Cool Manila: 25 of the Coolest Spots to Visit, Things to Do, Stuff to Get in the City Now

(SPOT.ph) “Cool” has had to undergo many transformations over the past few years,  like your groovy Tito who’s had to do a lot of advanced-stage growing up for the changing times—otherwise, “Canceldt!” These days, cool can no longer denote a kind of snobbery, be accessible only to a few, or include brilliant personalities who have unfortunately problematic values. Cool has grown up and, dare we say it, become a little more friendly, approachable, a tad more worthy of admiration. Less artifice, more authenticity.

Which is something you can also say of the people, places and stuff on this list. They still possess that OG quality of what cool is—“fashionably attractive or impressive,” (thanks Oxford!)— creations and creators as they are of this moment in the culture. But quite simply, the selections below are cool because they spark our sense of wonder and delight. It helps, too, that a great number of them represent just how excitingly creative, or creatively exciting Manila is at the moment.

With contributions from Toni Potenciano (Dencio Aguilar), Patricia Chong (Bar Ie), and Bea Faicol (Siesta Horchata and Animal Flow).

For a while, visitors to First United Building knew it as the coffee retail shop beside The Den, and pass by it on their way to the ground floor comfort rooms. It sold whole beans, drip bags, single-serve sachets, Cascara tea, and merch—all proudly Philippine-made. But now Escolta Coffee Company has crossed the street and found a rightful home of its own, on the ground floor of the Burke Building, right at the corner of Escolta and Burke Streets.

It now has a café too, albeit open only Thursdays to Sundays. “Mondays through Wednesdays, we're a working roastery,” says Gab Villegas, co-founder and Head Roaster. “You can still drop by for takeout drinks and retail beans, but the energy is different. Thursdays through Sundays we open up the space for people to come in, sit down, and spend time with the coffee. It's a different atmosphere entirely.”

They serve espresso drinks and hand-brewed coffee, all roasted in-house. “We source single-origin lots from across the country,” says Gab, “from highland farms in Benguet, Mountain Province, and Nueva Vizcaya in the north, all the way south to Zamboanga del Sur, Bukidnon, Davao del Sur, Negros Occidental, South Cotabato, and Sultan Kudarat. The origins shift depending on the harvest, if they produce coffee that we like as a team.”

Of the specialty drinks in the menu, Gab recommends trying their Magandang Araw, a taho-coffee mashup, or the Escolta Fizz, made with cascara, citrus, palm sugar, and soda water. Both are nods to Escolta’s history: as Manila’s ‘Queen of the Streets,’ shopping mecca, and home to great architecture.

“This street was once the commercial heart of Manila,” says Gab. “That era passed, and for a long time the buildings sat quiet. But something has been stirring here for the past decade. Yung mga artists, small creative businesses, cultural workers, all finding their way into these old structures and giving them new purpose. Parang Escolta Coffee Company came from the same impulse. We wanted to root something in this place that honors what it was and contributes to what it's becoming.” Escolta Coffee Company is in the corner of Burke and Escolta Streets, Binondo, Manila.

It has landed a spot on the Michelin Guide in 2025, cited for its menu that “revisits Filipino classics in refined, eye-catching ways,” with dishes that are “rich and hearty.” But Esmeralda Kitchen, that nostalgia-inducing house-turned-restaurant in Mayon Street, Sta Mesa Heights, QC, is in this list because our friend, the stylist and all-around creative Jodinand Aguillon of pre-loved fashion store Glorious Dias, recommended it. And when he said it reminded him of the iconic Rural Kitchen of Liliw Laguna in Poblacion’s Palma Street, across which the OG Glorious Dias used to be, we totally understood why. What to order at Esmeralda, as per Jodee: the dinuguan with fried puto, the grilled suahe sinigang, and the lechon belly. “The adobo also looked good but I only order stuff I don’t know how to make at home!” Esmeralda Kitchen and Deli is located at 43 Mayon Street, Santa Mesa Heights, Quezon City. Call 0917-831-7533 for reservations.

In BF Homes, Parañaque, one café is quietly pouring something you don’t see on coffee shop menus every day: horchata. Siesta Horchata is the first in Metro Manila to focus on the Mexican drink, traditionally made by soaking rice and cinnamon in water, and then blending and straining it, before mixing it with milk for a smooth, subtly spiced sweetness. Here, they give the drink a twist, adding ingredients like coconut sugar for extra depth.

