At the Lepanto Building facing Ayala Triangle Gardens, Lowbrow’s newest concept serves buttery pandesal, Filipino breads, and all-day meals in a space worth settling into.
On my second visit to National Bakeshop, I arrived in the afternoon and found that all of their breads had sold out. Just my luck. Another batch is being baked. The restaurant is still in its soft opening, but apparently I’m already late to the pandesal that’s sweeping social media.
Still, there are worse places to wait for a fresh batch of bread. On the ground floor of the Lepanto Building on Paseo de Roxas, tall arched windows face Ayala Triangle Gardens, bringing sunlight and a lovely view of greenery into the space. It’s a setting that encourages optimism, especially about a good piece of bread. You can choose breads from the counter to take home or enjoy at the table, while an all-day Filipino menu gives you reason to stay for a full meal.
National Bakeshop comes from Lowbrow Casual Restaurants, the group behind Fowlbread and Bad Bird, whose approach to casual dining pairs close attention to food and design with a lighthearted sense of humor. Co-founders Charles Paw and Dwight Co also co-founded Tasteless Food Group, whose ventures span food halls such as The Grid at Rockwell and Epic Eats at Opus Mall, restaurants including Mono Beef Bar and The Underbelly, and specialty coffee and matcha concepts Kurasu and The Matcha Tokyo.
For all that experience, National Bakeshop marks its first Lowbrow concept outside the malls and retail developments they usually operate in. It’s destination dining, and here, the space came first. The team briefly considered opening a buffet or hotpot due to the size of the space, but the garden view and sunlight drew them toward a bakery, with a particular ambition of elevating everyday bread.
“It’s really a Filipino bakery, with a restaurant. But one thing we were particular about was to go full Filipino on the bread. No cinnamon buns, no croissants,” Dwight shares with Lifestyle Asia over lunch during my first visit. And what could be more Filipino than pandesal? “It’s something people get at their local panaderia. If you go to a bakery, you don’t usually buy pandesal. We thought, what if we make pandesal the first option? People will come here specifically for the pandesal.”
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Inside National Bakeshop, Grand Interiors And An Easy Welcome
“The whole thing started because we saw the space,” Dwight says. “We went here, and we were like, this is amazing. It’s not every day you get a view like this.” The space was also considerably larger than their usual concepts, with a high ceiling and an open floor that gave them room to work with.
The building’s architect, recently named National Artist for Architecture Gabriel Formoso, provided the starting point for Brian Ver’s interiors. “We saw the ceiling and the design we patterned after that,” Dwight says. Its rounded corners find their way into the booths below. They also looked to another nearby Formoso building, The Peninsula Manila, for the feeling of sitting in a grand hotel lobby, having breakfast or brunch.
But for the everyday ease of the place, Dwight had another reference in mind.
“The vibe we were going for, well, I really love old sports clubs; those are some of my favorite places,” he says, citing Manila Polo Club, Quezon City Sports Club, and Valle Verde Country Club. “All of them have a certain look; there’s a lot of concrete, a lot of pebbling, a lot of those chrome pipes, plants, and a lot of sunlight.”
The room has a sense of occasion, and the team wants people to feel comfortable making themselves at home in it. With the gardens across the street and offices all around, the idea is to feel just as welcoming to someone dropping by after a jog as to someone else settling in for lunch or catching up with friends after work.
“We want people to feel like they can come in shorts and slippers, but it can still also feel grand,” he says.
What’s On The Menu At National Bakeshop
For a team putting pandesal front and center, there was one small hiccup: they had never run a bakery before. “We were hesitant at first because we didn’t have any baking or cafe experience,” Dwight admits. “But we decided to do it. Generally, we don’t wait for ourselves to get ready. When we want to do something, we just do it and figure it out.”
And that’s what they did. They knew what they wanted the pandesal to be like: buttery, not too sweet, dark in color, chewier than usual, and with a light film so that when customers bite into it, there was a little crust. They drew out their specs, working with a baker in Antipolo, and asked who in the team wanted to learn how to bake.
“We also wanted to do flavors that were a little bit unpredictable,” Dwight says, mentioning that they explicitly avoided ubeUbeA vivid purple yam native to the Philippines, cooked into a sweet jam called halaya and used in ice cream, cakes, and pastries. Prized for its earthy, vanilla-like flavor andGo to Ube Glossary. Instead, their bread selection includes a Calamansi Pandesal, Sampaguita Bread, and even a Chocolate Cheese Bread.
The breads carry into the all-day menu at National Bakeshop, where pandesal comes with dips such as Kamatis Tuyo, LechonLechonA whole pig roasted over charcoal until its skin turns crisp and golden, and the centerpiece of Filipino celebrations, from weddings to fiestas. Regional versions, such as Cebu's famously flavorfulGo to Lechon Glossary Paksiw, and Pinoy Chili and Hot Cheese. Beyond that, there are small plates and big plates, rice plates and rice bowls. Their thinking about Filipino flavors is also evident in dishes such as Lumpiang Togue, Kare-Kare, and Seafood Sinigang.
There’s room for what Dwight calls “unofficial” Filipino food. The Lumpia Pinoy Shawarma combines Middle Eastern spices and the saltiness of Knorr seasoning, while the Choco Butternut Crinkles draw on a familiar Dunkin’ flavor.
“You’re not going to find it in a book about Filipino food,” Dwight says, “but it is what people actually eat, and we liked that idea.”
Across the menu, the details are small but deliberate: Chicken Balat flattened until it is almost paper-thin; Adobong Talong, one of Dwight’s favorites, gives eggplant the adobo attention usually afforded to meat, taking inspiration from an eggplant claypot; and Kare-Kare cooked with plenty of tendon for a sticky, collagen-rich sauce. “There’s nothing super radical about it,” Dwight adds. “It’s very homey.”
Ambitious pandesal, then, with the kind of food you could comfortably make an afternoon of. I just might arrive earlier next time.
Explore highlights of National Bakeshop’s menu below.
National Bakeshop is located at the Lepanto Building, 8747 Paseo de Roxas, Makati City. For more information and the latest updates, follow @nationalbakeshop on Instagram.
Photography by Ed Simon of KLIQ, Inc.
Frequently Asked Questions
National Bakeshop is on the ground floor of the Lepanto Building on Paseo de Roxas in Makati, facing Ayala Triangle Gardens.
National Bakeshop is part of Lowbrow Casual Restaurants, co-founded by Charles Paw and Dwight Co. The group is also behind Fowlbread and Bad Bird.
National Bakeshop puts Filipino breads, particularly pandesal, at the center of its concept. Its pandesal is buttery and chewy, with a dark brown exterior and a light crust. Bread selections include calamansi pandesal, sampaguita bread, and chocolate cheese bread.
National Bakeshop serves an all-day Filipino menu of small plates, big plates, rice plates, and rice bowls. Dishes include kare-kare, seafood sinigang, lumpiang togue, adobong talong, and Lumpia Pinoy Shawarma. Pandesal can also be paired with dips such as Kamatis Tuyo, Lechon Paksiw, and Pinoy Chili and Hot Cheese.
Yes. You can choose breads from the counter for takeaway or enjoy them at a table. National Bakeshop also offers dine-in meals from its all-day Filipino menu.
