Josh Boutwood Savage, Manila: Is It Open in 2026?

Status, checked 18 October 2026: Savage is closed. Josh Boutwood’s open-fire restaurant in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) served its last dinner at Arya Residences on 30 June 2024. Its official page still says the team is “taking a little break to allow time to relocate.” A reopening at East Gallery Place in BGC was announced for the second or third quarter of 2025. No source confirms it happened. Boutwood also runs Helm in Makati, the only restaurant awarded two stars in the first Michelin Guide to the Philippines, in October 2025.

One correction before we go further, because this is a burger site. Savage never served a burger. None of the 2018 to 2024 menus I checked lists one, and Boutwood said so himself in 2018. His burger work happened at a separate stall, Burgers & Bits, in a Makati food hall. I cover both below and keep current facts apart from history.

Josh Boutwood and Savage: key facts

Savage is Josh Boutwood’s open-fire restaurant in BGC, Taguig. It opened in April 2018 and has been closed for relocation since 1 July 2024.

Arya Residences under construction (green-netted tower) in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, in August 2013. Savage opened at The Plaza in this building in April 2018 and closed there on 1 July 2024. 3417x1562. (Photo: Hans Olav Lien, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bonifacio\_Global\_City\_with\_the\_Arya\_Residences.jpg)

Is Savage in BGC open in 2026?

No. As of 18 October 2026, Savage is not operating anywhere, and no new address, opening hours or reopening date has been published.

I checked the official page at joshboutwood.com/restaurants/savage on 18 October 2026. It reads “we are taking a little break to allow time to relocate” and sends readers to Instagram @savagemnl for updates. The same website already shows Helm’s two Michelin stars, awarded in October 2025. So this is not a forgotten page from 2024. The relocation notice is still the official position.

Be careful with older listings. Tatler Asia’s Savage page still shows the Arya Residences address as if the restaurant were trading, and Tripadvisor and Restaurant Guru carry stale data too. If you are planning a Manila trip, treat any address, phone number or opening hours you find for Savage as historical. My advice: don’t build a BGC evening around it until @savagemnl posts an address.

Where is Savage relocating?

Savage announced in 2024 that it would move to East Gallery Place in BGC. That move has not been confirmed as completed.

In July 2024, Spot.ph reported the relocation to East Gallery Place. In January 2025, the same outlet listed Savage among the year’s expected openings, “sometime between the second and third quarter” of 2025. That was a plan. More than a year after that window closed, I found no report of an opening and no new address on the official site. A missed window and a notice still up more than two years after the closure: I would not plan around a reopening in 2026. I will update this page the day Savage confirms one.

Map of Savage’s former address at Arya Residences, McKinley Parkway, BGC, Taguig (marker), with Rockwell (The Grid, Burgers & Bits) and Ayala Triangle Gardens (Helm) in Makati to the northwest. The announced new site, East Gallery Place, is not confirmed as open. Embed iframe 800x450, local poster required. (Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL, https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright)

What is Savage? Manila’s pre-industrial, open-fire restaurant

Savage is a restaurant built entirely on cooking with fire: wood, charcoal, smoke and ash, with no gas and no electric stoves in the kitchen.

Boutwood called it “purely pre-industrial cuisine” (GMA News). The cooking method, not a national cuisine, defines the menu. A dish belongs at Savage because it was grilled over oak and charcoal, smoked or finished in embers, wherever the recipe comes from.

He also framed Savage as the relaxed sibling of his tasting-menu work. In 2018 he compared his casual projects to “how Savage is compared to The Test Kitchen and Helm” (Philstar). In 2024 he went further and called it “my little bastard… the Jon Snow of the restaurants” (Spot.ph). Savage was where the fine-dining chef cooked louder, smokier food.

Savage’s signature dishes and 2018 prices

Savage’s best-known dishes were the deviled eggs, the charred romaine, the dry-aged rib-eye, the barramundi and a Swedish kladdkaka for dessert. The prices below date from 2018 and are historical.

Tatler Asia describes the signatures as deviled eggs with ox heart and ash, a dry-aged rib-eye grilled over oak and charcoal with smoked butter, mustard leaf emulsion and sea salt, and barramundi with preserved lemon and Kalamata olives.

Sources: Our Awesome Planet (June 2018) for all prices except the barramundi, Tsinoy Foodies (August 2018) for the barramundi. In 2018 the restaurant opened daily from 11am to 3pm and 6pm to 10pm, with +63 915 333 9546 as its phone number. Don’t rely on either today.