The café's signature horchata is good on its own—hot or iced, signature or the "Burnt" version which has a smoky profile. But if you really, really, really need your drink to actually wake you up, Siesta Horchata can go dirtier, adding an espresso shot to your beverage. There are also options to mix horchata with matcha or chai, if that's more up your alley.—Bea Faicol

Siesta Horchata is at 11 President's Avenue, Parañaque City.

It’s the ramen spot of the moment, at least according to Spot’s unofficial council of advisors. Word is that its bowls are even better than those of everyone’s go-to Mendokoro Ramenba. But let’s not get into the whole “who did it better” game here. Let’s just say the Kagoshima Tori Paitan Soba, the joint’s bestseller, is in a league of its own: it’s paitan soup creamy, porridgey but with a clean mouthfeel, a combination of chicken broth (using Kagoshima chicken), niboshi soup (fish broth) and chicken oil. Its soba is white and soft, and the slice of chicken meat at its center tender and flavorful from the dashi marinade. People still talk about it in hushed tones, as if trying to keep it a secret—but judging from the early lunch crowd on our recent visit, it no longer is. Zagin Soba Manila is at Rufino Street cor. Ayala Avenue, Legazpi Village, Makati City. For reservations, call 09171927604.

The Loafy Cat is a café located inside Tiño Suits and Tailoring in Legaspi Village, which means it’s exclusive to new and old clients of the shop, one of the most trusted places people go to for bespoke suits in Manila. Only a little more than a year old—it was fully installed February 2025–it allows a little chill time for the customer before their appointment with the shop’s master tailor, or a little refreshment before their fitting. "Many guests are partial to the cold, refreshing drinks because of the weather," observes Angelo Dionora, director of PR and Brand Communications. "I’ve also noticed that our older clients love a classic hot Americano." Tiño Suits and Tailoring is located at G/F Herco Center 114 Benavidez St., Legaspi Village, Makati City

Let’s just say what first got us hooked is the voice—cool and husky, also self-assured, basically sitting you down and declaring, “I got this.” And that’s exactly the kind of vibe you want in a guy teaching you the ways of the kitchen. Pablo Luis Luna Capati IV, or @pablothefork, is the latest rising star giving Internet audiences cooking lessons thru fast cuts. At only 23, he moves and sounds like a seasoned chef in his no-nonsense videos—his hands quick, his chops precise.

And to think he only learned how to cook from his mom and dad (the artists Nikki Luna and Pablo Capati III) and lola. “Good food was just always around growing up, so the appreciation was there early, he tells Spot. But he only really got into cooking during the pandemic. “What got me was realizing that so many things I loved eating outside could be even better at home. Cheaper, tuned exactly to how I like it, and this surprised me—I actually enjoyed the process. The cooking itself, not just the eating. I’d say my family gave me the foundation, but honestly YouTube raised me in the kitchen.”

Before all this, Pablo’s life was baseball. He was in the national team at 16, and was already in talks to join D1 schools in the US— USC and Stanford among them. Then the pandemic happened and shut down all his prospects. But when the sports door closed, the window to F&B opened. “I consider myself more of a businessman than a chef,” says one of the founders of Takaaw, SauceBossPH (currently on pause), and Paburopots. a ceramics shop, workshop studio, and private dining operations in San Jose, Batangas. “I’ve never trained professionally and I’d never claim to be one. I just have a deep passion for food and I love building things around it.”

Music is also a big passion. In fact, the original idea for @pablothefork was to weave his music (he sings and plays a few instruments) into his videos. “It felt like the most honest way to represent myself,” he says.

What’s something new he learned from vlogging about food? “I was honestly worried I'd run out of things to make,” he says. “Turns out the opposite is true. The more you go into it, the more you realize how endless it actually is. Different cuisines, techniques, ingredients, cultures, it just keeps opening up.” Making cooking videos even made him love cooking more. “I thought documenting it might drain something out of it. But it actually keeps me accountable to set time aside to cook properly. For myself, for friends, for family. And it's given me a new appreciation for the whole thing—both the doing and the discovering.”

Real talk: When a Japanese business owner recommends a spot by a compatriot, it’s going to be good. So when the folks behind Pizzeria Maestro in Creekside Makati told me about the shot bar downstairs that only serves whisky and Japanese curry rice, I was sold.

What I was not expecting, however, was how Bar Ie so easily transports you into an old-school jazz kissa, complete with a lolo who’s been running the place for ages. Bar Ie has been at Creekside for almost 15 years—and before that, Master was running it solo in Kansai for nearly four decades before literally dismantling his bar and moving it to Metro Manila.

