An empty lot, a jealous wife, and an idea we had no business having that late at night.
Hardin sits on a piece of land that was desolate for over a decade. An empty lot off Fields Avenue — just scrub, a fence, and a view no one asked for. It was mine. I never knew what to do with it.
Then our neighbour Gordon finished remodelling his backyard. He invited us over. The place was beautiful — quiet light, good chairs, the kind of yard you don’t want to leave. My wife came home set on doing the same to ours. A few weeks later our backyard was unrecognisable, so we invited Gordon back over to eat in it.
We cooked, we drank, we stayed up too late. And at some point in that evening — for reasons that made sense only in that moment — we said it out loud: we should build a backyard bar on the empty lot. The idea was supposed to dissolve by morning. It didn’t.
The rest is this place. Hardin is Filipino for garden, and that is what we decided an empty lot of ten years deserved to become — an open-air grill and bar built the way a good backyard gets built: with friends over, a plate in your hand, and nothing to prove.
Four rules we run the place by.
We’d rather you stay for three rounds of grilled pork belly than book a table you feel bad leaving. The food is honest, loud, and sized for sharing.
No white tablecloths. The patio is the best seat. We water it, we string-light it, we don’t dress it up beyond what it already is.
Draft Sapporo on tap. Twenty-plus leagues on the screens, six nights a week. Sundays we move the mics out to the yard from 5 PM.
The back room is for barkadas. The living wall is for dates. The window counter is for when you came alone. We seat you on purpose.
Three rooms, one long garden.
The patio seats 42 under the canopy, the bar room holds the big screens and the draft tower, the back dining room is where we do private parties and Sunday lunches. Everything connects through the garden — so wherever you sit, you’re a few steps from the grill and a few more from the bar.
The people who actually run the place.
20 years on charcoal. Won't let anyone else touch the pork belly.
Her sinigang recipe. Her sisig recipe. Her rules.
Draft tower, the playlists, the Sunday live-music line-ups.
Books your table, remembers your order, knows your team.
We’re open Tuesday through Sunday from 4 PM.
The grill fires up at 4. The garden fills up around 7. Sundays have live music from 5. Book a table or just show up.