One Tokyo night at Problem Child
A guest shift by Japanese bartender Kyoka Ogawa brought a taste of Tokyo's cocktail culture to Makati—and proved reports of the younger generation giving up alcohol may be greatly exaggerated
Published Jun 30, 2026 09:49 am
(Photo: Maya)
It's my second time partying at Problem Child, and despite its naughty name, I always end up having—just a little bit—too much fun.
Maybe it's the room. Maybe it's the crowd. Maybe it's the cocktails. Whatever it is, every visit somehow stretches into the early hours, with me leaving well past midnight wondering where the time went.
The Makati bar has mastered that elusive balance. It's lively without being chaotic, cool without trying too hard. Conversations bounce between tables, strangers become drinking buddies, and the cocktails—already among the reasons to visit—are occasionally elevated even further through guest shifts featuring bartenders from abroad.
That was exactly why Manila Bulletin Lifestyle found itself back at Problem Child last Thursday.
For one night, acclaimed Japanese bartender Kyoka Ogawa traded Tokyo for Makati, bringing with her a cocktail menu inspired by one of Japan's most celebrated bar scenes. Presented together with Maya Black, the guest shift offered local drinkers a rare opportunity to sample Ogawa's creations without boarding a plane.
The evening began at 8 p.m., but if you thought arriving fashionably late was a good idea, you would've missed the point.
By a little before 10 p.m., Ogawa's cocktails had already sold out.
That alone says something.
(Photo: Maya)
The prevailing narrative these days is that Gen Z doesn't drink anymore—that younger people are turning away from alcohol altogether. Spend one Thursday night at Problem Child, however, and that argument starts to unravel.
The crowd wasn't there to drink indiscriminately. They were there because they knew exactly what they wanted.
Anime theme songs floated through the speakers before giving way to Japanese city pop, setting an unmistakably Tokyo mood. Later in the evening, DJ Margachi took over and kept the room moving well past midnight. Between sets, cocktails made their way across nearly every table as conversations grew louder and the room settled into that comfortable rhythm only good bars seem capable of creating.
Ogawa's drinks reflected the precision Japanese bartending has become famous for—balanced, elegant, restrained and meticulously considered. They weren't cocktails you rushed through. They were cocktails you looked at, talked about, photographed, then slowly enjoyed.
It's the kind of experience that makes you want to book a ticket to Tokyo, not simply to revisit the drinks, but to discover the culture that produced them.
(Photo: Maya)
That's what made the evening memorable. It wasn't simply about importing a bartender for a night. It offered a glimpse into another city's drinking culture while reminding everyone that Manila's own cocktail scene has become mature enough to appreciate it.
Looking around the room, the crowd was refreshingly mixed. There were fresh-faced twenty-somethings, young professionals, cocktail connoisseurs, millennials catching up over a few rounds—and, wait, is that Sandro Marcos walking into the bar? That's another thing I enjoy about nights like these. You never know who you'll run into. You share a room, a drink, and a few hours with people from all walks of life.
And maybe that's why I don't buy the idea that young people no longer drink.
They do. They just drink differently.
My generation—and those older—often treated a night out as a race to see who could order the next round the fastest. Today's drinkers seem more deliberate. They gravitate toward cocktails with thoughtful ingredients, careful technique, and beautiful presentation. They'd rather savor one exceptional drink than rush through three ordinary ones.
The fact that Ogawa's menu disappeared quickly says everything you need to know.
The appetite hasn't vanished.
It's simply become more sophisticated.