The Lokal Bar/Resto/Coffee

The Lokal is an all-day restaurant, bar and coffee shop in MDO Commercial Square on Rizal Street, downtown Mati, in the same building as Hotel Rosario. It is an air-conditioned, roomy dining room with comfortable seats and painted music murals on the walls, John Lennon and Abbey Road among them, and it works for anything from breakfast to beers.

The menu is long and Filipino at heart, split into chicken, beef, pork, seafood, noodles, soups and vegetables, plus all-day breakfast, rice meals and combos. Kare-kare, bistek, Bicol Express, kinilaw and baby back ribs are the local favourites, and diners also mention chicken or crispy bangus in white sauce, fish fillet with garlic dip, buffalo wings and a generous mais con yelo. Silog plates like tocilog cover breakfast.

Open daily from 7:00 AM, closing at 9:00 PM except Fridays and Saturdays, when it stays open until midnight. Servings are big for the price, though recent reviews are mixed on flavour and food can take 45 minutes or more when it is busy. Cards are accepted and high chairs are available, but the parking bays are too small for SUVs. Walk over if you are staying in town, and order the kare-kare to share.