What to Do in Cubao Expo on a First Date for Under ₱1,500

What to do in Cubao Expo on a first date: coffee at EXT.Cafe, a lap of the shops, a shared dinner at Best of Luck and a photo at the mirror, in that order, between 5 PM and 8 PM. At 2024 prices the coffee and the dinner come to ₱1,004 for two, which leaves ₱496 of room under a ₱1,500 cap.

The budget for two

• Two coffees at EXT.Cafe: ₱360 (₱180 each in 2024)
• Shops and gallery: free to browse
• Three plates to share at Best of Luck: ₱644 (pork and shrimp siomai ₱168, braised beef tendon dry noodles ₱288, special bacon bao ₱188, all in 2024)
• The mirror: free
• Total: ₱1,004

Those are 2024 prices, so expect a little more now. Drinks at dinner are extra, so the ₱496 left over is not spare money; it covers a pair of drinks and the gap between 2024 and today.

5:00 PM: coffee

Meet at EXT.Cafe. It is the daytime side of a speakeasy, it is quiet, and it takes reservations, which removes the awkward minute of hunting for a table with a stranger. The space is open daily from 9 AM to 12:30 AM and the café gives way to INT.Bar in the evening, so ask when it switches to be sure 5 PM is still coffee time.

The fallback is The Brewman Coffee, also quiet, with board games and books to borrow, under ₱500 a head.

The exit: an hour of coffee is a complete first date. If it is not clicking, finish the cup, say thank you and walk out of the gate. Nobody has ordered food and nobody is owed an evening.

6:00 PM: a lap of the shops

This stop costs nothing and does the most work, because there is always an object to talk about. Start with the two that close at 7 PM. Pablo Galleries shows contemporary Filipino art and is quiet enough to keep talking in. John's Antique Shop has old komiks, typewriters and radios.

Then cross to Good Vibrations Records, a vinyl shop with a listening room that is free to enter and open until 10:30 PM. If there is time, WCHA Fashion Haus sells pre-loved clothes, shoes and bags until 8:30 PM.

Allow about 2 minutes between any two doors in the compound, and about fifteen minutes a shop. Three shops fill the slot.

The exit: "the gallery is closing" is a true sentence at 7 PM, and it ends the date without anyone having to invent a reason.

6:45 PM: dinner at a table for two

Best of Luck serves Hong Kong-style Chinese plates and cocktails over two floors of two-seat tables, under ₱500 a head. The three plates in the budget share easily: siomai, a bowl of dry noodles and a bao.

It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 4 PM at the latest, so a 6:45 PM dinner is safe. It is closed on Mondays.

The exit: dinner is the natural end. Split the bill, which at these prices is ₱322 each before drinks, and say goodnight at the gate.

8:00 PM: the mirror, then the choice

On the way out, the convex mirror by the entrance is where people line up for a mirror selfie. It is free, and it is there for as long as the compound is open, 8 AM to midnight daily. A photo together is optional on a first date. Offer; do not insist.

If it is going well, there are two ways to keep going without leaving the compound, both under ₱500 a head:

• Ichiban Takoyaki, a takoyaki stall open until midnight from Monday to Thursday and 1 AM on Fridays and Saturdays, for a snack standing up.
• INT.Bar, the speakeasy behind a photobooth door, in the same space where the evening started with coffee.

Either one takes the night past the ₱1,500 line. By that point, that is good news.

The day to pick, and the day to avoid

Tuesday to Saturday, all four stops are open. On Sundays the gallery is shut and the rest of the plan holds. Mondays break it: the dinner stop and the vinyl shop are both closed, and the fallback café shuts at 8 PM.

Rain changes little, since every stop but the mirror is indoors.

For a fuller order at the dinner stop, see the what-to-order guide for that restaurant. The other quiet meeting places are in cafes in Cubao, and every door's hours are in the Cubao Expo guide. The night-out planner applies the same rules, a capped first stop and one optional bite, in first date ideas in Manila.