11-05-2025
How to spend two days in Manila, capital city of the Philippines
It's a beautiful space, but it has a surprising history. A church has stood on this site since about 500AD, but despite the Gothic architectural style, the current iteration of the cathedral was built in the 1950s.
Something is also 'off' about Intramuros' St Agnes. The church has the magnificent arch, it has the statement doors, and it has the statuary. In fact, this one has very oriental statuary. The temple dogs flanking the front doors, our guide explains, are to make the religion more attractive to the local Chinese population. But it is the asymmetry of the facade that makes the church look odd: its northern tower is no longer balanced by its pair.
Its absence is a sign of the city's more recent past: the capital, including the centuries-old Intramuros, was smashed in World War II's Battle of Manila, a month-long firefight that claimed more than 100,000 lives. The city holds the unenviable record of being one of the most bombed metropolitan areas of the Pacific theatre conflagration. A ruined and blasted barracks, complete with cannons rusting in the hot sun, slowly crumbles in a corner of the zone.
But despite its political upheavals, both without and within, Manila is upbeat, a pulsing metropolis of colour and excitement, albeit one girded in hours-long traffic jams.
We allow for delays when we head out of town to see the rural side of the Philippines, heading to Tagaytay, a popular rural holiday haunt of Filipinos, to visit the source of one of the Philippines' best-known exports – coffee.
Like wine, coffee beans take on the flavour of the terroir, and our guide explains growers have had to learn which plants to grow with the coffee beans to ensure annual germination. He keeps up a happy patter of anecdotes and jokes as he explains the process of growing, harvesting and roasting the beans before encouraging us to pick up the pestle to grind the beans into a drinkable grind.
I am glad we don't find out until after the outdoor tour that the biggest hazard among the vines are snakes.
When food is as flavourful and luscious as it is in the Philippines, it's no wonder that eating is such an important part of family life and the Filipino culture. Balay Dako means 'Big House' in the local language, a name that is a nod to the large home that would have dominated family compounds. Tagaytay's elegant and wildly popular Balay Dako restaurant commands an impressive view of the Taal Volcano in its lake. We are brought dish after plate after bowl of beef, chicken, seafood, rice, noodles, soups, while on the lake far below, fishermen in long boats trawl the waters for its bounty.
Back in the city, Blackbird is a wonderfully quirky dinner experience in the original Manila airport's Nielson viewing tower. The restaurant has retained the art deco features of an era when air travel was all about elegance and style. Blackbird's menu is geared towards the international tourist market and is scattered with focaccia, baba ganoush, curry, and Wagyu. We tried each other's orders, and my recommendation is – all of it.
But Manila had one more surprise for us. After our guide had the right word in the right ear, we were led through the Shangri La Hotel, out a back door and through an unassuming door into a dark hallway. After a special knock, the door opened, and we were quickly pulled within, into a secret bar styled like an old-time speakeasy.
We had time for a single concoction before returning to bed in time for our early morning flight back home. But the location of the bar has to be my little secret.
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