BEST PLACE TO WRITE #5] Sarge Lacuesta for Uno, the restaurant

Sarge does not live on sourdough bread alone.

Uno Restaurant used to be this small, sparely decorated, half-hidden place in QC. My mother, of all people, told me about it. I took my then-girlfriend Mookie here on our first date. Then they added a second floor, put on some wallpaper, and started attracting these loud-mouthed bigwigs and poseurs from the nearby networks and film studios. But it's still a good place to write—there's no music, there's no wifi, they don't accept credit cards (to repel the boorish Makati crowd, I presume) and my favorite corner is still often vacant. And they still serve the most underrated food in the city: well-thought out daily specials, a fantastic menu that changes (too) often, the best cheesecake in QC—and they serve Cerveza Negra. So what the fuck else can you ask for—no, not the address: I'm still never giving that away.

Photograph by Sarge Lacuesta.