Cubao Is Now a Fine Spot to Have Crafty Cocktails—Here Are 4 Bars We Recommend

(SPOT.ph) Quietly, almost in secret, Cubao has become a destination for an interesting drink. It’s no Poblacion, certainly, but maybe that’s a good thing. Prices are lower, drinks are often stranger, and the places have personality to spare. Here are four stops for the cocktail-curious.

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Don't sleep on these bars in Cubao with great cocktails:

Habanero Kitchen Bar

Now, no one really thinks of Habanero as a place to get a drink. The main attraction will always be the food: modern Filipino inflected with molecular gastronomy techniques. But they take the same approach with their list of drinks, using science to add surprising, and often delightful layers to familiar flavors. The humble gin pomelo is buoyed by the addition of a pomelo foam that intensifies the aroma of the fruit. Spherified lambanog is turned into popping boba, adding fun textures to a standard cooler. It’s hard to imagine someone going to Habanero just for the drinks, but they make a nice addition to a menu already full of culinary delights.

Habanero Kitchen Bar is at Cubao Expo, Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City.

Best of Luck

Best of Luck is a recent addition to Cubao Expo. The ground floor is designed to look like a corner shop somewhere in Hong Kong or maybe Taipei, serving greasy, deeply satisfying comfort Chinese food that you’d have after a night of drinking. And you might get those drinks on their second floor, which is made up to look like a hip cocktail bar. They’re still on soft opening, so there’s a lot of room for experimentation. But this also means the drinks are cheap: P218 for any cocktail. Try the Milky Boy: a creamy confection that tries to replicate the flavors of the classic White Rabbit candy. Or the Pink Margarita: an Olmeca-based version of the timeless drink brightened up with pomegranate. Or just go classic with a negroni, which at 218 pesos is maybe one of the best deals in town.

Best of Luck is at Cubao Expo, Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City.

INT. Bar/EXT. Cafe

Of the bars featured, INT. Bar/EXT. Cafe is probably the one that hews closest to the craft cocktail bars of other areas. The bar is located behind a photobooth in Cubao Expo, and they have an extensive menu of cocktails, most of them themed around movies. Their menu is large enough that there’s probably something for everyone, but if you’re looking for a recommendation, try the drinks that are based around the spirits that they mess around with. They’ll fat-wash a rum before adding Chai to it. Or they’ll infuse a gin with spicy peppercorns, adding an extra bit of floral texture to the spirit. Their staff is very helpful and pretty knowledgeable, and they might guide you to making a custom cocktail based on your tastes.

INT. Bar/EXT. Cafe is at Cubao Expo, Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City.

Ounce Manila

This is the only bar here that’s not in Cubao Expo. It’s also the only one that doesn’t even have walls. Ounce is located on the second floor of the New Frontier Theater, near the bridgeway entrance to Gateway Mall. And it’s just out in the open, lacking some of the creature comforts that the other bars might have. What it lacks in structure, it makes up for with an adventurous spirit and a dedication to really using local flavors. The Calamansito is the drink you should probably start with: a bright, refreshing version of a mojito that gets a lot out of our local citrus. Advanced drinkers might want to try the Kusina ni Gabriela Silang, which mixes rum, mango, chili, and an atsara puree. Ounce is pretty strange, but it’s the bar that really captures what Cubao is all about: high-end experiences in unpretentious settings.

Ounce Manila is at 2/F New Frontier Theatre Araneta Center, Quezon City.

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