Tunnel Bar. Handout

MANILA -- It’s airy, wide, and different. Walking around Parqal, a new mall in Aseana City, Parañaque, feels like I’m in a foreign land — Europe, perhaps, or maybe Singapore.  

A wordplay on “park” and “kalye,” Parqal, unlike BGC and the rest, is not overcrowded even on weekends.

Parqal has incidentally landed on the shortlist of “The World’s Most Beautiful Emporiums for 2024” in Prix Versailles, an annual architectural competition — cited for “its main street which is protected by a glass roof that stretches more than 400 meters in length, allowing natural light to filter through...”

At one corner near its row of restaurants is Tunnel Bar. It’s actually a club with DJ music and live bands playing nightly except Sundays.  

I’ve been here twice — first on a slow night during its soft opening, and the second time at its recent grand launch.

There was no band when I first visited, just the DJ spinning old-school disco and contemporary dance tunes. A group of friends, probably a mix of millennials and Gen Z, were having a swell time jumping up and down to the music.

I also had a good time watching them — they all looked like kids soaked in the aural pleasures of music, most probably with a nice buzz from the bottles of liquor on their table, for a few hours oblivious to the cares of the world.  

Tunnel Bar. Handout

Grand opening night was packed. Two bands were on the bill. The first one, Abbey Pineda with Funky Brew, sounded pretty good covering Rihanna’s “Umbrella.”

It’s also my first time to see Pineda. She seemed like a seasoned performer, and many in the audience were taken by her energy in song after song, highlighted by a succession of Janet Jackson tracks.]

Looking at the guests from various generations, I would say Tunnel has a good chance of drawing a wide segment of the nightlife market.

The second band, Powerhouse, brought energy levels through the roof, revving up with the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Got a Feeling” before going full speed ahead with Tears for Fears’ “Head Over Heels,” New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle, a slew of Madonna classics (“Holiday,” “Like a Virgin,” “Borderline,” “Material World,” and the Spice Girls’ “Stop.”

Friends kept offering me a drink, but the music was enough to loosen me up.

Lately, Tunnel has been closed to the public on weekends due to lots of private parties. It’s best to first check its Instagram page before going there.

It’s actually an ideal place to celebrate special occasions — cozy and yet spacious enough for about 80 people.