Around the Neighborhood

Local sights, rustic sounds & rich flavors! If you want to experience the LOCAL side of Makati, then our laid-back and delightfully down-to-earth neighborhood is the right place to start. Tucked between Guijo Street and Sacred Heart Street, our location is a big BONUS because we are on a safe & peaceful semi-residential area that is situated at the more accessible part of San Antonio Village, home to the Sacred Heart National Shrine (a popular Catholic Church) and the Makati YMCA. Our UNIQUE neighborhood is easily accessible from the main public roads and shopping malls and YET remains a hidden gem, a slow-paced refuge from the hustle and bustle of nearby Buendia and Ayala Avenue. Below list has been updated as of Feb 2024. Shops continue to close or move out since the 2020 lockdowns. BEST AROUND THE BLOCK : (within 3 - 20 minutes walking distance) 1. SACRED HEART STREET (We're at the end of this one-way street) The Sacred Heart National Shrine is one of the popular Catholic churches in the region with an upgraded status of National Shrine. It's famous for weddings as well as for special petitions, answered prayers, miracles granted! When you visit, look for the petition box/desk area near the Adoration Chapel to write down your prayer requests. Every Christmas Season, this church offers Midnight Masses as well as early dawn masses, locally known as "Simbang Gabi." Inside the gated church is a BPI ATM Machine. Gates close by 9 pm. PURPLE OVEN is across the Church. Popular bakeshop for quality cakes & pastries baked every morning at their shop. Check out their daily schedule (written on a blackboard inside the shop) to see which pastry will be freshly baked the following morning. Wake up at 8 am to try some Tuna Turn-overs fresh from the oven. Next to it is Makati YMCA, and 2 food stalls offering take-away food: YAO'S KITCHEN (Filipino/Chinese meals) FAMOUS Belgian Waffles Further at the end of Sacred Heart Street: BEBE ROUGE Patisserie is a Japanese-owned French style coffee shop. Bestseller is their Strawberry Shortcake and other rich icing type cakes. HATCHIN Japanese Grocery is next to it. Aside from high quality Japanese specialty products (fresh wagyu beef cubes, uni, salmon, mushroom burger patties and fresh vegetables), they also sell ready to eat meals such as Gyudon, Katsudon, Teriyaki & other Bento Meals at around P250 each. Across them is BDO bank with ATM machine. 2. GUIJO STREET (where we are) Guijo is fast becoming popular, thanks to SaGuijo, a well-known venue for young & independent rock/alternative bands, as well as Guijo Suites, a small but busy hotel. TJ GRILL - Filipino BBQ and grilled seafood just across our building; a private venue that used to be a house, now open to walk-in guests. In our opinion, their pricing is not reasonable. LEMMY'S BISTRO - 3 minute walk to the right side from our building. Look for a large open parking lot next to SaGuijo. You need to go inside/ pass through the parking lot to find them inside the lot. They offer outdoor/indoor dining and drinking. They're open from 1 pm til late nights, offering basic bistro food and drinks. Newly opened last Sept 2021. 3. KAMAGONG STREET - a public one-way street with more eating places but the noise does not reach us, amazingly! NIPA BREW TAPROOM- go to the other end of Guijo St. (5 min walk towards the village gate) and turn left at the corner along Kamagong St. You will find Solace Hotel and Nipa Brew -- they make their own tasty craft beers and its a good place to work on your laptop (good wifi). Our guests love to hang out here. TAPADERA has been consistently open for business even during the pandemic. Wide selection of rice meals with tapa and egg. Many of their customers stay behind for late night drinks with the officemates. KUSINERONG PINOY is a carenderia/turo turo (very low-end and local type of eatery but food is clean and good). Great deals for P100 for take away of traditional Filipino meals such as Adobo, Menudo, Manok sa Gata, Kare kare, squid in black ink stew, etc. Their set meals include rice plus a choice of vegetable side dish. 4. CHINO ROCES AVENUE From Solace Hotel on Kamagong, just a few meters further after you make a right, you will see Andok's Lechon Manok (take out stall) and further out are fastfood places like Chowking, Kentucky, McDonalds & Shakeys. Across Shakeys is the newly renovated and now upscale SHOPWISE Supermarket. Across Shopwise is a precious gem for barbecued chicken aficionados, Bacolod style. The humble open-air eatery with no signage is called CHICKEN HOUSE EXPRESS. If you're picky and hate cats, you can just order for take-out. Don't miss this chance of tasting their tender chicken while you're staying with us. BAEKJEONG Korean BBQ : Only 3 minute walk using narrow street behind our building. Amazing eat-all-u-can BBQ deals for only P595 nett (price as of Nov 2021). Highly recommended! MUHAN SAMGYUPSAL BBQ with outdoor dining. 8065 COFFEE and 8065 BAGNET - not exactly on Chino Roces but on St. Paul Road, the road parallel to, and accessible by entering Estrella Gate on Chino Roces. From Estrella Gate, turn right on St Paul Road inside San Antonio Village. Our top picks are the all-day breakfast menu e.g. Milkfish with rice & egg P170 + crispy Bagnet meals. This bohemian style cafe is owned by singer Kitchie Nadal's sister -- so don't be surprised should you find a music performer on site even during the strict lockdowns. Limited outdoor tables that can get full quickly during late evenings. Open til 9 pm, sometimes later. 