enjoyed the flavour of the sauce here which is made better by squeezing some lime over it. The flavours remind me a little of a hybrid of our local Singaporean Mee Rebus and Hokkien Mee. 

Next up was the Manam’s House Crispy Sisig (S$22), one of the signature dishes here. Sisig is a popular Filipino dish and Manam’s version has a crispy twist, where the sizzling hot pan of crispy sisig is made from pork jowl and cheek, spring onions, fried garlic, and red chili. Add it to a bowl of white rice of garlic fried rice and it tastes even better. 

For mains, the Whole Spatchcock Chicken Inasal (S$76) is quite approachable in terms of flavours which features charcoal-grilled corn-fed heritage French spring chicken with annatto, calamansi, and ginger & lemongrass oil. The result is a tender roast chicken dish good to share for 4-5 pax. 

For beef lovers, the Midnight Adobo (S$52) uses grass-fed NZ Wagyu bone-in short rib braised in soy sauce, coconut vinegar, red wine, and garlic clove confit. Adobo is most often a braise with vinegar, soy sauce and garlic — some like it with more vinegar and some with more soy sauce. It is most often a blend of both, and the sauce here also has blended garlic component and topped with confit garlic cloves for added flavours. Another dish good to share for 4-5 pax, and the sauce goes well with some rice too. 

Another adobo dish on the menu is the Adobong Dilaw (S$36) which comes with tender pure bred Duroc pork belly adobo in turmeric & coconut vinegar sauce along with roasted bone marrow and garlic confit puffs. Adobong Dilaw means yellow adobo, and the pairing of pork belly and bone marrow is a first for me. 

The last mains I had was the Manam’s Wagyu & Watermelon Sinigang (S$56), a twist from the traditional Filipino soup (Sinigang) that typically uses pork or seafood. This version uses grass-fed New Zealand Wagyu beef short ribs along with French beans, okra, kangkong, red radish, eggplant, and charred watermelon – simmered in a tamarind and watermelon broth. I enjoyed the broth which is quite unique as charred watermelon cubes are added. 

Light side dishes to go along with the meats include the likes of Kamatis (S$18) where you get fresh heirloom tomato salad tossed in calamansi vinaigrette with crispy silver fish. 

For desserts, I had the Halo-Halo (S$18) which is a popular type of dessert in the Philippines. The name means “mix mix” in English and it is essentially a colourful shaved ice dessert, aka like Singapore’s iced kacang and to some extent it reminds me of Peranakan chendol as well. hayop’s version combines milk, leche flan (caramel custard), ube halaya (purple yam jam), candied beans, and jelly, along with a scoop of ube sorbetes (purple yamice cream). 

Alternatively, a simpler dessert to have is the Buko Pie (S$14), a take on American apple pie, but with the use of local young coconuts (buko) as the filling instead. You get a sweet and creamy coconut filling in a flaky crust, topped with buttery crumble, whipped coconut cream, parmesan, and cheddar cheese. 

In terms of beverages, expect the likes of grower champagnes, organic whites, and biodynamic reds as well as sakes, along with a cocktail list that embraces the different Philippine flavors: asim (sour), alat (salty), tamis (sweet), pait (bitter), anghang (spicy), and malinamnam (umami). 

Rants No lunch service for now (hopefully soon according to the restaurant’s forward plan) and no private dining rooms. 

Will I Return Again? An interesting addition to Amoy Street and I think Hayop offers a good and refined glimpse into Filipino cuisine if you haven’t had the chance to try before. I came with an open mind not knowing what to expect, and to my surprise there were quite a couple of familiar flavour profile notes in the dishes I had. 

TheRantingPanda says:
Taste bud: 4/5
Hole in the pocket: 4/5
Ambience: 4/5
Overall Experience: 4/5

Hayop 
104 Amoy Street 
Singapore 069924 
Tel: +65 8028 9012

Opening Hours 
Tuesday to Saturday: 5pm to 10pm 
Closed on Monday & Sunday 

Ranted by The Ranter