An Insider's Guide To Manila

How would you describe Manila to someone who's never been?

Chaotic and grimy. Lots of good food though, and the nightlife scene is pretty decent too. Lots of interesting things to see like the bootleg part of town called 'Green Hills' where they sell fake everything, from Supreme to Louis Vuitton to Nike. There's also tons of great thrift stores to hit up.

Who are the best local musicians/bands/artists?

This will be biased because they're my friends, but... check out Rhxanders, Jess Connelly, Lustbass, Owfuck Gang, Mellow Fellow, Ankhten Brown, OJ River, Wilderness, Bee Eyes...

What's the best venue to watch live music?

B-Side, Black Market, XX XX, and 20:20.

What's the best club?

Black Market for hip-hop and XX XX for techno but I'm not into techno, but yeah.

Where's the best place to buy records?

Cubao Expo! My friends who run clubs XX XX, Black Market, 20:20, and B-Side also have a record store there called Golddigger and there's a few smaller low-key record stores in the area that sell really dated stuff if you're looking for that rare shit.

Where's the best place/s to eat?

I like to eat at restaurants like Cafe Breton, Señor Pollo, Mighty Quinn's, just to name a few...

Best place/s to drink?

Finders Keepers, Bunchum's, the red light district.

Who are the local heroes?

Action star Rudy Fernandez, Caliph8 who is a beast on the MPC along with Red-i and Pastagroove, DJ Astrid and Don P, famous band the Eraserheads and my personal favorite Cinderella with singer Yolly Samson, retail kings Borgy Manotoc and Mike Concepcion, National Artist BenCab, and Bigboy Cheng of Secret Fresh Gallery.

Favourite urban legend/myth?

The infamous tale of the white lady (ghost) of Balete Drive. Some say she appears in the back of your car through the rear view mirror when it rains. My parents office is on Balete and I've yet to see her but yeah it's a pretty good one.

What are the best sights to see and places to visit?

For out-of-town spots I'd have to say Palawan, though I've never been! Looks great in pictures though and I surely want to go there one of these days! The rice terraces in Banaue, then the BenCab Museum in Baguio City. As for the city? Hmm... The Ronac Art Center is quite amazing on the eyes. They've got a huge basketball court and really futuristic architecture and they have an art gallery. I also work there hehe.

How do you get around the city?

We have a car. I usually just drive. When the car's coding I'll take an Uber. Why? Well because it's always super traffic and sometimes it takes two hours just to get somewhere that usually takes 20 minutes and I ain't about to walk cuz it's usually super hot and there's lots of pollution in the air.

Favourite local slang word? What does it mean?

Putang ina - it means 'fuck your mom' but you say it when like something is super cool like 'putangina ang ganda!' meaning 'fuck your mom, that's so nice!'

It can go the other way around too, like if you're super pissed at someone just say 'tangina mo'... that means 'fuck your mom and generally fuck you', lol.

Where is the best place to relax?

University of The Philippines lots of greenery and tall trees. Also my house cuz I got my own studio upstairs haha.

What's the worst thing about Manila?

It's all mental really. I think how judgmental people can be over the littlest things, the lack of common courtesy like that every man for himself attitude, and the crab mentality, that's the worst!

What's the best thing about Manila?

Mangos! All my homies. The art! Local bud.