It was a weekday, and the mood was light.

Dinner with industry friends is almost always the same—good food, great conversation, a few laughs thrown across the table. That night, inside Izakaya Geronimo in Bonifacio Global City, the vibe was cozy and relaxed.

For a first visit, it felt like I had stumbled onto something I should have known about sooner. Another BGC spot unlocked.

The nearly three-year-old restaurant recently introduced a new menu, building on its Japanese fusion identity while widening its appeal across different dining occasions. Longtime staples—ramen, yakitori and salads—remain, but the update brings in a fuller range of dishes developed with culinary consultant Tetsuya Honda.

Our table, filled with cocktails (yuzu highball for me, and lots of it), tried new menu additions, which include lunch sets aimed at the weekday crowd, positioning the restaurant as an accessible option in the area. Sushi and nigiri now start at P70 per piece, while soba is priced from P450. There is also the nokke, a bowl of rice topped with layered fresh fish, offered at P400.

Tetsuya’s influence is clear in the menu’s direction—rooted in familiar Japanese dishes, but with enough variation to keep things interesting. His background spans more than two decades in restaurant operations and concept development. He has led multiple restaurant openings and continues to work across formats, including his own yakiniku concepts in Japan.

Another thing I found interesting in Izakaya Geronimo, though, was what happens after.

The space we sat in that evening was calm and chill. But I was told that as the night pushes on, it shifts. The lights dim further, the music picks up—“tugs tugan na,” as we like to say—and the room takes on a different energy altogether, closer to a bar than a dinner spot. You come for dinner, and then realize there is another version of it you have yet to see.

I’ll need to come back for that.