More than the hearty, deeply-spiced curry recipe Master been perfecting for nearly 50 years (so simple, yet so good), Bar Ie’s charm is in its nostalgic space: perfect for holding a conversation for hours (as I did with Master’s lovely partner Irene!), watching the Japanese salarymen who drop by, or just quietly nursing a highball.—Patricia Chong

When was the last time Pioneer Street had anything cool? Maybe when Pioneer Studios was still where all the glossy magazines shot their glamorous editorials. But the drought for things exciting and happening has ended ever since NBS Park (called thus no doubt because it’s within the National Book Store compound) opened its gates to the public and its tenant Pluck started creating buzz for its natural wines and roast chicken.

Now there’s an Engkanto Taps beside Pluck, serving not just its signature craft beers but also cocktails and comfort food. Go further inwards and you’d see furniture store Porcelanosa, indoor golf spot Par Tee Golf, and two art spaces: Anton Ramos’ 125 Projects and Gajah Gallery (originally based only in Indonesia) which specializes in showcasing Southeast Asian art. Soon to open, Type A Coffee, moving from its OG Reliance Street outlet just a stone’s throw away. NBS Park is at 125 Pioneer Street, Mandaluyong City.

Remember when you used to dine at the OG Cibo in Glorietta not only because it was chic but because they had the latest magazines, from Vogue to GQ to Vanity Fair? And you can browse them while enjoying your Gamberetti sandwich and Red Grape Shake? Well, that’s kind of what the magazine rack at Type A Coffee over at Reliance Street reminds us of (it’s our favorite café and not only because it’s near the Spot office), except the selection of reading materials here is a little more eclectic, though no less stylish. At any random day, you’ll find a print copy of Graydon Carter’s Air Mail Weekly on the rack, or the latest Monocle.

Recently, we chanced upon a hefty World of Interiors, and a couple of years back a copy of writer Gian Lao’s collection of poetry, What We Can See of The Sky. The New York mag currently on hand, however, has long been overdue for a replacement—but we’re guessing the shop’s attention is focused on their upcoming move to NBS Park (we’ll also miss the floor-to-ceiling selfie mirror but that’s another story). Here’s hoping they’ll be holding space for the magazine rack in that new address, and making sure the reading fare is well curated and worth looking forward to.

It’s the perfect chill pill for when you’re winding down on a Sunday evening, which is usually when a new episode of the Ralph & Sam travel vlog drops. To see the world thru the lens of this photographer (Ralph Mendoza) and writer (Sam Potenciano) couple is to dream of unhurried, stress-free trips where vintage shopping, restaurant-hunting, and cafe-hopping are the only things on the agenda. And everything is postcard-perfect, too, thanks to Ralph’s trained eye at street photography.

No wonder they’ve grown a dedicated following since starting the vlog three years ago (they’re now close to hitting a 100K subscribers on YouTube and their fans make sure to say hi when they spot them while shopping at Chatuchak, or on their way to catch a Shinkansen in Tokyo). They even got a fan message from a celebrity: Megastar Sharon Cuneta herself. Not bad for something they started just for fun and as a way to document their travels.

What has been the most fulfilling part of doing Ralph & Sam? “The vlog feels like a creative exercise that's truly our own,” Sam tells Spot. “We lean into our past lives as a photographer/writer/editor in order to tell stories we're interested in. And it's also been fulfilling to meet people (online) from all over the world who have gone out of their way to see, eat, and do the things we do. It makes us feel creative and connected in a way that we never expected.” Catch the latest Ralph and Sam here.

Furniture stores are everywhere but Studio Yakal, tucked away on the third floor of the YL Building in Rufino Street, Legazpi Village, Makati, seems to attract the younger set of home aesthetes with a taste for well-designed vintage pieces. “We lean towards functional design, items that are built well, age well, and make sense in everyday spaces,” says Ced Roxas who founded the store a few years back with partner Mabs Muñoz, a doctor and self-confessed frustrated interior designer.

Born out of a frustration to find the right piece for her own home during the pandemic, Mabs, together with Ced, eventually opened Studio Yakal where they get to share their passion for finding well-designed pieces with the modern Manileño.

