Banawe is home to many restaurants— a lot of which are well-kept secrets that residents and regulars only know. Unlike a lot of startup businesses that exist today, these veterans have stood the test of time and don't need social media to get the word across. While their interiors may not be picture-perfect, their heritage recipes and consistent dishes can speak for themselves. And I believe that new brands can learn from that: good food trumps the store's appearance any day.

One of my favorite restaurants to get good Maki is a place called Maki Haus, and yes, they misspelled house on purpose. This hawker-style shop serves simple and affordable Chinese food, most of which is good for sharing. But don't leave without having their soup. It's what they're known for.

Favorites include:
🐷 Maki: a heartwarming soup featuring bits of pork and a sticky (and I mean really sticky, probably because a slurry was added to it) soy sauce-based soup, topped with spring onions. The meat is very tender and peppery, and when eaten together with the soup, has a somewhat sweet aftertaste to it.
🐽 Maki Mi: an upgrade to the Maki. Same soup, same meat, but with the addition of thin egg noodles. Consistency of the noodles was soft and not mushy. Think of it as something like Pares Mami, but stickier and made with pork.
🐖 Lumpiang Shanghai: a quintessential addition to every meal. Crispy skin plus meaty filling made with ground pork, spring onions and minced carrots? A real treat. Not a fan though of their sweet and sour sauce. It tasted like something off a bottle. Would be even better if they had some garlicky vinegar to go with it.
🌯 Fresh Lumpia: a vegetarian spring roll made with a steamed wrapper, lettuce and a mix of chopped veggies. Includes crushed nuts with sugar and fried seaweed (Ho ti) for added sweetness and crunch. It has a wide range of textures and flavors, a subtle taste, but is healthy nonetheless.

The food here is great. We always ordered beef maki here. and sometimes I would order the beef mami with noodle soup. We liked the beef maki here. Sometimes if we ate here for dinner, we would have a takeout for us to have it the next day.