BGC Restaurants by Occasion: Date, Group or Budget

The best BGC restaurants by occasion are Bolero, COCHI and Locavore for a group, Em Hà Nội, Los Tacos MNL and Hikiniku to Come for a date for two, Greenlight Burgers for a tight budget, and Gallery by Chele for an anniversary. Medusa at The Palace is for a night that wants a show with dinner.

What dinner costs

Prices are per person, and they set the level to plan around, not the bill.

• Under ₱500 a head: Greenlight Burgers.
• ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head: Em Hà Nội, COCHI, Bolero, Los Tacos MNL, Locavore and Hikiniku to Come.
• ₱1,500 and up a head: Gallery by Chele, where the tasting menus run ₱5,000 to ₱7,500, and Medusa at The Palace.

For scale, a typical BGC night runs ₱1,200 to ₱3,000 a head all in, and the budget end starts around ₱250 to ₱400.

A date for two

Three restaurants in the middle price level suit a table for two, and each is known for something specific enough to settle the "where do you want to eat" loop.

Em Hà Nội is known for phở gà and nem rán and holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand. Los Tacos MNL makes tacos with Oaxacan technique and also holds a Bib Gourmand. Hikiniku to Come is built around one dish: charcoal-grilled hamburg steak, served three ways.

All three are indoors, which matters in BGC because the High Street spine is open-air. The longer plan around a dinner like this is in BGC date ideas, and the one-dish place has its own page.

A group table

Three of these restaurants take big groups, so a barkada or birthday dinner starts with one of them.

Bolero serves Spanish food in large sharing portions and holds a Bib Gourmand. Sharing portions make splitting a bill for eight or ten simpler. COCHI does modern Filipino cooking, also with a Bib Gourmand. Locavore is a Filipino restaurant at Forbes Town with indoor and alfresco tables, listed as Michelin Selected.

Book ahead for any group and give the restaurant the full head count. The page on a Filipino group dinner at Forbes Town and the plan for a birthday in BGC for ten go further.

A tight budget

Greenlight Burgers serves smashburgers ordered through a stoplight system, and it is the one BGC restaurant here under ₱500 a head. Two people eating there can stay under ₱1,000, and the rest of the night can be free: the ArtBGC mural routes between Burgos Circle and Serendra cost nothing. That plan is written out in a BGC date for two on ₱1,000.

An anniversary, or dinner as the event

Gallery by Chele is the fine-dining entry: one Michelin star, on the fifth floor of Clipp Center at 11th Ave corner 39th St, with tasting menus at ₱5,000 to ₱7,500. Two menus come to ₱10,000 to ₱15,000 before anything else is added. The booking questions are in the one-star anniversary dinner, costed.

Medusa at The Palace is a theatrical dining lounge at The Palace in Uptown, ₱1,500 and up a head. Ask what the evening involves when booking, and plan the rest of the night around Uptown: Brick Wall Comedy Club and The Palace's late-running clubs are in the same part of BGC.

After dinner

• A date: a hidden door. Bank Bar is entered from behind a convenience store and stays open until 1am. The Back Room is a gin speakeasy inside a hotel.
• A group: a show at Brick Wall Comedy Club in Uptown Parade, then the bars sorted in bars in BGC by budget.
• An anniversary: one drink at The Peak, the rooftop bar on floors 60 to 62 of the Grand Hyatt.

Before you go

Check each restaurant's own page for tonight's hours, and use the map link on a name to see where it sits before heading over.

The planner covers Cubao now and BGC is next. See which areas are live, or see restaurants in Cubao by budget for a dinner you can plan today, with hours and dated dish prices.

The planner covers Cubao now. BGC is next, and this post is written from the same kind of checked list.