A popular bar restaurant sought to tap families and the younger crowd with its new Asian-inspired dishes and beverages.
Hard Rock Cafe Manila, a well-loved chain of restaurants known for its live music shows, launched a variety of new menu items starting this July.
These offerings are available in its branches in Glorietta 3 in Makati City and in S Maison in Pasay City.
Asian-inspired dishes and bar bites
From dumplings to seafood, the resto-bar made sure that its new dishes can satisfy the palate of Filipino customers.
The selection comprises:
- Chicken lollipops
- Crispy crablets
- Crispy dumplings
- Asian spring rolls (chicken or fish)
- Steak salad
- Southern Fish Fillet Burger
- Surf and Turf Burger
- Aloha Sunshine Flatbread
- Tom Yum
- Beef Hofan
Hard Rock Café Manila also offers the Messi Burger, the signature burger developed in partnership with Lionel Messi.
Philippine exclusive drinks
For the cocktails, the bar-restaurant introduced beverages that are exclusive to the Philippine market.
This selection is called “The Classy and Sassy Cocktails.” The drinks are:
- Appletini
- Peach Basil Mule
- Lavender Haze
- Apple Ginger Mojito
- Hibiscus Blackberry Spritz
- Piña Colada
- Blood Orange Bourbon Sour
In an interview, Clint Brian Peck, director for operations at the Hard Rock Café Manila, said that these items were made to cater to the Filipino market.
He said the resto-bar also wanted to increase the diversity in its menu.
“We have to make sure that we cater to the Filipino market because the Filipino market…and palate ng Filipino market are very distinctive,” Peck said.
“Aside from developing the menu for Manila and Makati, we added a lot of variety. There is a selection of the international. There is a selection of local and Asian-inspired. And there is a lot of variety for the appetizers and bar bites,” he added.
Ana Sadang, marketing manager of Bistro Group, also said that Hard Rock generally serves American cuisine.
She said that the branches here in the Philippines wanted to be different.
“Yung menu ng Hard Rock is very American. So the new items that we launched are more Asian-inspired… Alam mo naman pag Pinoy naghahanap pa rin ng Asian dishes. The majority of the items that we launched are Asian-inspired talaga,” Sadang said.
While the brand earned its reputation as a bar, the company is seeking to attract customers from different demographics and age groups.
Some of the events and promotions they are holding are:
- Different live bands and songs every night
- Themes and promos every night such as “dancing crowd” and “ladies’ night”
- Lunch hour for families
- Booking for parties and events
Hard Rock Café has become a household name among fans of live music shows in restaurants in the Philippines. It was also previously located in a different space at Glorietta Mall.
This store, however, was being operated by another franchisee for years.
In 2018, Hard Rock Cafe International partnered with another franchisee the Bistro Group.
It made a comeback to the Philippines in another location, the S Maison mall in Pasay City.
Hard Rock Cafe finally returned home in the same mall, but in a different floor in Glorietta in 2020.