Loud, late, or neither

A night is a choice

Most nights out in Manila start with a default. Someone names the usual place, the group goes, and by midnight half of you are shouting over a song nobody picked. This column starts at the other end. What do you actually enjoy, and which room was built for it?

Below are five kinds of night, all in rooms open today. Pick the one that sounds like you, or pick two and do them in order. The only wrong answer is the one you chose because nobody asked.

The listening bar

If you love music and hate shouting, go to Kariton x Sabi Sounds at Tiffany Place in Salcedo. It opened in June as an all-day café that turns into a vinyl listening bar into the early hours, with DJs on weekends. It pairs Erwan Heussaff's Kariton with Sabi Sounds from Melbourne.

It is also the only listening bar we found in the city, which makes it a small room to hang a whole kind of night on. Go early, sit where you can hear the speakers, and let the side finish before you start a story. Bring the friend who notices the bass line.

Dinner first

Some people want the night to start at a table. Medusa at The Palace in Uptown BGC is a supper club, so you can eat, stay put, and let the rest of the complex get loud around you. On Halloween it hosts La Fête from 6:30 pm, the earliest start of The Palace's four parties that night.

No Entry Cocktail Club, under One Neo in BGC, runs as a speakeasy and supper club with live performance. It was co-founded by Apl.de.ap and comes from Habitat Hospitality, the group behind The Iron Fairies, which opened in BGC this year with nightly bands and DJs and six private rooms. Dinner, a set and home by midnight is a whole night, and a very good one.

If you would rather drink well than eat, Problem Child on Jupiter Street in Makati was named the best bar in the country on Asia's 50 Best Bars this year, at number 44. It opens at 6 pm, Monday to Saturday, and takes walk-ins.

The loud room

When you want the floor, you want it properly. Clubhouse at The Palace is the Gen Z nightclub, open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 pm, and it has become the big room in BGC since XYLO closed in January. Cover is reportedly ₱800 to ₱1,500 on Fridays and Saturdays.

For something rougher at the edges, Apotheka in Poblacion has run baile funk, house, techno and queer nights since March 2023, and hosts collectives such as Club Euphoria. NoKal, in the basement of Makati Cinema Square, leans to disco-flavoured house and techno. And if you would like a loud room with people your own age, Monarch in Legazpi Village has been running Strictly 30+ parties.

The rooftop, or none of them

Some nights are about the air. Antidote ran its rooftop New Year's Eve last year at ₱8,000, according to Primer, so keep it for an occasion. Vu's Sky Bar is the rooftop on the Ortigas side of the city. Our own first Guest List night is on a rooftop in BGC: eighty guests, two drinks in, and a host who makes the introductions.

Staying in is a kind of night too. If the week has been long, the best plan may be dinner at home, an early bed and a Saturday morning that belongs to you. A night out is better when you chose it, and you only really chose it if staying home was on the table.

Before you answer the group chat, ask yourself three things.

• Do I want to talk tonight, or listen?
• Do I want to be fed first, or am I happy with whatever the bar has?
• What time do I want to be home, and who is coming with me?

Your answers point at a room. Listening points to Kariton. Fed first points to Medusa or No Entry. Late and loud points to Clubhouse or Apotheka. Home early points to a rooftop at sunset, or to your own sofa, and both count.

If you would like us to do the matching, DM "NIGHT" to @partylifemnl. We ask you the same three questions and reply with a room for this weekend. You can also open the Tonight map and see what is busy before you leave the house.