Filipino-American Chef Alvin Cailan Finally Opens His Own Burger Spot in the PH

Greenlight Burgers by Alvin Cailan
West Gallery Place, Bonifacio Global City
Instagram: www.instagram.com/burgersbyalvincailan/

Open from 12 to 4 p.m., Monday to Thursday; and 12 to 9:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday.

(SPOT.ph) Filipino-American chef Alvin Cailan has basically done the culinary equivalent of a world tour: apart from conquering Los Angeles with Eggslut, serving reimagined comforts at Umami Burger, and earning international cred with Amboy (recently crowned #9 “best burger in the world”), he even hosts for First We Feast's "The Burger Show" on YouTube. All the global acclaim was great, but Alvin’s story was always bound to loop back to the Philippines.

During a visit home, he crossed paths with the Clavano brothers of Wagyu Studio, Izakaya Geronimo, and Carlo’s Restaurant—later joined by the Lao family, whose hospitality pedigree gave the collaboration real muscle. Soon enough, their casual meetups turned into burger pop-ups that sold out faster than they could grill and flip patties.

From there, the partnership wrote itself: A new burger joint that marks Cailan’s true homecoming, bringing everything he’s learned on the world stage straight back to the place that made him—backed up by the belief that great food always begins with great people, and, uhm, no labels.

Also read: The Top 10 Best Cheeseburgers in Manila, Ranked

Let’s clear up the little identity crisis happening here: Cailan never actually gave the new burger venture a "government name." According to him, a great burger shouldn’t need a label—its greatness should speak for itself. Still, the public calls it Greenlight Burgers because it follows a stoplight concept.

Yes, a traffic stoplight. The playful theme runs through their space at West Gallery Place, where a literal signal light dictates if they're open or not. Green means they’re open and flipping patties, and green also means you can go and order a burger. When the red light is on, it means they're closed or that they've already sold out for the day.

But just in case the light is green and you want to dine in, let's just take a moment to talk about the space itself. To manage your expectations, the space is compact and cozy (it can only sit six on the couch, another six by the countertops at a time); warm light floods the entire space; and the interiors have a touch of playful nostalgia—specifically a New York train diner—all thanks to designer JJ Acuña.

If you want to dine in but failed to get a seat, you can grab an al fresco seat instead. Instead of the New York train diner aesthetic, you have BGC's busy ambience, which, in a way, is the Philippine equivalent of it.

The narrow space wasn’t meant to house any food business, let alone one led by a chef like Cailan who's obsessed with technique and making everything from scratch or in-house. Cailan says, "Trying to find a place that gets their bread baked every day, the beef ground every day? It's slim to none. I know there are a few restaurants that might do it right now, but like, this [Greenlight Burger] is somewhere where you can come and have a moment and eat one of the most comforting foods that has ever been invented. This is what we're trying to enhance."

Just looking at the space, the kitchen, stockroom, and dining area shouldn’t fit in the space, but they made it work. They grind the meat daily, cook it with all the fancy Ferrari-equivalent kitchen equipment, the bread is baked fresh by a partner bakery, and all three signature sauces are made in-house.

Simply put, they weren't going to let such restrictions stop them from giving the best damn burgers (and fries) in town.

Cailan shares, "We do a technique that's popularized from like the '60s, from Indiana called Schoop's-style burger. So, we get a ball of meat, and then we smash the edge, but we keep the middle a little thick." This results in a mashed patty with the crispy, lacy edges, but with a juicy center with bite.

On the Greenlight Burger menu, there's the Plain Jane (P350) that keeps things simple and straightforward with a single patty and cheese; and the Double Plain Jane (P450) simply doubles down on the patty. The Thin & Crispy (P380) adds a little drama with a single patty, cheese, a mix of caramelized and raw onions (Cailan shares he likes this onion combination a lot!), plus your choice of red, green, or yellow sauce. And its beefier sibling, the Double Thin & Crispy (P550), just adds one more patty. For something with more heft, the Thick & Lacey (P500) mirrors the Thin & Crispy’s build but swaps in a thicker patty.

When you get a burger with an option to choose the sauces, just know that these come in three colors. Here's the cheat sheet:

• Green sauce has tarragon, cilantro, chives, lemon juice, and a secret ingredient.

• Yellow sauce has dijon mustard, miso, muscovado, and mayonnaise.

• Red sauce is a classic burger sauce, but with a Filipino twist. This has sun-dried tomato paste, patis or fish sauce, muscovado sugar, apple cider vinegar, mayonnaise, and a little mustard.

While fries are merely “optional,” we'll be the ones to tell you that they're a must. Or, well, don't be surprised if you find yourself inhaling one serving in one sitting like we might have. They cook the potatoes in pure beef tallow—yes, the old-school fast-food way—so they come out crisp, golden, and dangerously good that you’ll briefly wonder if you’ve just met the best fries in the world. Answer: Yup, you did—but let's wait until Greenlight Burger launches the fries with overloaded toppings.

For now, just add P100 to your burger for French Fries, or P150 for the full trio of French Fries and a drink; beverage options include Coke, Coke Zero, or Sola only. If you want more or you just want the French Fries and nothing else, an à la carte order of fries is priced at P150.

We might be jumping the gun after just one visit, but one thing’s certain: Cailan’s Greenlight Burgers is onto something—something big, something great, maybe even something award-winning. It is a literal and figurative green light for what could soon become a new local favorite.