Thursday, July 28, 2016

The Davao Pub Crawl Experience



Years ago, the local city council of Davao amended the ordinance no. 1627, series of 1994. This particular city ordinance states that drinking, selling, serving, and consumption of liquors and alcoholic beverages is strictly prohibited from 1am to 8am. For some who aren't from Davao, this is a bummer. How can a big metropolitan city like Davao have this kind of silly law?

Believe it or not, I just had my first pub crawl experience not in Manila or Cebu, but in Davao.

After our hearty dinner at Lachi's, the Department of Tourism Region XI invited us for a pub crawl. The itinerary of our pub crawl includes Huckleberry Southern Kitchen & Bar, Beer Avenue, and Primo Cafe and Grille. The tour was not just about binge drinking before the clock strikes at half past midnight, but it also aims tourists that they can still have a great drinking experience that only Davao City could offer.

Huckleberry Southern Kitchen & Bar sits at the lower ground floor of the Oboza Mansion, much like an entrance to the mansion's wine cellar. The fairly new restaurant opened its doors to the public last year and serve southern-style cuisines. The ingredients, however, are sourced locally. Here, we tried their locally flavored white rum which comes in different flavors: mango, pineapple, santol, sili, mangosteen, and a whole lot more. Each one of us were given a shot glass and we were allowed to choose our preferred flavor (I chose mangosteen by the way). But the catch is this: You need to finish one shot in just one gulp. The barista filled up my shot glass and it was full up to its rim. I never, I REPEAT, never finished a shot of white rum in my entire life. But hey, there's always a first time because I managed to finish one shot of it (pero kasukaon gud ko ato that time because dmd jud and white rum). I couldn't really taste the mangosteen in it because the rum was too strong for my taste however it was fragrant. Same goes to the mango flavored white rum. Others tried the sili flavor and they told me that the aftertaste of sili was really intense, but in a good way.





At half past ten, we walked (yes, you read it right! We're still walking and not crawling) to our next destination - Beer Avenue. It's actually quite near from Huckleberry, just a two blocks away. Honestly, I got excited because I'm more of a beer person. But, if there were only hard drinks on the table, I always make sure that chasers are available or I mix it with coke (like rum cola or JD + coke... yum!). Beer Avenue is located within the complex of Legazpi Suites and they serve both local and international beers. To make it fair, we randomly picked a beer by choosing its bottle cap which were all placed in an upside-down position and whatever we pick, we must finish its whole content. Pero ang ending, we shared some of the beers. Beer Avenue also gave us two huge plates of nachos with fries! Yum! Luckily, I picked Budweiser. It's one of the best tasting beers I've tried.





The last stop of the Pub Crawl tour was Primo Cafe and Grille, located at Camus & Gen. Luna Sts., Davao City, right in front of Apo View Hotel. We tried their best-selling mojito. Honestly, it's one of the best tasting mojitos in town. The alcohol's not too strong and it was sweet, perfect for my taste. Surprisingly, it was a refreshing drink. But folks, mojito is still an alcoholic drink, so drink responsibly. On top of that, we tried their sizzling beef tendons which was also tasty.



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Special thanks to the Department of Tourism XI for sponsoring the Davao Pub Crawl. I do hope that both local and international tourists won't get alarmed by Davao's strict implementation of the 1AM liquor ban. Night life in Davao is flourishing, I tell you. We're just *ehem* disciplined.

Basta Davaoeño, #DCplinado!

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