Looking for Looking for nightspots in Cebu? Here’s a few ideas…

by KARA MAE NOVEDA

MANY OF US HAVE been there. Wide-eyed, energy spent after a day exploring an unfamiliar city, curiosity and hunger still insatiable. At past nine in the evening, you are too famished to be picky and have no clue where to eat this late. You are a toss coin away from making do with room service or having fast food from whichever is open.

Thankfully, Cebu City can treat you better than that. There’s no need to find the nearest 24-hour convenience store to bag your supply of microwaveable food. Or worse, go to bed hungry. Here then, are casual sit-down places that are at your service during the late hours.

Draft Punk Craft Cafe

Opening Hours: 3 pm to 2 am,

Tuesdays to Sundays

In the Philippines, where the legal drinking age set at 18 years old, is younger than in many countries, it is normal to find alcohol-serving establishments overflowing with university-aged groups. In these places, the menu is kept simple, with cheap drinks and food-for-share. Close to several schools, Draft Punk Craft Café in Mango Square Mall along General Maxilom Avenue (still called Mango Avenue by most locals) outclasses the regular college student’s watering hole in many aspects: pub-style food is imaginative and tasty, and the drink selection, an exciting assortment of beers (draft, local, and imported) and cocktails. Still, and this is likely good news to the sandals-glued tourists, the open-air café remains casual and does not have a door charge (except on some events) nor a dress code.

Draft Punk attracts the youngish crowd, having gained a reputation for hosting weekly rotations of indie pop-up shops or fairs, vinyl nights, and other music gigs well before the pandemic. Now, they are back to regular programming, with events lined up mostly on Fridays and the weekends.  Expect the crowd and the music to get livelier by 10 pm onwards.

This is a place to see people and hear good music, but food and drinks here are not an afterthought. Regulars swear by the Punked-Out Sisig (sisig is a popular Filipino minced pork dish), which has more kick than the traditional version as it is topped with labuyo (wild chili) and green chili. The bar chow or appetizer selection on the menu is what Filipinos refer to as pulutan, food that is usually consumed and shared by drinking buddies because drinking in the Philippines is a spirited, communal activity. Pulutan recommendations here include their beer-battered potato wedges and Gambas a la Draft Punk – their version is cooked in chili garlic oil and seasoned with lemongrass and cilantro. 

Fairly recent updates to the menu take inspiration elsewhere in Asia as Draft Punk additionally offers Bao Bites, pillowy steamed buns stuffed with savory and even sweet fillings. Not just a bite, but more like a mouthful—each order comes with two buns. And in true fusion food fashion, the hot buns are available in fillings from eclectic cooking influences: Peking Pig (braised and pan-grilled in Chinese-style tender pork belly), El Pollo Con Yo (Latino spiced chicken), and Har Gaw Bao (dimsum-style shrimps).

Pad Thai Goong

Opening Hours: 3 pm to 12 am weekdays and

11 am to 12 am weekends

Sure, pad thai is probably served in almost every hotel and Asian restaurant in Cebu City. But the stir-fried noodle dish at Pad Thai Goong somehow transports you to a noisy nondescript alley in Bangkok where you must have had the satisfying real thing for about 40 Baht. Pad thai, after all, is considered a street food in Thailand. Saving you that trip, going to Pad Thai Goong is as good as it can get in these parts.

Pad Thai Goong, the streetside eatery located close to the busy intersection of Escario Street and Gorordo Avenue, stays true to the hawker tradition and serves its namesake dish hot from its tiny kitchen in under 15 minutes. It probably takes a lot of people longer to look at the menu. Not that their menu is any bit complicated. They serve four kinds of pad thai: shrimp, pork, chicken, and tofu. Another dish worth trying is their Thai fried chicken in gorgeous caramel color. This is a popular street food in Thailand—best eaten while fresh off the wok in all its crispy, garlicky glory.

You can linger on for a round of drinks and more. Pad Thai Goong keeps it interesting by serving not just local beers but also Thai lager, canned Suntory, milk tea, and a few nostalgic drinks. (Warheads sour soda, anyone?)

Yukga Korean BBQ

Opening Hours: 11:00 am to 4:00 am daily

A list of late-night grub spots in any city would not be complete without a Korean barbecue restaurant. Korean restaurants are known for keeping long business hours anywhere in the world, and in Cebu, it is no different.

As a rule, supply yields to demand, and it can no longer be denied that Filipinos have acquired a taste for samgyeopsal. So where does one go for midnight K-barbecue cravings? We suggest Yukga Korean BBQ in IT Park. Grill snobs would approve of how Yukgai imports premium aged meat for their main dishes and uses cast iron in their table grills. The latter feature is critical in keeping food from sticking to the skillet while grilling.

For first-timers of the K-barbecue experience, you may take a moment to navigate through the menu and get acquainted with the grill. Yukga’s menu is divided into an encyclopedia of meat cuts. You have the broad categories of pork and beef. Everybody is familiar with samgyeopsal (fatty pork belly), but if you want a leaner cut of pork, go with galmaegisal, which is comparable to beef in color and flavor. Top beef selections are the galbibonsal (boneless short rib) and the kotdeungsim (rib-eye steak roll).

Not to worry, Yukga’s servers are well- trained to talk you through what is available, and should you opt out of the hands-on grilling experience, you can always have the kitchen do your cooking. Grilled meat dishes are balanced with a colorful spread of banchan (Korean vegetable side dishes). And if there is some more room—cap your barbecue meal the Korean way with a satisfying bowl of cold buckwheat noodles in the iced vinegary broth. 

JAZZ NIGHTS IN 12 NOTES

In this age of social media ubiquity where patrons geotag their every meal, dining and drinking in a place that has not been posted about seems almost unheard of. Such is the charm of a speakeasy. In Cebu, there aren’t many of them, and so, when one opens (in hushed fashion, naturally)—a curious, discerning crowd comes over.

There is no secret password or must-have-reservation to get past through the door in 12 Notes. Located in the same heritage-house-turned-resto as CAVA, a newly-opened brunch-to-dinner spot, 12 Notes still manages to be discreet with its entrance cleverly hidden by a wall fixture. I won’t be the one to completely spoil the discovery experience for you, but be assured that diners are welcome to simply ask the staff to show them the way to the “other restaurant”. Another dining spot within a restaurant? Yes. That’s all in the good order of speakeasy styling. Once in, you’ll be transported to a different place with its dim-lit interiors, low dining and seating set-up, and live jazz music (a trio performs on Thursdays and Fridays). A full-service bar dominates a corner of 12 Notes’ intimate space, perhaps to signal its dedication to drinks. They serve classic and one-off cocktails and are in consultation with a Manila-based mixologist as they plan to roll out their signature drinks soon. For a seamless experience, have your dinner at CAVA before taking the party to 12 Notes, just a few steps away. Stay awhile, drink up, and if you feel like it, have a go at their curated variety of bar chows. 12 Notes opens from 6 p.m. to midnight.