The Australian Way: Brontë Brings Australian Fine Dining to Makati

Not every memorable restaurant depends on novelty or surprise. Sometimes what stays with you is something simpler: excellent cooking that never strains for attention, a room that invites conversation, and hospitality that feels unscripted. Set against Manila’s dining scene, which has embraced elaborate tasting menus, Brontë feels refreshingly assured.

Chef Wade Watson’s newest restaurant (co-owned with Derek Ramsay) inside La Reserve, atop Makati’s Levanto Building, is comfortable with itself. The room is elegant and chic, but also stylishly informal. The ease is unmistakably Australian, and so is the menu, in the way modern Australian cooking has evolved over the past three decades, borrowing freely from European technique and Mediterranean generosity while remaining anchored by exceptional produce. What’s interesting about Australia is that it doesn’t need to define itself through culinary orthodoxy; the approach is straightforward: choose good ingredients and treat them well.

Watson describes his cooking as “quality, refined, and simplistic,” before acknowledging the apparent contradiction. “I know ‘simplistic’ contradicts refined,” he says, “but it can be both. The best restaurants in the world, in my opinion, are the ones that are simple. They’re serving food you want to eat.”

He has a point. The fewer places there are to hide, the higher the standards for ingredients and the more exacting the technique must be.

One of the not-to-miss starters is the foie gras terrine, which arrives with sourdough and a perfectly balanced sweet-and-tart plum compote, a perfect foil. Another is the prawn cocktail, dressed in Marie Rose sauce over Hass avocado and crisp iceberg lettuce, reviving a classic that feels deservedly fashionable once again. The Persian feta salad, with Meredith Farms goat’s cheese, Fuji apple, and toasted pecans, is hearty and carries enough texture and acidity to stand comfortably beside the restaurant’s richer dishes.

A juicy, luscious steak, naturally, sits at the centre of Brontë’s identity. Premium Australian beef accounts for the lion’s share of the restaurant’s offerings, with one or two selections sourced from the U.S.

“We are very clear that we’re resting steaks. I’m big on resting steaks,” he says. “If you’re in a hurry, I’ll tell you which steak to order, because anything over 500 grams, you have to wait.”

What drew me back for a second visit just a few weeks later, however, was the seafood, which deserves equal attention. Barramundi meunière relies on little more than vine tomatoes, capers, dill, and cultured butter, allowing the quality of the fish to shine.

The exotic New Zealand orange roughy takes the spotlight in a dish with roasted cauliflower and red pepper romesco; this particular entrée was an off-menu dish on the first visit, and I’m glad it has found its place on the regular menu. The lobster risotto is deeply comforting without becoming heavy, each grain retaining its bite beneath sweet lobster and a silky, beautifully emulsified finish.

Equally satisfying is the Linguini Rossa, where generous seafood and a bright, tomato-based sauce strike a balance between richness and freshness. While some diners may dismiss accompanying vegetables as mere garnish, every cherry tomato and every last morsel on every plate was enjoyed and finished—a small detail, but a testament to Watson’s commitment to excellent ingredients.

The cellar developed naturally, with oenophile Watson spending years collecting bottles long before Brontë existed. “I knew that one day I would open a concept like this and the bottles I’d collected would be for my clients,” he says. The result is one of Manila’s more serious wine lists, spanning benchmark Australian producers, Bordeaux first growths, and prestige Champagne.

Like everything else at Brontë, the wine programme feels thought out without feeling contrived. And perhaps that’s the restaurant’s greatest achievement overall: confidence in the cooking, confidence in the room, and confidence that good conversation, shared over excellent food, is reason enough to come back.

Brontë is at La Reserve, 4/F Levanto Building, 389 Jupiter Street, Makati 1209. Reservations: +63 908 872 8584.