Rainbow Café Café and Lounge 7

RESERVE A TABLE on Drag Nights — Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays — and catch the local queens put on an impressive show. With a cover of just Php100 topped up on your bill, the place is proving highly popular.

When I have guests who are jonesing for a different kind of night out, I take them to Rainbow for some good, clean fun. And even better, the food is superb, underrated, and extremely reasonable at about Php300 to Php650 for a main dish. My friends and I often order Chinese pork belly or chicken adobo paella, a Filipino twist to a Spanish staple. During nights out with friends, order the Rainbow nachos to share over buckets of beer.

Chicken adobo paella, Rainbow nachos, our local insider Zo with the queens of Rainbow Café

Rainbow Café, Inside Nigi Nigi Too, Station 2, tel +63 969 100 7941 or find them on Facebook @rainbow.cafe.lounge

Dos Mestizos 8

For fancy date nights

DOS MESTIZOS IS best for authentic and delicious Spanish food. It’s so popular it’s been going on forever. I’ve booked tables there for birthdays, special events, and fancy occasions (their Halloween and Christmas Eve parties are the bomb!). Of course, constant favorites are their paellas (whether negra or Valenciana), selection of tapas ( gambas and calamares rellenos top our list), and the star of the table, their crisp-to-perfection cochinillo, or young roast pig.

While the prices can get steep at about Php600 to Php1,000 per head, each flavorful bite is worth it. With pitchers of sangria on the side, my friends and I can spend hours at Dos Mes chatting up a storm.

Dos Mestizos, Main Road across Seawind Resort, Station 1., tel +36 288 5786 or find them on Facebook @dosmestizosph

Calamares rellenos; the busy, open kitchen you can see from your table; and a musttry, paella negra