philippines.baronbonk.com: Angele's Shano's bar needs more gogo

Angeles Shano’s needs more gogo
I was going to visit Angeles just for Christmas but bar closures sent me on my way a week early. So I was there for nearly two weeks instead of my customary week. I dropped in on Manila, staying in Burgos Street, Makati, at both ends of my trip. My recent view that Angeles flourishes whilst Manila, in particular Makati, languishes was confirmed.
I will say little about Burgos Street that was not said in an excellent article by Marauder which we published eighteen months ago. As a local he will say it is not too expensive if you follow the happy hours. Frankly that is far too complicated for a traveller dropping in for a couple of nights. The only bars I would recommend are Rogues which has some good promotions, especially free beer early doors on Wednesday, and Cathouse, both mentioned in detail by Marauder. Another lively bar, which at least has a show with a bit of oomph in it, is Billboard which is an agogo that really does gogo. However if anything condemns the stupid management that runs the vast majority of the bars, it is not just the empty bars, but the fact the street is now awash with freelancers. When I first went, there was always the odd ‘massage girl’ flashing a card (saying massage) and a smile. This time I was accosted every few feet as I wandered up the street; ‘massage’ they all started with and, as I shook my head, they said ‘sex’, and as I walked on it become ‘blow job’! Why are these girls not in the bars? Simple economics – they make more on the streets. Yes – Burgos Street shouts failure at every corner. Next time I really think I will stay elsewhere! It is a pity because I really enjoy the excellent La Tiende (43 Polaris Street),a Spanish restaurant, in the street parallel to Burgos.
Now Angeles is the exact opposite! In spite of this I still meet people who have not been there for years saying it is a scruffy dying town. Well it is still reasonably scruffy but it certainly not dead; far from it. New bars and new hotels have appeared, and on the whole have flourished. A significant statistic is the number of hotel rooms. Not long ago there were 1,500 rooms in the Fields Avenue area catering to the visitors to that strip. Now there are 6,000 and according to one operator that is not enough. Certainly it is at best unwise, if not stupid, to turn up without a reservation, particularly at peak periods.
On the bar front there seem to be two distinct types of gogo operation. There are those bars where the girls are encouraged to dance and have fun and they include Angelwitch, Lollipop, and Checkers. Then there are those bars that simply pack the stage with girls who shuffle round with the occasional wiggle, assuming there is enough room, that are little more than meat markets; examples of these are Lancelot, Pasha, and Carousel. Needless to say the fun bars are looking for lady drinks as well as bar fines, as opposed to the meat marketeers who are primarily seeking bar fines. Of course the pack ‘em in and sell ‘em format can also be found in Bangkok with the Rainbow Bars operating that way. To a certain extent the King’s Group in Patpong also work on that basis although the constant hassle for lady drinks may persuade one otherwise.
From a personal perspective there is no competition as to which type of bar I like. I go to a bar to have fun first and foremost and therefore my bar of choice this year, as it was a couple of years ago, is Angelwitch. Scott, the partner manager, is normally in residence, and the girls are encouraged to dance by the excellent music that a dedicated DJ plays. An interesting addition at Angelwitch is the opening up of the side door and promotion of the Back Door Club; this is an idea that may be more appropriate at the Bangkok Angelwitch! Last time I enjoyed Checkers and did to an extent this visit. The girls are fun but sadly the music verges on a dirge of nothing pop that encourages little more than the odd two step. I am told it will get better – it needs to. Possibly the most improved bar was Lollipop where new management has put some much needed zip into the place. Voodoo, which used to be good little bar until some idiot turned it into an open air nothing spot has been re modelled yet again and is once again a happening place. The problem is that the happening is usually at about 4 am, which tends to ensure that what actually happened is little more than a blur to go with the headache! Yes Voodoo has reinvented itself as a 24 hour operation; absolutely lethal if it happens to be next door to one’s hotel – it is just too difficult to ignore the temptation of a final snifter!
I was recently bemoaning the difficulty of getting a decent drink in Bangkok. Most bars here seem to pass the bottle over the glass, rather than actually put some of the contents of the bottle in the glass. The opposite is true in Angeles and I found the difficulty was sometimes getting enough water to dilute the generous pour that has been served. In a gogo the price of a whisky (150 peso) maybe nearly twice the price of a beer (85 peso) but you do at least get good value for money! For the record lady drinks were usually 150 peso and bar fines 1,300 peso (plus 500 peso in the morning if you thought she was worth it!).
The big and I mean big addition this year is Shano’s which claims to be an Irish Bar. I am not sure which bit of it is Irish, or should I say Oirish or more correctly Ausish. I say this because this massive pub is named after and fronted by Shano who is Australian. On Christmas Day we had a few cocktails made to a recipe (that we had to amend) from the Australian book of cocktails. My problem with this pub was that it seemed to lack direction; there was an extensive menu but no decent wine, there was an insipid harmony group in the evening, and for a sports bar it did not have the right sports channels. On top of that the said Shano was never in residence when I visited. However it is new and I am told these failings are being addressed. On the plus side it had a nice big circular bar with large comfortable seats around it, and it certainly looked the part. If Shano’s can get going, which I think means it needs a proper manager, rather than a greeter who does XXXX, then it could well make a big impact on Angeles. Website
On the eating front most evenings I ate at the Azzuro Restaurant (above Lancelot and below the Dinosaur). I found this a friendly restaurant serving sensible food which makes it almost unique in that part of Fields Avenue. Just down the road I was surprised to see that Bourbon Street was still in business. It does not deserve to be as it is still appallingly managed.
So that is that: another action packed visit to Angles that now all seems a pleasant blur – it’s that damn Voodoo again!