Hole in the Wall at Century City Mall

Simple but true words at Hole in the Wall

 The other night, we chanced upon the first day of the (soft) opening of Hole in the Wall, the newest dining establishment to open in Century City Mall in Makati. 

It's not just any other restaurant, but for me has an innovative dining concept that I'm quite excited to share here. At its most basic, Hole in the Wall is a food court. But compared to any other establishments incorporating the food court style, or compared to food courts you usually see in malls, I think Hole in the Wall has two major unique selling points.

 

First, unlike the usual food courts, Hole in the Wall is quite upscale. The seating areas, dining tables and chairs, and the overall ambiance of the place is well-designed yet cozy at the same time, with remarkably good design. It has quite a great ambiance for a broad range of dining needs---from casual dining or dates but has spaces large enough to accommodate even dinner with friends or large family dinners. If I were a still a student, I can also picture studying here too. They even have al fresco dining areas!

Dining area in Hole in the Wall

Seating areas have natural "dividers" incorporated into the design (such as grills, a grid of hanging plants, a shipping container as dining area).The whole space can accommodate up to about 400 diners.

The interiors and seating areas are a mix of comfy (plush chairs, lots of natural wood) to industrial (exposed beams, bulbs hanging on wires), which I find very cosmopolitan chic. This is definitely not your usual food court with fluorescent lights and white tiles!

The place was teeming with servers/waiters in chic uniforms serving iced water and clearing tables.

 

Second selling point of Hole in the Wall for me is that all the restaurants/stalls (which they call "concepts") in this food court all seem to be startups.   That means all of them have new, innovative offerings in savory food, desserts, and even drinks. Each "concept" also seems to be selling different types of food from each other so you get a lot of choices.

Some of them that I noticed and photographed were Bad Bird (Umami Fried Chicken), Kwong's Provisions (Chinese), Mister Delicious (All-American breakfast), and Phobobo (beef noodle soup).

For drinks and dessert, there were Scout's Honor (craft cookie shop and ice cream), Spruce (cold-pressed juices), Green Cheese (Japanese cheesecakes), and Tiny Duchess (savory and sweet eclairs).

Green Cheese and Tiny Duchess at Hole in the Wall

Juices in Spruce

Cookies and ice cream at Scout's Cookies

For our visit that night, we tried the food in Kwong's Provisions, marketing itself as having "progressive Chinatown cooking".

 

We had the Maki mi+ (P190), braised short ribs beef bowl (P270), and amah kwong's lumpia (P150).

 

For casual dining with such new concepts, the prices were quite on the inexpensive side. I especially like the maki mi+, a noodle soup with very, very thick broth (almost gel-like). It was progressive alright! Next time I want to try their salted egg chicken wings (P200), also one of their bestsellers.

Will we come back? Definitely! I want to try out Hole in the Wall's other food concepts. Hole in the Wall appears to take food court dining in Manila to a new and bigger level, with lots of new food discoveries waiting to be explored.

Do take note that most of the establishments in Hole in the Wall are still on soft opening. When we were there, some of them were not yet even serving anything at all, although their respective signages were already up.

The grand opening of Hole in the Wall to the public will be some time in mid-November. But you can try out Hole in the Wall on soft opening this weekend (November 8 and 9), open for dinner only. Enjoy!

Hole in the Wall

L/4, Century City Mall 
Kalayaan Avenue, Makati City