Rue Bourbon, Makati

I like eating out with friends and co-workers from the office. It’s always a treat, almost like a mini-fieldtrip, even though we usually choose a restaurant at walking distance from the office. Regardless, it’s a welcome break from deadlines and that very small room we call the pantry.

Only several blocks away from our base is Rue Bourbon. My first visit to this New Orleans cuisine-inspired pub was for a despedida. I went again to celebrate a birthday. But aside from that, what made this particular lunch special were the other people in the group. It was a new set, neither just the people I worked with nor just the people I eat lunch with on a daily basis. It was a mixture of both. I have eaten with them on many occasions but never with this combination.


Rue Bourbon’s dining area is mostly upstairs. It has an assortment of booths for large groups and people who just enjoy eating in couches, typical tables and chairs, and bar table and stools. I’m too clumsy to sit on stools, and I like being comfortable and separated from the chaos of the world when eating, so we picked the same corner booth behind the large wood beams. It was a bit of a challenge to squeeze through, but it is always worth it. The overall ambience of the place is a familiar theme among other pubs in Makati whether English, Irish or what-have-you.

Since my perennial co-worker and I have been there before, we knew more or less what we wanted to order. I, for one, wanted what he ordered the last time, while he wanted what another co-worker got. Inggitero and inggitera, if you may.


I changed my mind at the last minute when I saw the Salisbeauxry Steak (Php 285). Not all restaurants that serve it do so with egg, and red meat, egg and rice is a combination that I find very difficult to resist. I remember at 5th grade I’ll eat two orders of Salisbury steak for lunch from the Sizzling Plate at our school cafeteria, which looked more like a food court. But enough of me betraying myself.

We waited for almost forever for our dishes. When we arrived, there was just one other table occupied by a couple, but the room got packed and hungry before we can even get a hint of food on our table. Plates were served every 5 or so minutes, and we had to chat our hunger off while the first dishes were becoming cold in front of us.


This was a similar experience to my first lunch at Rue Bourbon. I thought perhaps it was a fluke or maybe they have improved their service since, but nothing changed.

When all of our orders finally arrived, I quickly sliced through the hamburger steak because I was famished. It tasted of real red meat, although of course not as great as a real steak would because it was ground. It was topped with thick gravy sauce. The side of vegetables wasn’t fresh anymore, and the beans tasted more on the raw side. Regardless, I was happy with the meat, the egg and my rice. It filled me like a whole horse, ruining my plans of having dessert after.


I recommended Blackened Chicken with Rice and Mayan Salsa (Php 255) to the group, and one did order. I tried it out the last time I was there, and I left very satisfied. It came topped with white cream sauce and accompanied with corn and carrots. As I remember, I whizzed my way through it and almost couldn’t eat the corn muffin that came with their dishes.


Somebody else ordered the Bourbon Barbecue Ribs (Solo - Php 295) that I initially wanted. It looked smaller than how it was in my memory. My imagination probably exaggerated everything, but it still was very filling. For people who don’t eat much, Rue Bourbon’s ala carte serving can be good for sharing. The ribs were very flavorful even without the BBQ sauce, but of course it’s better with.


The pork chop (Php 250) looked big as well, and really crispy.


The oddball on the table was the pulled pork burger (Php 195), which came with real potato fries and two sauces--ketchup and what appeared to be BBQ sauce.

When we asked for our bill, we again had to wait for almost forever. But this time, we weren’t waiting on our asses. One of us went downstairs to follow up with the same girl we asked the bill from. She was behind the cashier then. After decades had passed again, we all got our stuff and went down to pay at the cashier. That was the only time the girl asked the server what our table number was. We had been waiting for nothing even if we had followed up with her! We marched out of there nearly forgetting the food we enjoyed earlier.

But perhaps I’ll come back to drink? It’s really not my kind of place to hang out at, but some items such as the mojitos and caramel beer seemed interesting.

Rue Bourbon in Makati is located on the corner of H.V. Dela Costa and Tordesillas.