UPDATE: Unfortunately, Meat Yard shut down permanently on October 15, 2021. Thanks for the great meals over five awesome years, Meat Yard!

Meat Yard is a casual dining joint that boasts “Traditional Comfort Food”. They prepare all of their food fresh, so anticipate a bit of a wait when you eat there.

Meat Yard is set up in a way that makes the most of limited space. Their sleek, simple interiors frame a decent amount of seating, including a long table by the window for solo diners or people who just want to people watch while they enjoy their food.

We ordered the country fried pork belly, soy garlic chicken crunch, and a pitcher of cucumber lemonade. All of the mains come with Meat Yard Fried Rice and some vegetables. You can opt to replace the fried rice with a bigger serving of buttered green beans, carrots, and either corn or buttered corn. We chose the country fried pork belly and soy garlic chicken crunch because they’re both house specialties – but the bacon lechon kawali was tempting, too.

The country fried pork belly is heavy on breading and flavor. It’s well-seasoned and comes with a nice dipping sauce. I stuck with rice because I wanted a heavy meal, but in hindsight, the pork and vegetables alone definitely would have been filling.

The soy garlic chicken crunch has a great tangy flavor that other restaurants sometimes don’t hit the mark for. It’s similar to the chicken you’d get at a Korean fast food place, but with a much heftier serving. The sesame seeds sprinkled on top seem like an aesthetic choice but actually do make a difference in the flavor. You’ll know what I mean if you’ve ever seasoned your ramen with ground sesame.

There wasn’t really anything special about the cucumber lemonade, but it went well with the food, so we didn’t have any complaints about it.

If you’re not a fan of lemonade, you can instead opt to pair your food with an imported beer like Hoegaarden White, Hoegaarden Rosee, or Stella Artois. Meat Yard sells them at Php130, Php140, and Php110 respectively – a bit higher than grocery prices but a bargain compared to some swankier bars where they go for Php200 or more.

Meat Yard is located at Unit 05, Manggahan Village Commercial Townhomes, Amang Rodriguez Avenue, Barangay Manggahan Pasig City (near Robinsons Acacia Escalades, in front of Dowell/Collins), Metro Manila. They’re open from Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00am (They have breakfast meals!) to 7:00pm.

Check them out on Facebook here for pictures of other dishes, holiday hours, and other information.