But why is the store open only on weekends (Saturdays and Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.)? Well, weekdays are dedicated to the more backend stuff—sourcing, restoring furniture pieces, workshop visits to make sure commissioned projects are up to their standards. “Keeping it this way allows us to come in fully prepared—so when we open the doors, we’re able to properly engage with clients and give everyone a better, more considered experience.” Studio Yakal is located at the 3/F YL Building, Rufino Street, Legazpi Village, Makati City

2026 started with a goal for the Glorious Dias proprietor and creative force: he wanted to take a workshop every month to learn something new. And then he signed up for Morihana Design Studio’s “flower flow” which taught students how to “make modern, bold, and organic-looking flower arrangements.” Since then, he’s been obsessed with flowers, making bouquets from his Dangwa haul while also incorporating such unusual elements as sitaw and sayote, or a bungkos of bawang or bananas. The sky, it seems, is the limit when it comes to what he can do, or will do with these centerpieces. And we his followers on Instagram are, of course, nothing short of delighted.

Which can also moonlight as a cuff for when the inspiration strikes, as suggested by our cool friend Elaine Domingo of Univers. “It’s brass dipped in electroplated silver. The same material used for carosas and those flower ornaments in santos,” says Alex Lizares-Fontanilla, the other half of Mabuhay Maynila. “We’ve been playing/experimenting with that material for quite some time. And when Under Maintenance requested for a product for their Valentine’s dining pop-up collab with Scratch, that’s what we came up with.” Visit Under Maintenance on Instagram to inquire.

They’re not exactly new but Raxenne Maniquiz’s Terra Fauna and Terra Flora recently showed up at a pop-up by Paraluman. Both are beautiful 30-postcard collections of the beloved graphic designer’s vivid illustrations of flowers and animals that she created over the years. Visit the artist's online shop here.

Part of her ongoing show at Silverlens called Topography of Seeing (which runs until May 16). It's like looking at a swimming pool but better. Is continues to subvert our idea of landscapes in the best possible way.

Inspired by Jake Verzosa’s portraits of basketball courts around the Philippines currently on show at Silverlens Gallery in Makati, artist Aze Ong’s “meticulously crafted fiber sculptures” evoke basketball games played at the height of Philippine summers. “My creative process is intuitive. Yarns are scattered on the floor and I choose colors by feel,” she tells Spot when asked what it was like working on them. “I stop and change colors when I feel it. I just flow. It’s an obsessive crocheting.”

Filipinos love a light show, and we’re pretty sure you’ll love the public light art installation by multimedia artist Isaiah Cacnio at Makati’s creative hub Comuna. For the past two weeks, Cacnio’s fantastical images of rock formations (at least that’s how they appear to us), derived digitally from mathematical formulas of the artist's own configurations, have been changing the nightly Comuna landscape. Catch its last two stunning nights this weekend. Comuna is located at 238 Pablo Ocampo Sr. Ext, San Antonio, Makati City.

The Crown-Cap's origin is a headpiece designed by Abraham "Ham" Guardian, one-half of the design duo HA.MU, for himself. He wanted something extra for his beach birthday, and so came up with "Ham's Birthday Crown," which eventually shot to popularity after internet sensation Bretman Rock wore it in a magazine. "Building on its styling potential and functionality, we reimagined the crown by giving it a new body — a cap base," the HA.MU team shares with Spot. "The result is a modular piece where the crown can be attached or detached from a five-panel cap. The cap itself was designed to reference both a sporty silhouette and the softness of a baby baptismal headpiece, creating a contrast between structure and delicacy." One may order the cap in cool denim or rich brocade, two fabrics the HA.MU designers aren't exactly strangers to. "We chose these textiles not only for their visual character but also for their practicality — they are versatile, easy to maintain, and can be reshaped when needed." A HA.MU Crown-Cap is part of the label's latest collection. A cap is priced at P6,990. Visit HA.MU on Instagram for more details.

A good hairstylist needs two things: spatial thinking and foresight. After all, hair never falls the same way on different heads, and how it looks weeks out is the real test. Dencio Aguilar, the internet darling of haute haircuts, has both. He’s also a perfectionist. He takes his time with each cut, carefully double- and triple-checking every angle until he’s satisfied. The same meticulousness reflects in his documentation—no stray hair or superfluous detail, no matter where you look. One can discern an almost scientific approach to even the choppiest or shaggiest of his haircuts. His co-workers call him “Master.” It’s not hard to see why.—Toni Potenciano

Blending low-key athleticism with equally modest luxury, buttery leather and soft suede, these delicious-looking footwear were inspired by German Army trainers from the 1970s. But while the jump off point in design is the West, they’re completely made in the East—in this case the eastern border of Manila otherwise known as Marikina (hwe hwe). But seriously, a pair of these Brethren sneaks won't only add coolness to your steps, they'll help support a humble business of shoemakers helping to keep alive the dying craft of shoemaking in Marikina. Get to know the Brethren story here. Pre order for P4,490 here.