Savage’s 2018 menu prices in Philippine pesos: from ₱190 for the kladdkaka to ₱2,600 for the 16 oz rib-eye. Historical prices (Our Awesome Planet, Tsinoy Foodies). Render locally as a 1600x900 PNG/WebP with translated labels. (Chart: Burger Breton, CC BY 4.0, data from Our Awesome Planet (June 2018) and Tsinoy Foodies (August 2018), rendered with QuickChart)

When the relocation was announced in 2024, Spot.ph listed the Charred Romaine, Deviled Eggs, Oak Smoked Salmon, Ribeye and Kladdkaka among the dishes set to survive the move. If Savage reopens, look for these first.

Savage timeline: 2018 to 2026

Savage’s story runs from a 2018 opening in BGC through a 2021 refocus and a 2024 closure to a relocation that is still pending in October 2026.

2021: “Savage had to grow up”

When Savage came back after the lockdown closures in 2021, Boutwood cut the menu down and put produce and technique at the center.

He summed up the change in one line to Tatler Asia: “Savage had to grow up.” The fire stayed. The menu got shorter, and each dish leaned harder on what the kitchen did with one ingredient. ABS-CBN reported that old favorites stayed alongside the revamped dishes.

2024: closure after six years

Savage closed its Arya Residences dining room on 1 July 2024, after six years, with a farewell dinner the night before.

Manila Bulletin covered the 30 June 2024 dinner. Rappler, GMA News, Spot.ph and Esquire reported the closure, and every one of them framed it as a relocation, not an ending. GMA called it a farewell with “a new chapter” ahead.

Does Josh Boutwood make burgers? Burgers & Bits at The Grid

Yes, but not at Savage. Boutwood’s burger project was Burgers & Bits, stall 6 at The Grid Food Market in Power Plant Mall, Rockwell, Makati, which opened in 2018.

He was clear about the split. “I don’t have burgers and chicken in any of my other restaurants,” he told Philstar in August 2018. “This is our fun concept where I get to cook food that I want to eat when I’m not working, quite like how Savage is compared to The Test Kitchen and Helm.” So the chef who cooked rib-eye over oak at Savage made his burgers in a food hall across town.

Inside Power Plant Mall, Rockwell, Makati, at Christmas 2024. The mall is home to The Grid Food Market, where Josh Boutwood’s burger stall Burgers & Bits opened in 2018. The stall itself is not shown. 3264x1836. (Photo: RFNirmala, CC0 1.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rockwell\_Power\_Plant\_Mall\_Interior\_B\_(Dec\_6,\_2024).jpg)

The Grid opened in July 2018, and Our Awesome Planet published the first Burgers & Bits menu that month. The patties were pressed to order on the grill, with some dry-aged beef in the blend. If you want to know what dry-aged beef does to a patty, our guide to burger patty beef, internal temperature and cooking methods covers fat ratios and doneness.

To me, this menu says more about Boutwood as a cook than anything at Savage. Four cheeses on one patty, chipotle and ancho on the other, both at ₱395. That is the burger of a chef cooking on his day off, not a showpiece.

These are historical prices. In March 2023, Manila Bulletin reported that Boutwood was no longer part of the Grid burger stall, although his burger was still served there. I could not confirm whether Burgers & Bits still trades at The Grid in 2026, or who runs it. Check on site before you make the trip to Rockwell.

Map of The Grid Food Market, Power Plant Mall, Plaza Drive, Rockwell Center, Makati, home of Burgers & Bits (stall 6). The stall’s 2026 status is unconfirmed. Embed iframe 800x450, local poster required. (Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL, https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright)

For the wider picture of where to eat a burger in the capital, see our hub of the best burgers in Manila.

Who is Josh Boutwood? The chef behind Helm’s two Michelin stars

Josh Boutwood is a British-Filipino chef whose restaurant Helm, in Makati, holds two Michelin stars, the top distinction in the first Michelin Guide to the Philippines.

He was born in England to a Filipino father and an English mother and spent his childhood between England, Boracay and Spain (Wikipedia). Long before Helm, he ran a restaurant in Boracay called Alchemy. He closed it in 2012 to become corporate executive chef of The Bistro Group, the company behind Italianni’s, TGI Fridays and Fish & Co. in the Philippines (BusinessWorld).

Helm: from 10 seats in BGC to two Michelin stars

Helm opened on 21 August 2018 as a 10-seat restaurant at Arya Residences, the same BGC building as Savage. It moved to Ayala Triangle Gardens in Makati in April 2023, with 24 seats.

Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati, in December 2013. Josh Boutwood’s Helm, the only two-Michelin-star restaurant in the Philippines, moved to the gardens in April 2023. The restaurant itself is not shown. 3264x2448. (Photo: RioHondo, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ayala\_Triangle\_Gardens.jpg)

On 30 October 2025, the first Michelin Guide Manila and Environs | Cebu 2026 gave Helm two stars. It was the only two-star restaurant in a selection of 108 establishments: 1 two-star, 8 one-star, 25 Bib Gourmand and 74 Selected (ABS-CBN, Philstar). Boutwood told ABS-CBN the distinction was unexpected.

The first Michelin Guide Manila and Environs | Cebu 2026 (30 October 2025): 108 establishments, made up of 1 two-star (Helm), 8 one-star, 25 Bib Gourmand and 74 Selected. Savage is not listed. Sources: ABS-CBN, Philstar. Render locally as a 1200x800 PNG/WebP with translated labels. (Chart: Burger Breton, CC BY 4.0, data from ABS-CBN (31 October 2025) and Philstar (1 November 2025), rendered with QuickChart)

Josh Boutwood’s restaurants

Josh Boutwood’s official website lists five restaurants: Helm, Ember, Juniper, The Test Kitchen and Savage, plus a catering service.

• Helm: tasting-menu restaurant, Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati. Two Michelin stars.
• Savage: open-fire restaurant, closed for relocation since July 2024.
• The Test Kitchen, Ember and Juniper: listed on joshboutwood.com. I did not verify their current addresses or status for this profile.

Is Savage in the Michelin Guide?

No. Savage does not appear in the Michelin Guide’s Taguig listing, and it was closed during the inspection period of the first Philippine guide.

I checked guide.michelin.com on 18 October 2026. Some articles online attach Michelin recognition to Savage, but the guide itself does not list it. Boutwood’s stars belong to Helm.

How I researched this profile

I did not eat at Savage for this piece. It was closed for the whole period I could have visited. This is a dated, sourced profile, not a review, so it carries no rating.

I checked the restaurant’s status on Josh Boutwood’s official website and the Michelin Guide on 18 October 2026. The history comes from Tatler Asia, GMA News, Rappler, Spot.ph, Manila Bulletin, ABS-CBN, Philstar and BusinessWorld. The 2018 menus and prices come from Our Awesome Planet and Tsinoy Foodies. I left out several biographical details that circulate online, such as where he trained in Spain, because they rest on a single secondary source. Rumors of a second Savage location are out for the same reason. For how we work across the section, see all our burger restaurant guides.

FAQ: Josh Boutwood and Savage

Is Savage in BGC still open? No. Savage closed its Arya Residences location on 1 July 2024. As of 18 October 2026, its official page says it is taking a break to relocate, and no reopening has been confirmed.

Where is Savage relocating, and when will it reopen? The announced new site is East Gallery Place in BGC. A reopening was planned for Q2 to Q3 2025, but it has not been confirmed, and no date has been published. Instagram @savagemnl is the official channel for updates.

Who owns Savage restaurant in Manila? Josh Boutwood is the chef and creator of Savage. The current ownership structure, including any role of The Bistro Group, is not publicly confirmed.

What does “pre-industrial” cooking mean at Savage? It means cooking only with wood, charcoal, smoke and ash, with no gas or electric stoves. Boutwood defined the restaurant by this method rather than by a single cuisine.

What were Savage’s signature dishes? Deviled eggs with ox heart and ash, charred romaine, a dry-aged rib-eye grilled over oak and charcoal, barramundi with preserved lemon and olives, oak-smoked salmon and kladdkaka. In 2018 the 16 oz rib-eye cost ₱2,600 and the deviled eggs ₱260.

Where can I eat Josh Boutwood’s burger in Manila? His burger stall was Burgers & Bits, stall 6 at The Grid Food Market, Power Plant Mall, Rockwell, Makati, opened in 2018. Manila Bulletin reported in March 2023 that he was no longer involved but that his burger was still served there. Its 2026 status is unconfirmed.

Which restaurant in the Philippines has two Michelin stars? Helm, Josh Boutwood’s restaurant at Ayala Triangle Gardens in Makati. It received two stars on 30 October 2025 in the first Michelin Guide Manila and Environs | Cebu, and it is the only two-star restaurant in that selection.

Is there a Filipino burger tradition beyond chef projects? Yes. Jollibee, burger steak with rice and banana ketchup shape how Manila eats burgers. For the longer backstory, our history of the hamburger traces where the burger came from.