Did you know you can go on chef-curated motorcycle food tours around Makati City? SALO is the Philippines’ first and only motorcycle food tour, offering a different way to experience Filipino food culture—on two wheels.
Chef Ria Garcia, a professionally trained chef and big-bike rider, founded SALO after joining motorcycle tours while traveling abroad showed her that cities can be experienced through movement rather than mere sightseeing. Realizing that no similar experience was being offered in Metro Manila, she decided to design the tours herself.
Motorcycle food tour options
We first learned about this unique food tour from some media friends’ social media posts and have been wanting an excuse to try it out. Last month, we signed up for the Signature Ride and Dine Tour, which features modern Filipino flavors, covering four food stops with about eight to 12 dishes.
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Their Street Classics Tour explores local and heritage street food faves in the city. While guests typically ride on the back of a motorcycle with a trained local rider, those with their own motorcycles can also opt for the SALO BYO Bike Option to join the guided route and food stops.
While the tours are concentrated mainly around Makati, SALO recently embarked on a longer motorcycle food tour exploring different food stops in Pampanga, which is pretty timely given the inclusion of several Kapampangan spots in the Michelin Guide for 2027.
Ride and Dine motorcycle food tour experience
After a safety briefing at the meet-up point, U-Hotels, an art hotel in Poblacion, Makati, and meeting our team of drivers for the day, we were off.
Our first stop was Tatatito, a contemporary Filipino restaurant located in Legazpi Village that prides itself on good Filipino comfort classics.
Here we had Adobong Baby Pusit, fresh baby squid sautéed in garlic oil and cooked in classic adobo sauce. This was paired with Chicken tinola-infused bamboo rice, steamed rice flavored with hints of classic dishes, creatively served in a bamboo tube. The star of the resto was the Beef Shank Kaldereta, with the slow-cooked melt-in-your-mouth beef swimming in a rich, tomato-based sauce.
Our second stop was a classic ihaw-ihaw joint called Bebeng’s Barbecue, situated along an intersection in Pio del Pilar, Makati City. Grilled food is part of Filipino food culture, with staples like pork barbecue and isaw best dipped in house sauce.
This joint has been around since 1985, originally starting with small items like turon before expanding into its famous grilled street food. The casual stall with a couple of chairs and tables on the sidewalk outside a sari-sari store is now being run by Ricky, the son of the original founder.
Though we arrived before typical dinner time, some items were already sold out, which just shows the joint’s popularity among locals. But because we were on a tour, some bestsellers had already been set aside for us to try, including smoky barbecue, crunchy isaw, and grilled chicharon bulaklak (my personal favorite).
Our third stop was Aling Nida’s Eatery, a nondescript house turned carinderia with no visible signage in Brgy. Palanan, near the border of Makati, Manila, and Pasay.
The carinderia serves the typical lutong bahay meals, but we were here to sample steaming bowls of sinigang na pisngi ng baboy. Chef Ria shared that she stumbled upon this spot one evening and tried it out of curiosity because she saw the place was packed.
The food is not pretty to look at from any angle, but it’s a good, hearty dish, with tender meat and the type of tangy broth you crave during rainy days or if you have a hangover.
We hopped back on the bikes and wove back through busy neighborhoods, backstreets, Makati’s business district, and through the red light district of Poblacion to our fourth and final stop, Lampara.
This Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant is a cozy, neo-Filipino bistro that reinterprets traditional and regional Filipino flavors using contemporary and classic French techniques. While they have savory appetizers and main dishes worth trying (if you’re not doing a multi-stop food crawl), we had two of their signature desserts.
Their tres leches is a delectably airy and light version of the sponge cake soaked in a rich mixture of three different types of milk. The polvoron with corn ice cream and white chocolate namelaka was a creative take on the crumbly and powdery dessert. The two dishes offered a sweet and fitting ending for the whirlwind tour.
Why should you join a motorcycle food tour?
This unique experience will appeal to international tourists and balikbayans who want a fun and exciting way to experience the city’s food scene. But even as a local who lives in Metro Manila, I admit that most of the stops were new and surprising to me, particularly the carinderia and street food, which turned out to be the crowd favorite.
The draw of organized food tours like SALÓ is that the route and logistics are planned out, so guests don’t have to line up or wait long to eat at every stop and can enjoy handpicked dishes that show a range and variety. It's ideal for tourists who have a short time in Manila or anyone up for a unique city adventure.
Zipping through Manila’s notorious city traffic on two wheels helped us move around more easily, and we didn’t have to bother worrying about where to park, which is always a concern for car owners. Being in the company of like-minded travelers, sharing stories over food and hearing from some of the people behind the dining spots added to the experience. And that’s what SALO is all about.
Want to ride and dine? Check out their tours via https://salotours.com/
