Movies, Music, TV
Somebody Feed Phil in Manila is a Joyous Celebration of Filipino Food—But Get Ready to Cry
People from the episode share with Spot their memories from the shoot.
by Jerome Gomez
Published on Jun 19, 2025
(SPOT.ph) If you’re nursing a craving for Trellis sisig today, or woke up wondering how to get to Asador Alfonso in Cavite, or whatever happened to the friend who promised he’d take you to dinner at Toyo Eatery, for sure you spent last night watching the Manila episode of Somebody Feed Phil. Season 8 of the popular Netflix food and travel show hosted by Phil Rosenthal dropped June 18 and one of eight episodes is on the Philippine food scene. Still haven’t seen it? Well, drop everything you’re doing now because it’s such a beautifully photographed, loving celebration of Philippine food (“So many great influences and yet so unique” is how Phil describes it). And be warned: tears will be shed.
The show opens with a gorgeous sweep of our mountains and seascapes, and a distinctly Filipina voice singing a ballad that begins with, “Nais kong mamasyal sa dalampasigan.” But Phil and his crew don’t really spend much time near the ocean after that opening sequence. The writer behind Everybody Loves Raymond walks the streets of Intramuros and breaks for taho, gets caught in the rain while on the San Agustin church grounds, and rides a jeepney. He also grabs lunch with jeepney drivers on the sidewalk near popular Dian Street carinderia Aling Sosing’s, exchanging pleasantries over plates of grilled liempo, okoy (the obviously coached server calls it “shrimp fritters”), and what looks like kaldereta.
The show opens with a gorgeous sweep of our mountains and seascapes, and a distinctly Filipina voice singing a ballad that begins with, “Nais kong mamasyal sa dalampasigan.” But Phil and his crew don’t really spend much time near the ocean after that opening sequence. The writer behind Everybody Loves Raymond walks the streets of Intramuros and breaks for taho, gets caught in the rain while on the San Agustin church grounds, and rides a jeepney. He also grabs lunch with jeepney drivers on the sidewalk near popular Dian Street carinderia Aling Sosing’s, exchanging pleasantries over plates of grilled liempo, okoy (the obviously coached server calls it “shrimp fritters”), and what looks like kaldereta.
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Pampanga's culinary figure Claude Tayag makes a cameo in Phil and Erwan's dinner at Trellis..
Pearls, cheesecake, and history lessons
Phil also gets some history lessons from food content creator Erwan Heussaff who takes him to good old Trellis in Quezon City, so our visiting guest can have a taste of the nationally beloved dish, pork sisig. The Trellis version is described by James Beard awardee Erwan to be as “close as possible to the original”—which is a three hour drive away in Pampanga if you want to get your hands on it. Is he talking about Aling Lucing’s sisig, once visited by Anthony Bourdain? Meanwhile, probably coming straight from his hometown Pampanga himself is culinary figure Claude Tayag who serves the sisig to Phil, complete with a side dish of carrot sticks meant to be dipped in a special sawsawan.
Full disclosure though, it’s the tilapia meat wrapped in mustasa leaves together with a dollop of buro that got us drooling close to midnight.
Meanwhile, Phil couldn’t help but sing Chele Gonzalez’s food high praises at Asador Alfonso in Cavite. He tells the Spanish chef his croquetas are likely the best he’s tasted of the kind. “Every bite is knocking me out,” Phil says, this time of Chele’s Burnt Basque Cheesecake.
Full disclosure though, it’s the tilapia meat wrapped in mustasa leaves together with a dollop of buro that got us drooling close to midnight.
Meanwhile, Phil couldn’t help but sing Chele Gonzalez’s food high praises at Asador Alfonso in Cavite. He tells the Spanish chef his croquetas are likely the best he’s tasted of the kind. “Every bite is knocking me out,” Phil says, this time of Chele’s Burnt Basque Cheesecake.
“I’m a lucky boy,” the host says finally, summing up his meal. “One of the best lunches I had in my stupid life.”
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At the get-together dinner at Grace Park: Chele Gonzales, Jordy Navarra and Carlo Calma enjoy the lively discussion on Pinoy food. Partly seen is Phil's wife Monica..
