Stardust pays tribute to musical tastes of Manila

Blink and you might miss it: On 58 Jupiter Street in Makati stands an unassuming building that houses a lounge like no other.

On the ground floor is Stardust — not so much a bar or restaurant, but its owners best describe it as a lounge that caters to all five senses. It elevates everything one would expect in such places to world-class status, especially for the discerning and those with sophisticated tastes.

Guests are greeted by the work of interior designer Angie Gonzalez-Hager: A hallway that looks something out of Hollywood afterparties with black, marble-like floor tiling, a ceiling full of disco balls, and a corridor of mirrors.

Further inside, a cool breeze envelopes guests as the velvet-lined interiors, custom furniture, and star-studded ceiling transport customers to some vibrant night spot somewhere in Manhattan. Even the restroom looks posh.

While most bars in Makati seem to have gotten the formula of what works for them, the management of Stardust is not afraid to swim against the tide — especially since what they’re aiming for are sophistication, elegance and world-class appeal.

“If you would pick up Stardust and drop it here in New York City, it would not miss a beat,” said Michael Chung, an ex-Goldman Sachs banker and one of the owners now based in New York.

“I have been to lounges and clubs in NYC all my life and Stardust looks and sounds better than most similar venues here in NYC. More importantly, we wanted to create a premier experience for those in Manila who want the world’s best dance music, piped through a state-of-the-art sound system and on most nights, played on vinyl. Stardust is a tribute to the sophisticated musical tastes of Manila patrons who have made the city one of the world’s epicenters for nightlife and music.”

Born out of passion

The well-thought-out aesthetics cater to the senses of sight and touch, but it was the sense of hearing the owners were honing in from the get-go.

Chung and Peter Hager, also one of the owners, were high school buddies from International School Manila who operated and spun for a mobile DJ group called Nouveaux in the late 80s.

They are also partners with Andre Kahn, who, in the early 70s to late 80s, was the executive vice president and general manager of Trans Radio Broadcasting Corporation — the owner and operator of then-99.5 RT, which was considered to be a trailblazer and the authoritative source of new and edgy American pop music in the 70s and 80s.

Other partners include Louie Ysmael or Louie Y, a legend in the Manila nightlife scene in the 70s and the brains behind famous clubs like Euphoria and Stargazer, and more recently Revel and XYLO, among many others; multi-awarded actor Alden Richards; and iconic DJ Angelo de Dios.

All their combined passion for music led to the establishment of Stardust — the name an offshoot of the club Stargazer, which was the premier nightclub located at the Silahis Hotel in the 80s.

“The seeds of Stardust germinated in 2019 halfway around the world in South America with a fortuitous meeting with David Vukovich, one of the owners of Traction,” shared Hager.

“In 2020, I got a hold of some Traction speakers and discovered how incredible they sounded. From there, the inspiration was born to open a lounge bar to showcase Traction’s speakers and raise the level of nightlife entertainment in Makati by delivering an immersive high-quality audio experience that allowed people to socialize without shouting. The result is Stardust, a modern plush venue paying homage to the late 70s and early 80s, the nostalgic days of disco and the second British music invasion, through an uncompromising sound system.”

The careful curation of the lounge’s acoustics follows that same passion for music. Waxefield Sound Production Corporation took care of the speaker layout while Basic Machinery and Acoustics Corporation worked on the acoustic treatment.

“My whole life has been music but when I hear the same song in Stardust, it’s like I’m hearing it for the first time,” Kahn said. “You hear little things in the cut that you have not heard with poorer quality speakers. That’s the biggest attraction for everyone that I know that goes to Stardust. They’re simply amazed that the song sounds so alive.”

Attention to detail

Chung explained that he and Hager go through hundreds of vinyl records sourced from around the world in an exhaustive process of pinning down the “Stardust sound.” He added that De Dios and resident Stardust DJ Arnel Genterone, who are world-class DJs in their own right, also scour hundreds of songs in a month when choosing the music to play in the lounge.

“We believe that this extra effort and curation is a way to show our patrons that we want to deliver the best experience and music out there and keep the sound fresh and future-forward. It is truly a labor of love but in the end, when a guest comes up to the DJ booth and gives us a nod of approval or the look of ‘wow,’ it makes it all worth it.” Chung said.

This Stardust ethos translates into every aspect of the lounge.

Its lineup of classic and signature drinks, a must try of which is the Euphoria, as well as the selection of food, went through a rigorous process of constant review and curation — rounding out the five senses to include taste and smell.