‘Hidden’ High End Makati Bars | Belle & Dragon Review
The Belle & Dragon entrance
There are several high end ‘secret’ bars in Manila, mostly Makati. Not really a secret but they make it so you have to walk through a wardrobe or ‘hidden’ door to get into them. One’s inside a 7/11.
The idea being it’s kinda cool or creates some feeling of exclusivity. Wheninmanila magazine has this list of 7 so called ‘hidden bars in Makati locals don’t want you to know about‘.
Belle & Dragon bar
They don’t get many tourists just some hipster locals and expats. Here’s a longer list of them along with some other lesser known bars. Z hostel and Finders Keepers are on there which I’ve wrote about before.
Some are in the style of a ‘speakeasy’, a hidden bar in the time of the Prohibition for selling illicit alcohol without the authorities finding out.
Making friends
They’re pretty expensive, several hundred pesos for a cocktail shot of whisky.
Ever since nightlife pros discovered people would pay $15 for a drink so long as they passed through a bookcase or backdoor first, the term ‘speakeasy bar’ has become meaningless. You don’t even need to bother with the elaborate entrances anymore! Just turn down the lights, put a gin cocktail on the menu and you’re a secret Prohibition bar.
– Thrillist.com, 21 Best Secret Bars in the World
Mandalay Whisky & Cigars hidden bar
Belle & Dragon Review
The advantage though is they get tons of hot Filipina girls going there. So if you’re on your A game and don’t mind the drinks prices you might be able to pick up some hiso chicks. No hookers at these places.
The Belle & Dragon is a good one, a short walk from Greenbelt mall on Don Carlos Palanca street. A lot of office worker girls work in that area and then go to this bar in the evenings.
Annoying people to take pics
The Belle & Dragon itself isn’t a hidden bar but it has one out back. On the way to the bathrooms you see this closet that you can go through Narnia style.
Then the hidden bar inside is called Mandalay Whisky & Cigars. Has a no shorts / flip flops dress code.
Saw this cute Pinay coming out of the bathroom
Pretty dark inside I couldn’t get any decent pics but I got a few in the Belle & Dragon. It’s a gastropub with food, international beers, and a live DJ. Lots of hot chicks, or invite your own date along on FilipinoCupid.
Here’s the rest of the pics I took at the Belle & Dragon, I went there in a group with some cute Filipinas.
Live DJ
Bar
Craft beers
Small dancefloor
Few expats there too
Wall decorations
Inside the hidden Mandalay whisky bar
Those are some hot chicas you got there
You met them there or your brought them there ? I’d pay to tap the girl on the left lol
The other guys in the group I was with brought them there 🙁 I didn’t get any
Yeah she’s really hot
Are they high escort or his friends ?
I’d pay top dollar for them hahaha
He met one on Tinder then she brought her friend along
Pretty lucky for Tinder, it’s usually full of baklas
Theres one in Dillingers on top of Greenbelt 4, called prohibition I think. Usually doesnt open unless the normal bar is packed.
Also some exclusive expat clubs in Makati office buildings, but theyre based on nationality and membership is required.
I still prefer the cheap bucket places
Where are the best cheap bucket bars? Like by the avenue mall we went?
What are the odds these girls were grey area girls who do tricks on the side?
Didn’t get that vibe and wouldn’t make much sense with the lack of foreigners. In Bangkok you get high end bars with undercover working girls, like Oskar, Spasso’s, Sheraton hotel bar. In Manila seems not so much? But I’m still learning
Those last 2 in BKK are attached to 5 star hotels though where you’ll always get some freelancers, like at Remington hotel in Manila there’s Single’s whisky bar where pay 2k to have a bunch of PR girls sit with you in a rotation for 15 mins each, unlimited drinks for you but 300 per lady drink. Some of those might be up for meeting up after work.
Lucky Fish casino upstairs