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Bonding with Phil's wife Monica
The architect Carlo Calma shares with Spot behind the scenes kuwento on the show’s shoot. “I really bonded with Monica [Rosenthal],” says Carlo who talked to Phil’s wife about the weave-inspired Philippine pavilion he designed recently for the ongoing World Expo in Osaka. “She shared a story of how Phil started to be really interested in food. When they were starting as actors, they would save money and go to these Michelin-starred restaurants—and he would go to the kitchen and talk to the chefs and interview them.” Monica also mentioned to Carlo she was looking for a souvenir from the Philippines, and said she’s heard the country has really nice pearls so was asking the architect where she could buy them. The following day, at the get-together dinner at Grace Park, he surprised her with a pair of South Sea pearl earrings.
What else could be the best keepsake from a trip to the Pearl of the Orient Seas but pearl jewelry? “She was super stunned and she asked me OMG is this real?” Carlo recalls to Spot. “I said, of course it’s real! She wore the earrings and still in disbelief she screamed, then stood up and made a speech saying how she loves the Philippines, and that the human connection of Filipinos is just amazing, and how people are so genuine and that she and Phil are just lucky to be able to experience these through the Netflix series. And then Phil jokingly said to me, ‘You can have my wife.”
Monica Rosenthal did seem like she had a fabulous time tagging along with her hubby while in the Philippines—she got to snorkel, dive into a boodle fight in Pico de Loro, and best of all enjoy a meal in one of Asia’s best restaurants, Toyo Eatery. She even got emotional at one point, and was caught on camera wiping her tears after being served the Filipino dining spot’s famed Bahay Kubo salad, the one made with 18 kinds of vegetables just like the song that inspired it. The song, which the entire Toyo team sang for the Rosenthals, accompanied by the guitar stylings of house server Ces, made Phil blurt out the words “I love you, guys” to the staff and brought tears to Monica’s eyes.
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Phil Rosenthal with Chele Gonzalez at Asador Alfonso..
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Everything was unscripted
“Everything was done unscripted!” shares Toyo’s May Navarra who sat across the couple during the dinner. “They specifically wanted everything to be genuine and real (on and off camera!), not even sending us questions beforehand. So JP [Cruz, sous chef], the whole team, and I were nervous because anything could happen and it would just be caught on camera. On top of that, there was an actual dinner service during the filming of the show so the team had to focus on that, too!”
But do they really sing Bahay Kubo every time someone orders the vegetable salad? “We used to!! We refined it a bit now by not singing it unless you’re at the private dining room upstairs, since it can be intrusive to other diners.”
There are more surprises and emotional moments to this Somebody Feed Phil episode—but we won’t spoil them for you. But okay, Wilma Doesnt is in it, too, and a legendary culinary figure appears toward the end to host the show’s customary get-together dinner. Suffice it to say that if you’re in touch with the Philippine food scene, you’ll appreciate the surprises even more, and find a new appreciation for our adobo, pritong isda, etcetera. Maybe you’ll also feel a lump in your throat like we did. And an itch to book a table at Toyo, drive to Trellis, or look for taho.
But do they really sing Bahay Kubo every time someone orders the vegetable salad? “We used to!! We refined it a bit now by not singing it unless you’re at the private dining room upstairs, since it can be intrusive to other diners.”
There are more surprises and emotional moments to this Somebody Feed Phil episode—but we won’t spoil them for you. But okay, Wilma Doesnt is in it, too, and a legendary culinary figure appears toward the end to host the show’s customary get-together dinner. Suffice it to say that if you’re in touch with the Philippine food scene, you’ll appreciate the surprises even more, and find a new appreciation for our adobo, pritong isda, etcetera. Maybe you’ll also feel a lump in your throat like we did. And an itch to book a table at Toyo, drive to Trellis, or look for taho.
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May B. Navarra and JP Cruz host the Rosenthals at Toyo where the staff serenaded the guests with a rendition of Bahay Kubo..
Jerome Gomez is Spot's EIC He counts knowing how to roast a chicken, make Korean army stew, and mix a good Negroni some of his great accomplishments in life.
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