5. BAGTIKAN STREET MANG RUDY'S - this is a local drinking place but during lunchtime from Mon to Fri, they offer quick budget meals for office people. ARKIPELAGO- only 8 min walk from our building but right now, this "food hall" with nightly Live band performances (pre pandemic) is NOT a happening place anymore. At the moment, we suggest ONLY TAKE AWAY as the place turned into a food Delivery hub and hang out for delivery riders. Arkipelago has various food sellers such as D' ALLEY BURGERS TAIWAN KITCHEN (big set meals) MANDO's Chicken Wings EVET KOFTE Authentic Turkish Meatballs Special NOTE: The famous music venue SAGUIJO is gradually re-opening every other Fri or Sat. It's a decades-old & still very popular hang-out for alternative LIVE bands that perform few days a week. There are times when the music manages to escape their airconditioned closed-in band area, but so far, none of our guests found the escaping noise bothersome . Young groupies love to linger outside the bar but our gated village remains to be one of the safer spots in Makati. Most buildings here, including ours, have its own security personnel 24/7. 6. SUPERMARKETS, Hairdresser, Laundry There are 3 supermarkets: SHOPWISE (giant supermarket, 8 min walk) RUSTAN'S (Alphaland/ 12 minute walk) HATCHIN Japanese Grocery (5 min walk) SHOPWISE is the biggest nearest supermarket from us. AYUMI Beauty Salon is on Bagtikan Street, some 3 to 4 min walk from us. If you prefer an upscale hair stylist, go to Piandre Beauty Salon located in Ayala North Exchange Mall, some 15 to 20 min walk from us towards Ayala Ave. LAUNDRY - You will see one next to Shopwise, offering the fastest service but recommended for bedsheets and towels only. For delicate clothes, HAITCH Laundry on Chino Roces is good. P120 for 8kg for self service. P150 if you leave it with them. Less than 5 min walk from our building. EC Laundry is another laundry shop on Metropolitan Ave; you pay only P150 per 8 kg if you bring your own detergent. You have option to do your own laundry for the same price, go before 4:30 pm for self service. WHAT MAKES OUR NEIGHBORHOOD UNIQUE? Our peaceful residential neighborhood was gradually evolving into a gentrified semi-commercial area (pre-pandemic), with many young entrepreneurs converting older residential bungalows into trendy cafes and boutique inns. However, the fast "evolution" of our area was interrupted by the pandemic and many of the shops have moved out since the 2020 lockdowns. Fortunately, our neighborhood has not yet lost its rustic charm and slow pace. Here is where you can still find vendors selling fresh fruit or sticky rice sweets from wooden push carts. The biggest push-carts belong to the coconut vendors who will gladly break open a fresh coconut for you. Have a taste of local delicacies such as "balot" or taho". These local vendors do their daily rounds all day, passing our street frequently, even past midnight pre-pandemic. SEASONAL SPECIALTIES Hot Bibinka and Puto Bumbong vendors make these delicious goodies from scratch using genuine clay kalan (while you wait) right in front of Sacred Heart Church during the Simbang Gabi season (Christmas midnight Mass). They've already started selling every Sunday afternoon til 6 pm since October 2021... During Simbang Gabi nights though, they will open daily til beyond midnight, depending on the Church's daily schedule of Midnight Mass. NEAREST BIG MALLS & BUILDINGS The Ayala Circuit Mall is a leisurely 15 minute walk from us, via Zapote Street which you can locate at the end of Sacred Heart Church corner of Kamagong St. It's a complete mall with cinemas, it has a football field plus a large open grassy field called Cua Park, where one can enjoy the breeze from Pasig River next to it. If you prefer going by car or taxi, take Chino Roces and go towards PRC. Second nearest giant mall complex is the much more upscale GREENBELT Malls and GLORIETTA Malls. The Landmark Department Store is between these 2 giant malls. If walking, it would take you 40 to 50 minutes to Greenbelt. By car or taxi, it's less than 15 min. Smaller Malls near our area abound. The nearest small mall is ASSEMBLY GROUNDS with very few food choices. AYALA NORTH EXCHANGE MALL located on Ayala Avenue (next to Makati Medical Center) is 15 - 20 min walk from us. This mall has more eating placea: Saladstop, Italianni's, Denny's, Peri Peri Charcoal Chicken, to name a few, offering both outdoor and indoor dining; Mumuso Shop, Piandre Beauty Salon, Breadstop, authentic Taiwanese Milk Tea and other specialty shops. THE RCBC TOWER The nearest biggest office building near us, located on Ayale Avenue, is RCBC TOWER - a quick 15 to 20 min walk from us. This huge building is home to a number of embassies (Australian, Canadian, Taiwanese, Slovenian Embassies). It's where most of our guests have an appointment, either for a Visa interview, Visa processing or working as an intern at one of the embassies in this building. RCBC houses Yuchengco Museum Miscellaneous notes: Pasig River and its cool steady breeze pass along Cua Park, the large grassy park next to Ayala Circuit Mall, only 15 to 20 minutes walk from us.