Haggis, kilts, ceilidh dancing & free flowing whisky... and we're still in Manila!

I think I'm from the 'Gordon' clan.

An annual event in Manila is the St Andrews ball, organised by the Manila St Andrews Society.  Ostensibly it's to celebrate St Andrews Day (30 November), but really I think it's just an excuse for a good knees up.  And a good knees up it was.

The ball was held at the Manila Polo Club.  I've been past the Club on a number of occasions, and I've always wanted to go inside.  It has a grand entrance and you can just peek at a nice driveway and manicured lawns through the entrance.  That was definitely one of the deciding factors when I saw the event advertised.  It is also more reasonable than some of the other balls (tickets were 3500 pesos each) and the word 'haggis' was included on the poster.  I couldn't pass up another opportunity to munch on some haggis (we'd missed the Burn's supper in January this year).

Being a Friday night, traffic was, well, to put it the Filipino way 'very traffic'.  In other words 'very heavy traffic'.  It took us about 20 minutes to find a cab, and then about half an hour to travel maybe 3km.  I don't think we were the only ones who suffered as the room wasn't quite full when we arrived at 7:50pm (we were meant to be seated for dinner by 8).  People kept filtering in and eventually there must have been about 250 people there.  I never thought I would see so many kilts in one place in Manila.

Clan paraphernalia decorating the ballroom

There was a lot of ceremony, lots of food, free flowing booze and ceilidh dancing.  A great night.  We had a bit of a delayed start - we weren't eating until about 10pm.  This was after a demonstration of Scottish dancing by some local children (they were fantastic), the chieftan's address (sadly he couldn't be there, so it was read by Roy Espiritu who gave up his piping duties for the night) and the piping in of the haggis.

Starter was tomato and basil soup (tasty) followed by haggis and neeps (they forgot the tatties.  They did rectify their mistake by bringing us cold scoops of potato), and then onto fillet steak, chocolate pud for dessert and a cheese selection.  Very indulgent.  There was wine and whisky on the tables and you could order beers and other drinks from the waiters.  They even made me freshly pressed apple juice!

  

Plenty of ceilidh dancing followed, in amongst a performance from a band called The Spirits (a Celtic fusion dance band apparently).  Plenty of fun.  We lasted until about 1am, but the party was still in full swing when we left.  I'm sure there were plenty of sore heads in Manila on Saturday morning.

Things to do in Makati: Drinking

There's clearly something missing from this picture...

It's been a while since I've written a post related to 'Things to do in Makati'.  I haven't been doing much drinking recently, but I haven't been staying away from the pubs altogether.

Drinking establishments in Makati come in many guises.

There is Burgos Street, the main artery through the red light district.  I have never been to any of those bars, so can't comment.

Near to Burgos, there are 2 good bars - Handlebar and Howzat.  Handlebar is ostensibly a biker bar, but really it appeals to a much broader audience too.  They show lots of sport, have live music and a great barbeque.  It's a good place to hang out, with seating both indoors and outdoors.  Howzat is a sports bar with screens lining the walls showing all manner of sports.  A good place to go if you want to catch the football and eat pub grub.  We've never tried the food, but the pies looked very good as they were being taken to other punters' tables.  Howzat also stocks a huge variety of imported food - Bisto gravy, Vegemite, cheeses, chutneys and other sauces, confectionary...

Nearer to where we live, around Legaspi village, there is a handful of bars.  An Irish pub, where they have a weekly pub quiz on a Tuesday night.  Cablecar bar, where they show sport and host nightly beer ping pong games.  Bond Bar, which looks like any old modern bar, although we haven't been in.

In the Greenbelt shopping mall, there are a few decent options too.  One of my favourites is Prohibition.  Unless you know it's there, you wouldn't be able to find it.  Unless you Google it and find blogs like mine which give the secret away.  It's inside another bar, called Dillingers.  There is a fire exit type door, with the standard 'no entry' signs.  But you push the bar, and there you are in this other 'secret' bar.  It is nicely done out and has a good roof deck.  The music kicks off at around 10, but up until then you can have a very pleasant time on the comfy sofas.  You can also, as in many other bars, buy a whole bottle of a spirit and pour your own drinks (see the picture at the top of this blog - the Tanquerey is missing sadly).

All the hotels have (mostly posh) bars, many of which we haven't been into.  The Holiday Inn (at Glorietta) however, has a great rooftop bar right next to their swimming pool.  It's newly finished and has a good vibe about it.

And then there are all the others we haven't tried - those in Salcedo village.  And those at The Collective.  That has to be on our list over the next few months - apparently a collection of funky bars, some of which have good live music.  If we make it there, I'll update the blog.

Until then, cheers.