From Baptism by Fire to a Burgeoning Scene: My Journey Through Poblacion

My first experience of Poblacion was on my very first visit to Manila to meet with the construction company that I was working with at the time. I stayed in the City Garden Grand Hotel. This was only my second trip to South East Asia. I had been to KL before but there I was mainly stuck in a Sheraton Hotel for 4 days of strategy meetings.

So Poblacion, Makati City, was my first experience of South East Asia proper. I arrived in the evening after a long trip from London. I remember having food on the hotel rooftop bar called Firefly and taking in the night time view over Manila and thinking how crazy big it looked. Naturally, I thought I should go for a walk and explore the area.

Without consulting Google Maps I freestyle it out onto the streets of Poblacion. As I was about to leave the elevator, a flustered Western looking guy stumbles in and says "it's crazy out there I cannot take it". With even more intrigue, I decided to proceed with my little adventure.

I opt for a casual stroll around the block of the hotel, or so I thought. First I have to go to the ATM -- literally 20 seconds opposite the hotel. Just as I am taking PHP out, a lady with a baby asks me for money. Then she kind of followed me for a bit. I walk around the block and get offered a number of massages and see numerous ladies or gents of the night. The heat and humidity and that feeling of unfamiliarity adds to the tension of the moment.

Now, normally you would expect a company to book you into a "safe" place, which allows you to acclimatize to the local neighborhood, so let's say I was not expecting this kind of welcome. I decided to abort mission within about 30 minutes. I was now the "flustered guy" heading back to the elevator. I got back to my room, looked out the window of the 21st floor and thought, "What kind of place is this?"

The next day, I was collected by the driver at the hotel and taken to the office. In the morning light, things didn't seem so crazy but I cannot explain how different South East Asia is to cities in the West where I come from. Yes, we have big cities like London where I lived for many years but the busy-ness, the heat, the traffic and chaos of the streets all take a little bit of getting used to.

By the end of the week I had mostly spent it in the office and was shepherded around various establishments that my hosts thought I would like. Mostly places in malls. For the record, I generally dislike malls and especially eating in restaurants in malls. Always feels wrong to me, I don't think I'd ever had a very authentic dining experience inside a mall.

By the end of the week, I was also taken to Anvaya Cove, about 3 hours outside Manila. I got picked up at around 6am on a Saturday morning which meant I had to be awake at about 5:30am. I was in the elevator by 5:45am and was greeted by two ladies or gents of the night who clearly had, shall we say, a big night. A slightly awkward silence was broken only by a half-hearted proposition, which I politely declined.

After a fun and relaxing experience in Anvaya Cove, I was back in Makati. Given my baptism by fire on the streets around the City Garden Grand Hotel, it took me a while to summon up the courage to try the streets of Poblacion again.

It might have been a year or two later before I would explore more. I think, at that time, for most folks like me, the natural cycle of things is to discover Salcedo and then go deeper into Manila from there. I did make a random excursion out to Quezon City on a mission to find something cool. On that particular excursion, I just could not find anything special. Shortly after being dropped off by the Grab, I ventured down a back street, got a bit lost and decided to abort that mission too.

I can't remember how or when exactly that I realized there was more to Poblacion than my first-week experience. However, I remember finding a little booklet somewhere, which had a curated map of Poblacion highlighting local places to check out. This helped me to discover Pineapple Lab, a creative arts collective on R. Palma Street, which sadly has since closed. There was a random little coffee shop on the same street with a Carabao on its logo, which was also pretty cool. I think it has also since closed. Following the map allowed me to find a nice restaurant on the same street, called Lampara, a neo-Filipino restaurant that has since been added to the Michelin Guide. This little adventure culminated in the same week with me attending Wanderland Festival, a music festival in Alabang. I believe it was 2017. With all this, I finally realized there were the rumblings of something cool happening in this area.

I would have a few more little ventures into Poblacion but it was not really until after the pandemic that I started to go deep. It seemed, by this time, there was definitely a feeling that something of a scene was developing there. One of the first places I visited after the pandemic was Cafe de Fleur, which was pretty cool. It did pasta and pizza and had an al fresco part that was great. I went there a few times and saw how Poblacion was fast developing into a destination for hanging out.

It was around this time that I discovered Draper Startup House. I went there for quite a few events and even spoke on stage at one of them. It's really nice hanging out on the balcony on the upper floor and surveying the Makati skyline. I also hung out at the bar downstairs for an Esquire startup event. I believe it's since been taken over by a Venture Studio which is probably another indication of a changing area.

Gradually, over time I came to know the streets around Poblacion a bit better. Only Pans on Don Pedro is worth a mention: you can sit inside or outside. Outside is better for me, on the stools as you can soak in the atmosphere. Japonesa, which is the sushi place, is pretty decent too, it's nice to go on the 2nd floor and experience some al fresco dining.

Jumong, on the corner of Don Pedro, is a humble looking Korean restaurant with really authentic Korean food -- highly recommended. Again, you can sit outside here and soak in the atmosphere. Another place to try out is Pita, yet another Michelin Guide addition. On the Poblacion/Rockwell border is Dr. Wine, a French restaurant with Executive Chef Romaine Escande cooking up authentic French food in a cool loft style building, which also has an amazing roof terrace for taking in the views of Makati and the lights of Rockwell in the evening.

We recently did some gonzo journalism to explore the alternative scene in Pobla. We had the chance to spend an evening there with Marco Baluyut (part owner of numerous establishments in BGC and Pobla) and Nicolette, a DJ by night and PR guru by day. We bore witness to an F & B and music scene that is really starting to take hold. We also spoke with one of Marco's business partners, Carlos Munarriz. Together they have completely transformed an old building in Poblacion into what is today the White Rabbit, a building that houses multiple establishments including The Cheshire, which is featured in our Poblacion at night video.

Before we met with those guys, we hung out at The Treehouse, which is a beautifully designed new bar opened near the Rockwell end of Pobla complete with a small balcony for that Al fresco experience. The tunes are house infused and the vibe is relaxed. It would not look out of place in downtown Palma, Mallorca, or Ibiza Town and the crowd is young and trendy.

Later we met with Marco and Nicolette at Annex House, which from the outside is pretty unremarkable and could just be the side of a random house. However, once you are inside, it's a mix of al fresco hang out, main bar with some clothing for sale, and numerous other rooms dotted around the place on the upper floors -- a great place to hang out for a drink in the evening or catch up on some work, over a coffee, during the day.

We had great chats with Nicolette and Marco, which you can see in our recent video. They also took us to an authentic döner place, called House of Döner (another of Marco's ventures) that has an actual Turkish chef -- named Cengiz. We spent the evening talking about how Manila has changed over the years and the excitement for what lies ahead. We agreed that it seems like a perfect storm of a young demographic, expanding middle class, and an organic, locally driven recovery after the pandemic that is driving the scene forward. Marco is also involved with some fine establishments over in BGC, such as speakeasy No Entry.

If we did a key word graph for the night the word that kept coming up was 'opportunity'. The passion and excitement coming through from Marco and Nicollette was palpable -- there was lots of nostalgia on my part as we discussed the house and techno music scene here. I was happy to share some stories from back in the 90s. When Marco took us to our final stop of the night, Sanctuary (which also has a nice roof deck), they played Xpander by Sasha (an old techno tune from the 90s), at which point, I had one of those goosebump moments where my nostalgia met with their excitement for the future -- a beautiful moment for me personally. As I casually strolled home through the streets of Poblacion, I was as excited as Marco and Nicolette for the future of this city. Quite a contrast from my first walk around Pobla.