Where to Celebrate a Birthday in Makati: Three Tables for Ten

To celebrate a birthday in Makati with ten people, book one of three restaurants that take big groups: Pablo Bistro in Salcedo for paella and sangria until midnight, Manam at the Triangle at the Ayala Triangle for Filipino comfort food, or People's Palace near Greenbelt Park for Thai with a vegetarian menu. Plan the night around one long table and stay at it.

The three tables

Pablo Bistro, at Picasso Boutique, 119 LP Leviste in Salcedo. Tapas, paella and sangria until midnight. It is Michelin Selected, runs late and costs ₱1,500 and up a head.

Manam at the Triangle, at the Ayala Triangle. Filipino comfort food with twists, holding a Michelin Bib Gourmand. It costs ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head, the lowest of the three.

People's Palace, near Greenbelt Park. A Thai restaurant with a vegetarian menu, Michelin Selected, at ₱1,500 and up a head.

All three are indoors, so rain does not move the party.

Choosing by the group

The group wants to linger. Pablo Bistro. It serves until midnight, while most kitchens in the business district close at 10 to 11pm. Paella and sangria are both made for sharing down a long table.

The group has a budget. Manam at the Triangle. It is the one table of the three at the middle price, and comfort food is an easy order for ten people with ten opinions.

The group eats differently. People's Palace. The vegetarian menu settles the question before anyone has to raise it.

The bill for ten

These are ranges for planning, not menu prices.

• Manam at the Triangle: ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head, so roughly ₱5,000 to ₱15,000 for ten.
• Pablo Bistro and People's Palace: ₱1,500 and up a head, so ₱15,000 or more for ten.

Sangria and other drinks push a bill up faster than food does. Decide before the day who pays for what: an even split, each for their own, or the table covering the celebrant. Tell the group the expected share when you send the invitation, not when the bill lands.

What to book and what to ask

Call or message a week ahead for a Friday or Saturday, and get answers to these:

1. Can ten sit at one table, or will it be two tables side by side?
2. Is there a set menu or a minimum spend for a group this size?
3. Can a cake be brought in, and is there a charge for it?
4. What time is the last order, and when does the table have to be given back?

Then set the arrival time early. A table for ten at 7pm, with everyone told 6:45pm, leaves three hours before the district's kitchens start closing.

Where the night goes after dinner

For ten people, the honest answer is that it stays at the table. That is the case for Pablo Bistro: it serves sangria until midnight, so dinner and the late drinks happen in one place without moving ten people across the district.

A louder group that wants Poblacion afterwards should split up. Two taxis and two groups of five suit the narrow sidewalks there better than one group of ten, and Poblacion bars run until between 2am and 4am, so there is no hurry to leave dinner. The route is in the Poblacion bar crawl, which is written for two to four people at a time.

Other ways to do it

For how the size of the party changes the plan, read where to celebrate a birthday in Manila by group size and the wider birthday celebration ideas. The same night in other areas: a Cubao birthday for ten under ₱800 a head and a birthday in BGC with ten people.

The night-out planner can build the Cubao version today. It covers Cubao now, and Makati is next: see which areas are live.

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