Best of Luck, Cubao Expo: What to Order for Two

At Best of Luck in Cubao Expo, dinner for two comes to about ₱800 before drinks: siomai to start, a bowl of beef tendon noodles to split and a bacon bao each, at 2024 prices. Go from Tuesday to Sunday after 4 PM, because it is closed on Mondays.

The order for two

The kitchen serves Hong Kong-style Chinese plates and cocktails. Three dishes are the easy way to fill a table:

• Pork & Shrimp Siomai, ₱168 in 2024
• Braised Beef Tendon Dry Noodles, ₱288 in 2024
• Special Bacon Bao, ₱188 in 2024

Those give a few honest ways to order:

• Light, ₱644: one siomai, one noodles and one bao, everything shared.
• The standard, ₱832: one siomai, one noodles to split and a bao each.
• Two bowls, ₱744: one siomai and a bowl of noodles each.

The standard order works out to ₱416 a head, comfortably under ₱500. All three totals are before drinks, and the bar makes cocktails, so leave room in the budget if you plan to have one. The prices date from 2024, so treat ₱800 as a floor, not a promise.

If only one dish makes it to the table, make it the Pork & Shrimp Siomai (₱168 in 2024), the cheapest of the three and the easiest to share.

Why it suits a table of two

The restaurant runs over two floors of two-seat tables. That detail matters more than the menu for a date: a pair is the size of party the room was laid out for. It is indoors, so rain does not change the plan once you are through the Expo gate.

It is a poor fit for a big barkada for the same reason. With two-seat tables, a group of eight should expect to be split up. For that, the Gateway Mall 2 restaurants that seat a big group are about a 12-minute walk away.

When to go

It is closed on Mondays and open Tuesday to Sunday, running until midnight. Arriving at 4 PM or later is safe. For a lunch date, check its page before you go.

If a table is not free, other kitchens sit inside the same compound, and any two places in Cubao Expo are about a 2-minute walk apart.

Before dinner and after

A 6 PM dinner leaves time beforehand for the shops. John's Antique Shop has old komiks, typewriters and radios and closes at 7 PM. Pablo Galleries shows contemporary Filipino art until 7 PM from Tuesday to Saturday. Good Vibrations Records is a vinyl shop with a listening room, open from 1 PM to 10:30 PM and closed on Mondays, so it also works after the meal.

Dinner here costs less than at Habanero or Bellini's, and the saving can go on the next stop. INT.Bar is a speakeasy behind a photobooth door, also under ₱500 a head. Cubao X Brewery is an open-air taproom open until midnight daily; it has no kitchen, so eat first. For a last stop without alcohol, The Brewman Coffee pours espresso drinks until 11 PM from Tuesday to Sunday and lends out board games and books.

If it is closed or full

Bellini's is the Monday answer. It is an Italian kitchen open daily from 10 AM to 9:30 PM, it takes reservations through its Facebook or Instagram page, and it costs ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head. Habanero Kitchen Bar is in the same range, with oyster sisig and a torched three-cheese pizza, but it is closed on Mondays too.

To stay under ₱500 a head on a Monday, Silingan Coffee serves coffee and simple rice meals until 11 PM daily, and Ichiban Takoyaki opens at 3 PM.

Plan the rest

The night-out planner can put this dinner inside a full evening and swap the stops around it. To compare the compound's kitchens side by side, read Cubao Expo restaurants, sorted by occasion. For more plates at this price, see Cubao Expo food under ₱300. If this is a first meeting, a Cubao Expo first date for under ₱1,500 uses the same compound, and the Cubao date night guide covers the rest of the area.