Makati City’s hip dining and cultural hub in Poblacion has been named one of the Coolest Neighbourhoods in the World in a best-of list by travel and hospitality magazine, Time Out.
The trendy Makati area nabbed the 46th spot on the list in the annual survey which polled 27,000 city-dwellers and local experts around the globe this year “to rank the greatest places for food, fun, culture and community.”
Time Out then vetted the public vote against all-important criteria – the “cool stuff, but also kind stuff, forward-looking stuff” and made the final picks based on their panel of experts.
“Just around the corner from Makati’s Central Business District, you’ll find Poblacion: a treasure trove of hole-in-the-wall restaurants and speakeasies,” the Time Out team wrote in the World’s 49 Coolest Neighbourhoods published on October 6, 2021.
Aside from the top restaurants and bars lining the streets of Poblacion, the area has also become known for its arts and culture spots. A former red-light district, Poblacion is now known to many as a go-to destination with some of the best places to eat, drink, and hang out.
“Once best known for its red light district, the area today brims with old apartments-turned-businesses and hostels that draw an eclectic mix of locals and visitors from the 15 other districts that make up Manila,” the magazine continued.
Although the pandemic has forced several dining establishments to shut down in the past year, Time Out says that there are still plenty of outdoor galleries, rooftop bars, and open-air art spaces to discover in the neighbourhood.
Beloved pubs and haunts in Poblacion like the “Agimat Foraging and Kitchen Bar and Alamat” have also survived, Time Out reports. “Expect tasty pulutan (Filipino tapas) and thoughtfully crafted cocktails.”
Time Out lists that tourists and locals alike should try goto from Goto Monster in Poblacion and take a “stroll around the Makati Poblacion Park, and explore Makati Museum and seventeenth-century St Peter’s Church.”
“Finish your day at Agimat Foraging Bar, before grabbing a nightcap at Z Hostel,” Time Out magazine adds.
The global travel magazine says a good time to visit Poblacion in Manila would be around June, just in time for Bailes Delos Arcos (Dancers of the Arch), a Philippine festival that “involves dancers from select families in Barangay Poblacion jiving in honour of the area’s patron saints.”
Two restaurants in Makati’s Poblacion neigbourhood served unique dishes that made it to CNN Travel’s “7 Filipino dishes you’ve probably never heard of (and where to find them in Manila)” list in 2019.
SEND CHEERS in the comments below to Poblacion, Makati City’s hip dining and cultural hub, for being named one of the coolest neighbourhoods in the world by Time Out magazine.
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