BGC WALKING TOUR: Fort Victoria Neighborhood - Rent My Condo! Best Restaurants & Cafés
Channel: ZIGGING by Mark Sigg
Date: 2021-10-24

This video is Part 2 of showcasing my condo for you to rent! This time, I'm sharing with you the neighborhood surrounding Fort Victoria!  With Bonifacio Global City as the Philippines' most modern city and its new financial hub, BGC has grown tremendously over the last decade. From the early days of "The Fort" at the Fort Strip with the few original condos such as Essensa and Pacific Plaza Towers, BGC has catapulted itself into a world-class city that we all can be truly proud of. Today, let me take you on a walking tour of BGC, showing you the best cafes, restaurants, and hotspots within 5-minutes walk from Fort Victoria. This can be your neighborhood if you rent my condo! Check out the tour of my 2-bedroom 40.5 sqm bi-level BGC condo in this previous video: https://youtu.be/xdvntJfOiHA

First and foremost, Fort Victoria is located at the Southeastern part of BGC where the first few condominiums were put in the 90's as the former Philippine Military Camp was still called "Fort Bonifacio" as it was undergoing the conversion program of the government under the BCDA (Bases Conversion Development Authority). Being in the slightly "older" part of town, Fort Victoria is thus in a quiter yet still prime part of BGC. It's not as busy foot-traffic wise as the areas of Serendra or the newer side of Uptown where the Megaworld and Federal Land developments have been underway. Thus, this slightly quieter side of BGC does have its charms especially with the BGC Greenway park lining up its corridors.

For those of you who have seen Fort Bonifacio transform into "the Fort" and eventually to BGC, it's been an amazing watch. Back in the 90's, I remember dropping by Fort Strip where people would literally hang outside Fat Willy's after having had dinner in Big Boy. Early into the 2000's, Prince of Jaipur became the main draw. The place did maintain a dinner-going crowd as the first branch of  "the Good Earth" was put up with giant Terracota warriors lined up its entrance as well as Zong at the back side. Late into the 2000's and right at the cusp of the 2010's, the Fort Strip saw its heyday as the Embassy Superclub became the de facto for the nightlife scene. Embassy was supplemented by the cozier Cuisine and exclusive Prive Luxury Club next door. In the past 5-years, the Fort Strip stil saw relevance with the nightlife scene with Aracama which eventually turned into "Early Night?"

I've seen BGC transform from its crazy nightlife crowd amidst quiet streets to its current  modern-day world class stature. Is it any wonder that I chose to invest in real estate here, especially in the older part of the neighborhood?

Need some help finding the best restaurants in BGC? Just within a 5-minute walk from Fort Victoria, you have in your fingertips, arguably the best that BGC has to offer! Here are the cafes and restaurants featured in this video:

1. Bar Pintxos Y Mas
2. Las Flores
3. Wildlour Cafe + Bakery
4. Farmacy
5. Caravan Black
6. Motorino
7. 26th St. Bistro by Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

The closest restaurant to Fort Victoria is located one building away and happens to be my favorite restaurant in BGC, and perhaps most of the entire of Metro Manila! In this walking tour, I make a quick stop at Bar Pintxos Y Mas at the Fairways Tower along 5th Ave & McKinley Road. While convenience may be a big factor, Bar Pintxos has been one of my favorite restaurants because of the small plates menu that they offer patrons. This small plate culture is based on Spain's tapas and pintxos that allow people to snack with sumptuous bites without having to fill up and have a drink in the process. As I ended this walking tour, I definitely felt like having a drink having walked around BGC under the 12nn sun. I wasn't entirely hungry though so tapas and pintxos were perfect! I ordered some quick bites of Jamon Aioli pintxos and for tapas, a stick of Gildas. Gildas is a famous anchovy dish pierced between peppers and olives. I capped this off with a cold drink of Aperol Spritz - a wine cocktail that is a mix of Aperol, Prosecco, and Soda Water.

This walking tour stops within 2-blocks of the surrounding area of Fort Victoria. But, 2-minutes more and you'd already end up at the center part of BGC where the Burgos Circle lines up with Shangri-La at the Fort, High Street, Serendra, and all the way to Market Market,. Just another 5-minutes and you would have already reached past 32nd St. along the corridors of the northern part of BGC where Uptown and the newer developments of BGC are being built.

For an even extended list of recommendations beyond this video, here are my picks:

I. Cafes & Dessert:
Single Origin
Elephant Grounds
Arabica
Tim Horton's 
Krispy Kreme
Magnolia Bakery
Single Origin
L'Osteria

II. Spanish Restaurants:
Cafe Madrid
Barcino
La Picara
Tomatito

III. Bars & Gastropubs
Bowery
Back Room
Hotel Bar

IV. Specialty Restaurants
Ministry of Crab
Raging Bull
Nolita
Mango Tree
Nikkei
Mecha Uma
Ooma

#BGC
#WalkingTour
#realestatephilippines