Romantic Restaurants in Quezon City: A Cubao Shortlist

For romantic restaurants in Quezon City, the Cubao shortlist is five sit-down rooms: Bellini's for Italian in Cubao Expo, Le Bistro for French under a rooftop bar, Grace Park for Filipino cooking until 11 PM, Wolfgang's Steakhouse for steak, and MŌDAN for a 12-seat tasting menu. They are sorted here by what each one makes easy for two people: a table booked ahead, a late finish, or somewhere to go afterwards.

The Italian table you can book

Bellini's is an Italian kitchen in Cubao Expo. Order the ravioli tartufo e arugula, the burrata con pomodorini and the tiramisu, which covers a starter, a pasta and a dessert. Expect ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head.

What it makes easy is certainty. It takes reservations through its Facebook or Instagram page, so the table is settled days before. It is open from 10 AM to 9:30 PM daily, Mondays included, so book for 7 PM and do not plan to linger past nine.

Afterwards, the compound does the work. INT.Bar, a speakeasy behind a photobooth door, is about 2 minutes away on foot.

The French dinner with a rooftop upstairs

Le Bistro is on the ground floor of ibis Styles. The menu reads like a proper French dinner: escargot, beef bourguignon and duck leg confit à l'orange. It is open from 10 AM to 10 PM daily, at ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head.

What it makes easy is the second act. The Edge Skyview Bar is on Level 22 of the same hotel, a rooftop pool bar with a deck for the skyline and the sunset. It opens at 5:30 PM and takes reservations. Go up first for the sunset and come down to eat, or eat first and finish upstairs. Either way the whole evening happens in one building.

The Filipino kitchen that stays open late

Grace Park is on the ground floor of Gateway Mall 2 and cooks Filipino farm-to-table food. Order the Cubao-Soy Garlic Lamb Chops; the Negros organic lechon is the other dish to know. Expect ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head. It is pet-friendly.

What it makes easy is time. It is open from 10 AM to 11 PM daily, later than any other table on this list, so dinner can follow a film or a show at the Coliseum and still not be hurried.

The two splurges

Wolfgang's Steakhouse is on the upper ground floors of Gateway Mall 2, at ₱1,500 and up a head. It keeps mall hours, which means a 9 PM close from Sunday to Thursday: book early in the evening. For a glass afterwards, World Cellar is a wine room on Level 4 of the same mall; check its page for tonight's hours.

MŌDAN is Chef Jorge Mendez's modern Japanese tasting menu, served in a 12-seat room on 20th Ave, a short ride from Araneta City. It is the quietest room on this list. A reservation is required. Seatings are at 5:30 PM and 8:30 PM from Wednesday to Sunday, and the meal takes about two hours. With 12 seats and two seatings, this is the one to book first and build the rest of the night around.

The one thoughtful extra

A dinner like this is better with one small addition. Farmers Garden has flower shops that are open 24 hours, so a bouquet works before dinner or after it. It is about a 6-minute walk from the Gateway restaurants and 12 from Cubao Expo, and a bouquet runs under ₱500.

Before you book

"Romantic" is partly a matter of lighting, noise and how close the next table is. Only the 12-seat room is a quiet one. For the others, say it is an occasion when booking and ask for a corner table.

Costs by head: ₱500 to ₱1,500 for the first three, ₱1,500 and up for the last two.

For a different cut of the same area, all the tables are grouped by price in restaurants in Cubao by budget, and the compound's kitchens are compared in Cubao Expo restaurants, sorted by occasion. A ready-made evening built on two of these rooms is in Cubao date ideas: dinner, flowers and a nightcap. For an anniversary, the night-out planner's approach is in anniversary date ideas in Manila.