Belly: Filipino Cooking Made for a Proper Date Night

Review at a glance: ★★★★☆

A good date night does not need much selling. All it really takes is good food, the right setting, a decent human being, and somewhere you have genuinely been looking forward to visiting for a while. When a restaurant has been quietly building a reputation online, that first visit always comes with a sense of expectation.

Belly, the newest restaurant from The Maginhawa Group, the team behind Guanabana and Ramo, makes for exactly that kind of setting. It is the sort of place chosen deliberately rather than stumbled upon. Tucked neatly along Kentish Town Road, Belly is unassuming from the outside. It remains calm and understated as Friday night traffic rushes past, feeling slightly removed from the noise of the street.

Belly is not tiny, but it does push the boundary of what feels like a reasonable amount of space between diners. For those thinking of booking the counter, it is worth noting that this is not a kitchen-facing seat. Instead, it is a small bistro-style counter with a mirror running along it. You will not miss yourself eating, but you will get the chance for a decent selfie.

Filipino food in London has done nothing but shine over the last year, and Belly continues that momentum.

To start, the smoked trout kinilaw arrived beautifully presented. It was light, fresh, and well balanced, with coconut milk and citrus working together without overpowering the fish. The pumpkin kare kare was a modern take on a Filipino classic. For anyone more familiar with the meat version, the pumpkin proved to be a more than acceptable substitute.

Sadly, the tempura cod pandesal, the social media standout, had sold out by the time we arrived. It was a slight disappointment, along with missing out on the calamansi iced tea, although the fruit being out of season is a fair excuse.

For the main, the sirloin bistek was paired with beef fat fries and rice. The steak was cooked perfectly, and the soy-based jus brought everything together with each bite. The beef fat fries deserve special mention. It feels silly to speak so highly of fries, but they were genuinely excellent. Crisp, rich, and easily among the best portions I have had in a long time. The rice was light and fluffy, exactly as it should be.

It is worth noting, however, that while the steak was impressive, it does come at a price. At £56 for 320 grams, it is not cheap, especially when you can get a 450 gram cut of Sirloin at Hawksmoor for £51.

Dessert was the standout moment of the evening. The ube tiramisu was exceptional. Cut through like a Swiss roll, with a soft, almost weightless texture, theUbe flavour and cream melted instantly. If not for winter restraint and the unwritten rule that dessert is better shared, ordering a second would have been guaranteed.

Overall, the food at Belly is excellent, and it is hard not to wonder what was missed by skipping the tempura. Service matched the quality of the cooking, if not surpassed it. Our server remained attentive throughout, offering guidance without hovering and doing so with a genuine warmth.

The only misstep came at the end. A 13.5 percent service charge feels unnecessary when 12.5 percent is already standard. It reads as a small but deliberate push that slightly undercuts an otherwise thoughtful experience.