One of the more unconventional workouts on the wellness circuit is the Animal Flow, which is offered at Kalinong Yoga and Wellness Center at Greenfield District.

At first glance, it can come off as a more loose kind of yoga, but it's more than that. Where yoga leans into mental well-being and flexibility, Animal Flow is all about mobility and coordination, pushing your mind and body to move as one. This is done through continuous, ground-based exercises, borrowing from quadrupedal movement. So, yes, crawling like an animal is involved as you shift through positions like the Beast, Bear, and Crocodile.

Interested? There will be an Animal Flow L1 Workshop this June 13 to 14, 2026, where participants will learn what Animal Flow is all about, as well as the Level 1 movements. Participants will be given a month to practice the Level 1 stuff on their own before submitting their videos for a chance to become a certified Flowist or Animal Flow instructor.—Bea Faicol

Register at: https://animalflow.com/event/l1-manila-jun-2026/.
SOLOMONFLOW for $15% off

Two people with their own romantic partners decide to have an affair—with each other. But this fictional tryst is set not in Wong Kar-wai’s Hong Kong, 1962, but in the Philippines and mostly online during the pandemic, with Covid providing another layer of hadlang to what’s already bawal na pag-ibig. It’s not your usual love story and not your usual novel, told as it is in a series of shitposts, letters, and footnotes by one of the funniest, sharpest voices online, Jade Mark Capiñanes, in a kind of Filipino that brilliantly mimics the way we speak today (well, just a little a more creative). not in the mood for love is published by and sold at Everything's Fine.

From bringing lost classics of Philippine literature back in circulation —Wilfrido Nolledo’s But for the Lovers, Linda Ty-Casper’s Three Cornered Sun, Doreen Fernandez’s Sarap and Palayok, and Erwin Castillo’s The Firewalkers— maverick publishing house Exploding Galaxies recently introduced a new imprint called e.g. (short for Exploding Galaxies, obviously) which will be devoted to short-form writing.

It’s inaugural effort, edited by Nicole Cu-unjieng Aboitiz, gathers “fresh, focused pieces of writing—experiments, explorations, and false starts” from such names as Lisandro “Leloy” Claudio, Vicente L. Rafael, and Sarge Lacuesta, among others. “We created e.g. to encourage new wanderings in the varied world of Philippine letters,” writes Cu-unjieng in her editor’s letter, “to widen the field in which we discuss our lost classics, and to reinvest contemporary meaning into our long literary tradition—renewing the connections between past and contemporary, classic and experimental, lost and deleted.” Visit Exploding Galaxies on Instagram.

If you’re looking for necessary, punch-in-the-gut theater this month, look no further than Encore Theater’s restaging of two Floy Quintos one-act plays, Evening at the Opera and Ang Kalungkutan ng Mga Reyna, repackaged as the twin bill Miranda & Yolanda. Both plays hold a mirror to what’s happening in national politics at the moment, but also manage to be highly entertaining from beginning to end. Miranda is the whisky-chugging, coke-snorting politician’s wife straight out of Tennessee Williams. Her idea of a birthday gift to herself, and holding a finger to her philandering pig of a governor husband, is having an Italian opera staged in their town—on the people’s tab, of course. Yolanda is the delulu president of a Republic who desperately wants to be royal. In the morning after she declares Martial Law, her first order of business is to meet with a hairstylist who’s served various world monarchs. Her request: make her a headpiece fit for a Queen. Intrigued? Miranda & Yolanda runs all weekends of April at the Power Mac Center Spotlight Theater. Head on over to Encore Theater on Instagram.

Cineastes who love old Filipino films switch to being kids in a candy store when inside Karrivin Studios’ Archivo 1984. Not only do they get to see rare film posters and browse books on local cinema, they also get to watch classics from the 70s and 80s on weekends—for free. Sometimes the featured artista is even in the audience, as in their recent screenings of Hinugot Sa Langit (1985) and Salawahan (1979) which were graced by Amy Austria and Rio Locsin respectively. Fans even get to geek out and ask questions in the post-screening talkbacks. To find out what’s showing next, visit Archivo 1984 on Instagram and book a slot.