The Barkada Captain: Things to Do with Friends, Booked for Ten

For things to do with friends in Metro Manila that a group of ten can book, go to Cubao: bowling at Paeng's Gateway Bowl, dinner at Vikings Luxury Buffet in the same mall, and a last round at Cubao X Brewery. The bowling alley and the buffet both take reservations, and ten people only change buildings once, at the end.

How the quiz picks a Barkada Captain

"The loud table everyone wants to join" is the one answer every Captain shares, and the pace has to be above "Slow and easy". After "Out out", either "Good food and a long talk" or "Something to do with our hands" leads here. After "Somewhere in the middle", only the hands answer does; the food answer makes an Easygoing Regular or a Food Tripper. "Something to see or hear" goes elsewhere: "Out out" makes it a Gig Rat and "Somewhere in the middle" a Main Character. The second question and the drinks answer can go any way, so a Captain may be drinking or not, and may want a new place or a sure thing.

The Barkada Captain page sums the night up as a loud dinner that turns into bowling or a mic. It is one of eleven archetypes, and it describes how a person likes to go out, nothing more.

Rules for a table of ten

• Pick rooms that take a crowd. Lanes, a buffet and a food hall seat ten without a fight. A two-seat café does not.
• Book what takes bookings. The bowling alley accepts group and occasion reservations, Timezone Gateway 2 takes party bookings and the buffet takes reservations.
• Know the walk-ins. Palenque and Food Express need no booking, which makes them the fallback when a reservation falls through.
• Stay in one building until the last stop. The bowling alley and the arcade are both on Level 3 of Gateway Mall 2. The buffet, the regional food hall and Dookki are on Upper Ground B, and World Kitchens is on Level 4.
• Watch the gaps. World Kitchens closes between 3 PM and 5:30 PM from Monday to Thursday. The buffet serves dinner from 5:30 PM to 10 PM. Mall venues shut at 9 PM from Monday to Thursday and on Sunday, and at 10 PM on Friday and Saturday.

A Cubao night for ten, stop by stop

5:30 PM, bowling. Paeng's Gateway Bowl has 24 lanes and six billiard tables, costs under ₱500 a head and is open from 10 AM to midnight daily. Allow about 75 minutes, and reserve the lanes ahead.

7:00 PM, dinner. Vikings Luxury Buffet is an international buffet with a carving station that suits celebrations. Expect ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head. A buffet also ends the argument about what to order.

8:30 PM, the last round. Cubao X Brewery is an open-air taproom on two floors in Cubao Expo, open from 3 PM to midnight daily and about a 12-minute walk from Gateway Mall. Start with the Kiamoy Sour. There is no kitchen, which matters less after a buffet.

Swaps for a mic, seafood or a dry night

For a mic. Timezone Gateway 2 has private karaoke rooms next to its arcade games and short-lane bowling. It closes with the mall, so on a weeknight sing before dinner.

For seafood. At Dampa sa Farmers Market the group buys seafood at the market stalls and has it cooked for the table, paluto style. The market itself is open 24 hours, but ask a stall for its cooking hours before promising it to ten people. Farmers is about a 6-minute walk from Gateway Mall.

For a dry night. Drop the taproom. Bowl, eat at World Kitchens or Palenque, then finish at the arcade, which closes at 9 PM from Sunday to Thursday and 10 PM on Friday and Saturday.

For a tighter budget. Food Express on Level 3 of Gateway Mall 1 is a walk-in food court that costs under ₱500 a head, with stalls such as Bebang Halo-Halo, Sisig Hooray and Salo Lechon Belly Kitchen.

A group table in the other areas

Outside Cubao, the group night is built around dinner.

• BGC: Bolero serves Spanish food in large sharing portions. COCHI does modern Filipino cooking, and Locavore has indoor and alfresco tables at Forbes Town. Expect ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head at all three.
• Makati: Pablo Bistro in Salcedo pours sangria with tapas and paella until midnight, at ₱1,500 and up a head. Manam at the Triangle serves Filipino comfort food at Ayala Triangle, and People's Palace has a vegetarian menu for the friend who needs one.
• Pasay Bay Area: Cabalen is a Filipino buffet with kare-kare inside SM MOA. China Blue by Jereme Leung at the Conrad has private rooms and bay views, at ₱1,500 and up a head.

Send a plan, not a poll

A group chat with ten people does not need more options. It needs a time, a place and who booked what. The night-out planner covers Cubao now, builds a night like the one above for up to 15 people and swaps any stop that gets voted down; BGC, Makati and the Pasay Bay Area are next.

For more, read the barkada night out guide, the rundown of Gateway Mall 2 restaurants that seat a big group, or the costed Cubao birthday for ten. The same headcount is planned for BGC and MOA too.