Cubao Date Ideas: Dinner, Flowers and a Nightcap

For a Cubao date that needs almost no planning, have dinner at Grace Park in Gateway Mall 2, buy a bouquet from the 24-hour stalls at Farmers Garden, and finish with one drink. The drink is the only decision, between the rooftop at The Edge Skyview Bar and the speakeasy at INT.Bar.

6:30 PM: dinner at Gateway

Grace Park is on the ground floor of Gateway Mall 2 and cooks Filipino farm-to-table food. Order the soy garlic lamb chops or the Negros organic lechon. Expect ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head. It is pet-friendly.

The reason it leads this plan is its hours. It is open from 10 AM to 11 PM daily, while most of the mall around it shuts at 9 PM from Sunday to Thursday. Dinner here does not have to race a closing time, and a late start still works.

The alternative is Le Bistro, the French restaurant on the ground floor of ibis Styles, with escargot, beef bourguignon and duck leg confit à l'orange. It closes at 10 PM. Pick it if the rooftop ending is already decided, because the bar is upstairs in the same hotel.

8:00 PM: flowers in the middle

Most plans put flowers at the start. Putting them in the middle is kinder to the flowers, which skip two hours on a restaurant chair, and it gives the walk after dinner somewhere to go.

Farmers Garden is a row of flower shops beside Farmers Market, about a 6-minute walk from Gateway. The flower shops are open 24 hours, so there is no closing time to beat, and a bouquet runs under ₱500. Follow the map pin, not a written address.

Fifteen minutes is enough. Choosing together is part of the stop: one person points, the other vetoes.

Ending one: the rooftop

From the flower stalls it is about a 6-minute walk back toward Gateway. The Edge Skyview Bar is a pool bar on Level 22 of the hotel, with a deck for the skyline and the sunset. It opens at 5:30 PM, takes reservations and costs ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head.

Two cautions. Ask how late the bar runs when you book the table. And it is outdoors, so this ending needs a dry night.

If the sunset matters more than the order, flip the plan: rooftop at 5:30 PM, dinner downstairs or at the mall, flowers last. The stalls will still be open.

Ending two: the speakeasy

INT.Bar is in Cubao Expo, about a 12-minute walk from the Farmers end of Araneta City. That is a long walk after dinner, so take a short ride if it is raining or if anyone is in heels.

The bar is behind a photobooth door. Cocktails are named after films, Tuesdays are movie nights and weekends bring DJ sets. It takes reservations, it costs under ₱500 a head, and the space is open until 12:30 AM daily, which makes this the ending for a night that is going well.

On the way in, the convex mirror by the compound entrance is where people stop for a mirror photo, and a bouquet in the frame does no harm. The compound is open until midnight.

Choosing between the two endings

• Budget: the rooftop is ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head, the speakeasy under ₱500.
• Weather: rain rules out the rooftop. The speakeasy is indoors, but the walk to it is not.
• Distance: the rooftop keeps the whole night within about 6 minutes of each stop. The speakeasy adds a 12-minute walk or a ride.
• Time: the speakeasy runs until 12:30 AM.
• Mood: a view and a breeze, or a hidden door and a film-themed menu.

Variations and further reading

The flower stop has its own page, with more on fitting it into any evening: the guide to Cubao's 24-hour flower market. Sunset timing and booking for the rooftop are in the rooftop bar guide, and the door, the film nights and the DJ sets are in the guide to the photobooth-door speakeasy.

For a night that stays entirely inside the compound, read a Cubao Expo date night, stop by stop. Other restaurants that suit a table for two are in romantic restaurants in Quezon City, and the night-out planner builds a night like this around your budget in the Cubao date night guide.