Makati Nightlife

Makati has a redlight district along P. Burgos Avenue where P stands for Padre, named after a heroic priest who fought for the Philippine independence from the Spanish colonialists. KTV's abound with "guest relations officers" who massage the egos of mainly Korean and Japanese men by listening to their mournful renditions of their songs in their own language. There are also expat British or Irish bars, shisha bars, and as commonly spotted in these type of districts, restaurants and strip joints galore.

It's no doubt very popular with the tourists and male expats with things happening late at night every night.

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Greenbelt Mall existed since the 1980's however it underwent a major face lift in 2000 and then was presented as a "Lifestyle Center that Caters to the Cosmpolitan, Metrosexual Consumer who desires High Quality Shopping, Dining and Entertainment. Greenbelt has a number of International Brands in it like Ralph Lauren, Max Mara, Nautica, etc but is it better known as a active Place to Hang Out and is a Popular DECENT Nightspot. Bars there include Cafe Havana, Ice Bar, Absinth, Cena, Gaudi Bar and A lot more! Average price of a Beer is 80 Pesos (1.80 USD) for San Miguel Beer. Guiness, Tiger, Heineken Beers are about 150 pesos (3.20 USD). Bar chow include Sisig (sizzling pig face) at 130 pesos, calamares (deep fried squid rings) at 180 pesos, Crispy pata (deep fried pig knuckles) at 350 pesos, liempo (charbroiled pork belly) at 200 pesos.

Dress Code: Smart Casual but if want to Dine or Drink Al Fresco then Shorts and Flip Flops are enough.

It is what it is - a cafe in a museum. Of course, as you would expect, the establishment has that exquisite modern design that complements the museum itself.

While Museum Cafe is already open before 7am daily, the best time to come over is still at night, after dinner. They got great drinks and appetizers - they really go well with lounging around with friends or a date. Try Rockstar, one of their original cocktails, and the seared tuna.

Dancing could probably be well in your agenda, too, as they have good club music.

Maybe you can even mingle and meet new friends. Tourists won't feel out of place here. The place has generally a cosmopolitan crowd.

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It is conducive to winding down after a night out. :)
The bar is situated in a quiet street. It looked to me like a private residence converted into a more upscale hang out for the beer enthusiasts. The bartenders claimed they carry more than a hundred kinds of beers from all over the world.

The Belgian Beer (Chimay) I drank cost about P240++/bottle plus tax (about US$5.30++).
They carry a lot of fruit flavored beers which seem to be popular to the group that we found there. The sitting arrangement was cozy and conducive to easy conversation. The bar seat were comfortable enough. The ones we tried were mostly Belgian and German Beers (not surprising since the owner is Belgian) with unpronounceable names.

The bartenders were nice and seem to be knowledgeable about their stock. Hehehehe! It doesn't hurt that they were young and good-looking!

BTW, the bar is open daily:
* Su: 5:00 pm - 2:00 am
* M, T, W, Th, F, Sa: 5:00 pm - 4:00 am

Dress Code: Smart Casual.
I did not see anybody there wearing cargo shorts and flip-flops. :)

The Red Box is a good place to give pent to your passion for singing. They have 41 rooms of different sizes. A small room can hold five to six guests, while the biggest room can fit 40 guests. According to the staff there are also two rooms, good for 25 guests, that have pool tables.
It is open daily from 12 noon to 3 a.m.

Dress Code: Casual

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A hard rock like others seen (Kuala Lumpur, Singapore):
- Good live music (too noisy for me, I had to go to the smoking area)
- Good service, barmens
- Reasonable prices
- Working girls (fair)

... but nothing magic, no wooow

Dress Code: Casual

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Temple Bar in greenbelt 2 is basically a Fusion of a Lounge, Chill Out and House Bar fused with Chinese Fusion cuisine. It has a giant Buddha Statue inside and it really gets crowded especially at midnight. During the day and early evening, it serves good chinese fusion cuisine like Chicken ***ake Mushroom in Fried Wanton, Fried Spicy Squid, Buddha Soup, Temple Ceasar Salad, Oriental Seafood Soba, Pineapple Fried Rice, Lemon Chicken, Kung Pao Chicken and others. When the clock strikes 10:00 pm, it suddenly transforms into a Bar with loud music, playing house, chill out, lounge and sometimes trance music which can go up to 3:00 am.

Dress Code: Smart Casual, no shorts or flip flops allowed!

opens daily from 10:00 am to 3:00 am friday to saturday
10:00 am to 12:00 am weekdays and sunday.

Average beers costs 130 pesos a bottle, average meals like kung pao chicken starts at 300 pesos (small servings though).

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Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is A Chic place to Hang Out and is really popular in the Southern California Area but like Seattle's best Coffee then, it's popularity is limited and is mostly located in the southwestern US (California, Nevada, Arizona) but has growing popularity worldwide especially in asia.

This branch in greenbelt 3 is their first branch here and started in 2003. The company was founded by Mona and Herbert Hyman. It is one of the oldest and largest privately held chain of specialty coffee and tea stores. The first store opened in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood in 1963. Coffee Bean stores differ from other coffee chains such as Starbucks with their broad selection of tea drinks. It also popularized The Original Ice Blended drinks and Chai Lattes.

Here in the philippines, it is a popular place to hang out and have free wi-fi especially when the nearby Starbucks and Seattle's Best Coffee are Jampacked since prices here are slightly lower.

Dress Code: Smart Casual.