Davao City prides itself on many things, including its distinct drinking culture that is a far cry from the wild and more sophisticated practices by other similar mega cities in the country. Cocktail bars only grew an appreciation in the city in 2018 and, ever since, the city has been experiencing a shift to more expansive flavors of spirits and botanicals. Bar Botanica included.
Bar Botanica started as a daydream among four cousins Enzo Rabat, Tino Del Rosario, Ralph Lim, and Victoria Brias who wanted a place to hang out and cultivate the city’s drinking culture because even with an already existing nightlife, the city was lacking a cocktail scene–save for one restaurant with a good spirits selection.
The concept is to introduce fresh ingredients into the cocktails, which is something they live by until today. Bar Botanica launched a new appreciation for flavorful alcohol serving classic and original cocktails other than the regular mojitos or margaritas typical in a Davao city bar and surrounding clubs.
They want to evoke a feeling of freshness and create a homey atmosphere, which influenced the name and interior design. Being situated in the plant-filled Oboza compound elevated that feeling especially with the bar fronted by an enormous heritage tree decorated with capiz shell lights. The mural of local fauna by The Secret Garden Owner Paolo Ramirez is also visible from the outside.
Alex Alcaraz, who is in charge of the day-to-day operations, says she is a newcomer in the cocktail industry despite her experience in the food and business industry in Manila. Most of what she learned in the cocktail industry she had learned running Bar Botanica and from the principal partner, Javi Campos. “Among all the partners, it was Javi who was really invested in cocktails. He educated himself in flavors and improving his palette through constant practice and exposure to cocktails, and that’s how we got the menu that we have.”
The menu consists of the classics such as the negroni, sangria, gin fizz, amaretto, and whisky sour, and also some signature cocktails like the Davao Stormy and Summer in Samal. “We serve a lot of classic cocktails here because we wanted it to be an introductory taste of Davao. And Javi was the one who chose and formulated the recipes according to what was available in Davao City.”
Bar Botanica is also a tapas restaurant, one of the few in the city. A favorite would have to be their Croquetas, but Davao does love their seafood with bestsellers like the Calamares Fritos, and Gambas.
Back in 2018, Bar Botanica catered to a smaller crowd, with only two sofa bench tables for groups and an array of bar seats to cater to the individuals who are more straightforward with their drinking. After about a year into their operation, Bar Botanica extended their space to house more people. In a way, it is a reflection of how the reception for cocktails is growing in the city. “It started out as a very chill sit-down bar, it was very relaxed. It has started to morph into something more lively during the weekend. The challenge now is maintaining the integrity of the bar.”
Alex was born and raised in Manila, and grew up with a very different drinking scene as compared to Davao, especially in terms of spending. “The Manila crowd is much more willing to spend for the experience,”––although it is just becoming more evident now, with the rise in popularity of speakeasy bars.
“We had a lot of pushback at the beginning, considering that Davao is quite shocked with the pricing of cocktails. Now that we have our own captured market, people are now more accepting and our top-selling are cocktails.”
Alex Alcaraz
Coming from the introductory classic cocktails, Alex shares that Bar Botanica is currently expanding to more diverse flavors. “We’re very happy that people are very receptive to the classic cocktails. The next step is the more experimental cocktails and spirit-forward, and that’s what we are trying to move towards or introduce which was also something Davao was able to experience when William Grant and Sons’ Kenn Bandivas and Royce Pua were in town for the Bar takeover.”
Their staff was also trained by the visiting team and the head bartender, Arnel Villamor, was able to fly out for during the Manila Cocktail Fest. It is one of the things interesting with Bar Botanica; they do pay attention to educating their own team. “Something that we promised our staff when they started working for us is that when the opportunity for development for you guys [come], we will try to get you guys in those; we definitely want you guys to develop your work skills and work ethic.”
After more than a year of working in the city, I asked Alex how she finds Davao’s drinking scene.
“People here share more.”
Going out on a weekend or a weekday for the brave is mostly with friends and sharing a bottle of tequila or Gin. “There’s a sense of camaraderie in the bar, that’s definitely more a product of people knowing each other. it was less clique-ish.”
Alex is confident that the cocktail culture in Davao is young but growing. “I will be bold enough to say that Bar Botanica does help elevate that.”
“The culture here is different and that’s what I like here. The willingness to experience is still developing. But we really don’t need to try too hard to catch up with Manila because it might lose that sense of identity. “
Alex Alcaraz
Photos by Princess Taroza
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