Starting May 28 until June 11, 2026, Quezon City cult-favorite Half Saints is joining forces with Makati's irreverent Japanese joint, The Underbelly, for a 14-day pop-up menu dubbed "Saint Billy." It’s a temporary partnership that aims to mash up familiar, nostalgic flavors with unapologetic street-level chaos.
Co-created by chefs Christine Roque and Jo Arciaga of Half Saints alongside Noel Mauricio and Jackson Chua of The Underbelly, the menu is split into two distinct tracks: "Saints" and "Sinners." The Saints half focuses on deceptively wholesome, balanced flavors, while the Sinners section leans heavily into deep spices, rich fats, and hedonistic combinations. The entire 5-dish menu will be simultaneously available across all Half Saints branches (QC and BGC) as well as The Underbelly’s home at The Alley at Karrivin in Makati.
The mashup of their respective culinary identities is obvious right off the bat. Half Saints is widely known for its buttery puff pastry pizzas, so the collaboration features the Inferno Tantan Puff Pizza (₱375), which layers yuzu cream cheese, spicy tantan sesame pork, crispy nori, and a drizzle of wasabi honey onto their signature crust. If you’re looking for a straight-up heavy hitter, Billy’s Holy Ribwich (₱375) stuffs grilled chashu pork, raw onions, pickles, and a sharp horseradish sauce into a thick, pillowy shokupan bun.
The kitchen gets even more experimental with their pastry and noodle dishes. The Pork & Brie “Pain” au Chocolat (₱395) is a savory-sweet curveball, packing a black cacao croissant with braised pulled pork, melted Brie de Meaux, and a punchy calamansi kosho. Meanwhile, the Crispy Pork Abura Soba (₱450) tops dry Japanese noodles with local, crispy bagnet, creamy Italian stracciatella, and menma (bamboo shoots). It sounds chaotic on paper, but it targets a very specific craving for rich, savory textures.
To reset your palate after all that sodium, the menu ends with a Calamansi Coconut Granita (₱275) featuring calamansi crémeux, dried sponge cake, and a funky orange ferment. Because this is a strictly limited two-week engagement, expect peak hours at both the spacious BGC branch and the tighter Karrivin Alley slot to get frantic. If you want a taste of a well-executed, no-nonsense flavor collision before it disappears in mid-June, putting in an early order is the practical move.
