If you miss Chotto Matte and Izakaya Sensu, then you’ll be glad to know that they’re back—sort of—in The Split, the newest dining destination in BGC. Targeted towards a quirky foodie demographic—the indecisive—The Split houses four well-loved brands by the Raintree Hospitality Group: Providore Bakery & Café, Friends & Family Upside Down, Saboten Express, and Chotto Matte.

For those who remember Chotto Matte and Izakaya Sensu, it was a dual Japanese concept (2016-2025) that served Izakaya-style sushi and Japanese fare in Seven Neo, formerly known as Net Park. That same space now houses The Split.

The Split’s kitchen, headed by chef Kalen Chan, has a menu that features the best of four Raintree restaurants, past and present.

Providore Bakery & Café

Choose from a melange of artisanal pastries, specialty coffee, and drinks inspired by Asian flavors. We had the Spanish latte with several cookies from the pastry bar. As someone who isn’t particularly fond of matcha, I was surprised to enjoy the matcha macadamia cookie the most—perhaps because the earthy, grassy taste of matcha didn’t overpower the sweetness of the cookie. Next time I’ll try The Splatte, a vegan-friendly coffee made with tres leches coconut milk and double espresso.

A standout dessert at our table was the mango sticky rice sipa, which gives a Filipino twist to the popular Thai dessert by arranging the fresh mango slices and sticky rice in a fresh lumpia wrapper tied with a pandan leaf to resemble the sipa, a soft ball made from random scraps like rattan fragments, which is used in a kicking game of the same name.

The dessert “sipa” is served in a puddle of coconut pandan cream with an edible flower as a bonus treat.

Friends & Family Upside Down

Your favorite comfort Filipino dishes are served with a bold twist, giving the classics a reinvented look and taste. I loved their shokoy, their take on the shrimp okoy, a crispy, deep-fried fritter made with a batter of glutinous rice flour and small unshelled shrimp. I savored the crunchy perfection that, even after dipping it in the onion-vinegar sauce, every morsel of the shokoy crunched so juicily in my mouth. I still dream of that shokoy long after I’ve left The Split.

The sesame Shanghai dapa with sweet and sour dip made a lighter, snack-y alternative to the lumpia or spring roll. The bites are more chewy than crunchy. The Parmesan-crisp root chips with the smoked tinapa laing cheese dip made for another appetizing starter.

Chotto Matte

Choose from the Izakaya-style selection of sushi, Japanese bites, and Japanese-inspired cocktails.

I’m always up for sushi, so I had the salmon aburi, a roll of salmon, shrimp, tobiko, and asparagus generously drizzled in spicy mayo and unagi sauce. It was so savory with just the right spicy kick that there was no need to dip it in soy sauce and wasabi. I’d love to go back to try the chef’s favorite, the tuna and salmon spicy dynamite bowl.

Saboten Express

I was already too full to try something from the Saboten Express menu, but I’d love to go back for their authentic Japanese tonkatsu bowls and katsu sets, reminiscent of my solo dining adventures in the original Saboten location in Serendra.

The Split Drinks

There’s a separate menu for refreshers (cold drinks) and cold creams (dessert-inspired drinks topped with cold cream or foam). I went for It’s Giving Violet, a mocktail-like concoction of strawberry puree, hibiscus syrup, lime juice, and blue pea gulaman. It’s giving Gen Z.

Not just a restaurant with four different menus for picky and indecisive eaters, The Split is also designed as a vibrant social space. After catering to the daytime BGC crowd, it transforms into a night scene with themed DJ nights and trivia sessions, reminiscent of M Cafe’s heydays in the 2000s to 2010s. M Cafe in Greenbelt, if you’re old enough to remember, was also run by Raintree.

Best of all, it’s pet-friendly (provided your pet follows the standard protocols in BGC). I had a date there with Sundae The Shih Tzu, my friend Andrea’s little dogfluencer, who loves exploring the metro’s pet-friendly establishments.

BGC dwellers, keep an eye out for The Split’s weekend pop-ups, coffee raves, curated tasting menus, and surprise events like Split Drops, where exclusive dishes appear for a limited time.

The Split is located in Seven Neo, Bonifacio Global City, Metro Manila, and is open daily from 11:00am to 10:00pm.