Luxury Dining in Manila at Raffles Makati

If you’re looking to experience modern Manila at its finest, then consider an evening out at one of Manila’s finest hotels: Raffles Makati. We had one of our best meals in Manila at Mirèio Raffles Makati.

After traveling through the Philippines with our friends and fellow YouTubers Mike & Nelly, we were ready to celebrate our last night together in Manila. All of us had been to Manila before, but we never experienced the city quite like this. We roamed around the modern neighborhood of BGC for most of the day and went to get pampered at Century Mall before heading over to Raffles Makati for their infamous Golden Hour. Sunsets and cocktails sounded like the perfect way to spend a last night with friends.

We arrived a little after sunset and watched the city lights slowly turn on from the rooftop. A friend once told us that Raffles had one of the best rooftops in town. He was spot on! Our bartender, Dennis, guided us through the menu describing each drink as its own creation. With so many tantalizing options, I decided to let Dennis decide for me. Our group eagerly awaited our first tasting selection as Dennis worked his mastery in front of us.

A note on Mirèio’s Happy Hour or “Golden Hour”. It’s probably one of the best cocktail hours in town. For 1,010 PHP ( $19 USD), from 5 – 8 pm, you can have unlimited drinks from a pre-selected menu which includes a great selection of cocktails, wine, and beer. Two of my favorite drinks from this menu were the 19th Century (Ballantine’s finest whiskey, cherry bitter, brown sugar, dried orange) and the Mirèio Blush (Martin Miller’s gin, Campari, Cointreau, Fentimans, tonic water, mango syrup, mango bitter, passion fruit puree).

A sudden downpour led us inside to the interior bar, but this hardly dampened our moods. We sat down next to the bar where Dennis served us an off-the-menu concoction. If you’re following us on YouTube, some of you may know that Mike & Nelly happen to be huge coffee buffs. When they heard that I had never tasted an espresso martini, they almost befriended me. Luckily Dennis came to the rescue with this delectable treat!

Shortly afterwards, we were escorted into the dining room where our real fining dining experience commenced. Nelly and I had our eyes on a corner table with open views of the city below.

The menu itself is based on French Provencal Cuisine. Being French, this was especially a treat for Pierre who hasn’t been back to his home country in almost a year. We were eager to find out how Mirèio’s cuisine compared to dishes back in France.

When it came to choosing our dishes, Nelly and I already had a good idea of what would please us for the evening. While getting our nails done earlier in the day, we had some time to review Mirèio’s menu in advance. Nelly had her heart set on the Lavender Creme Brûlée!

We ordered a variety of dishes between the 4 of us and loved every bite starting with the artisanal bread basket. Our personal favorites include:

• Nelly’s 1st Course -Lobster bisque with blue crab ravioli. I really couldn’t stop myself from asking Nelly for another taste!
• My (Trina’s) 1st Course – Slow cooked octopus, white bean salad, lemon confit and kalamata olive. The octopus was perfectly cooked!
• My (Trina’s) Main Course – Chef Hervé’s Bouillabaisse, pictured below. I still remember the taste and smell of my first bouillabaisse experience in Marseille in the South of France. In comparison, this dish was excellent and full of flavor.

Overall the service and food at Mirèio was excellent. We’ve been to many fine restaurants around the world including 3* Michelin Star establishments. All of us left with the notion that Mirèio could easily stack up again any starred establishment; it at least deserves a place in Asia’s 50 Best!

Watch below for a full recap of our entire evening at

Raffles Makati in Manila

We like to thank the managing team at Raffles Makati in Manila for inviting us to a lovely evening at their hotel & Mirèio Terrace. We were not compensated to write about our experience or promote the hotel or restaurant. As always, all opinions are my own.

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