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Tago Jazz Cafe: Plan a Night Around the Jazz Room

Tago Jazz Cafe is a live-jazz room on Main Ave in Cubao, a short ride from Araneta City, so the night splits in two: dinner and a cocktail on the Araneta City side, then the ride over. Eat at Bellini's, Habanero Kitchen Bar, Grace Park or Le Bistro, and keep the cocktail for the rooftop at The Edge Skyview Bar or the speakeasy at INT.Bar.

Before you go

Check Tago Jazz Cafe's own page for its nights, set times, booking and any cover charge before you plan around it. Everything below is built so the rest of the night holds once you have those answers.

Getting there

Main Ave is a ride, not a walk. Allow about a 9-minute ride from Araneta City, and treat that as a rough figure. Book the ride before dinner ends rather than after.

Dinner first, in Araneta City

Make dinner the early part of the night: a table at 6 PM and on the road by 7:30 PM. All four of these are open on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday evening and cost ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head.

  • Bellini's in Cubao Expo is an Italian kitchen with truffle ravioli, burrata and tiramisu. It takes reservations through its Facebook or Instagram page and closes at 9:30 PM.
  • Habanero Kitchen Bar in Cubao Expo does oyster sisig and a torched three-cheese pizza, and it is open until 11 PM from Friday to Sunday. Start with the Oyster Sisig (₱395 in 2024).
  • Grace Park in Gateway Mall 2 cooks Filipino farm-to-table food and is open until 11 PM daily.
  • Le Bistro at ibis Styles is French, with escargot, beef bourguignon and duck leg confit à l'orange, open until 10 PM daily.

Cocktails before or after

Have the cocktail on the Araneta City side and leave the room for the music.

Before. The Edge Skyview Bar, the rooftop pool bar on Level 22 of the hotel, opens at 5:30 PM, takes reservations and costs ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head. A drink there at opening, dinner downstairs at Le Bistro at 6:15 PM and a ride at 7:30 PM is a tidy run, and the whole first half stays in one building.

After. INT.Bar, the speakeasy behind a photobooth door in Cubao Expo, is open until 12:30 AM daily, with DJ sets at weekends, for under ₱500 a head. Cubao X Brewery next door in the compound is an open-air taproom open until midnight with no kitchen, so pick up takoyaki at Ichiban Takoyaki on the way in.

If there is no seat

Have a fallback before leaving home. These are the live-music and late-drink alternatives:

A sample run

  • 5:30 PM: a drink at the rooftop, as it opens
  • 6:15 PM: dinner at Le Bistro, downstairs
  • 7:30 PM: the ride to Main Ave
  • Late: INT.Bar in Cubao Expo, if the set ends before 12:30 AM

For a night with no rooftop, have dinner at Bellini's or Grace Park and leave for Main Ave by 7:30 PM. Either way the bill runs ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head for dinner and the same again for a rooftop drink, less at the speakeasy.

Where this fits

For other rooms to drink in, see bars in Cubao by type. Tables that suit a dinner for two before the music are in romantic restaurants in Quezon City. If live music is the reason for most of your nights out, the night-out planner's Gig Rat type is the one to read, and everything walkable in the area is in the Cubao date night guide.

Questions

Where is Tago Jazz Cafe?
On Main Ave in Cubao, a short ride from Araneta City. As a rough guide, allow about a 9-minute ride from Gateway.
Where should you eat before Tago Jazz Cafe?
In Araneta City, at Bellini's, Habanero Kitchen Bar, Grace Park or Le Bistro. All four are open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings and cost ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head.
Where can you get a cocktail before or after a set in Cubao?
Before, at The Edge Skyview Bar, the rooftop pool bar at ibis Styles, which opens at 5:30 PM. After, at INT.Bar in Cubao Expo, which is open until 12:30 AM daily.
What else is there for live music in Cubao?
INT.Bar has DJ sets at weekends, Good Vibrations Records has a vinyl listening room and a small bar, and New Frontier Theater and Smart Araneta Coliseum hold concerts on event nights.

Sources

Every place above is in the checked venue list. These are the pages its details came from.

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