^{with Francesca Fernandez}

Cava serves glimpses — into history, marvelous new flavors, the Cebu art scene, and into what nightlife can be. One cozy Thursday night in March, content creators from across Cebu gathered to savor these tastes, sights, and experiences.

Tucked away in a familiar spot in Lahug stands an unassuming ancestral home. If you feel you’ve seen this place before, you would be right. This house was once home to another popular establishment but has since been redesigned and fitted with something entirely new.

Cava carries that charm of familiarity into new territory, serving dishes and drinks that jog the memory (Haw Flakes cocktail, anyone?) but are made brightly new and delicious.

The Food

If you’ve dined around Cebu before, you may have already had a taste of the delights that chef Christian Bernard conjures in the kitchen. His menu for Cava meets every expectation.

The roasted chermoula chicken and sweet pesto sauce served as an excellent main course, offering delightfully tender meat underneath a crunchy crust of herbs.  

Sweet beef and garlic elevate the macaroni and cheese beyond recognition. It’s almost hard to believe that this dish is anything close to the baked-from-a-box snack mac and cheese usually is. The unique play on creamy, sweet, and savory flavors left some of us calling this dish a favorite by the end of the night.

The Drinks

Award-winning Kalel Demetrio of Agimat bar and ube liqueur fame prepared the night’s specialty cocktails. Not one to shy away from a challenge, Demetrio’s lineup is concocted entirely with organic ingredients from local markets as well as the compound’s own garden. On top of all that, these cocktails come in names that are truly Cebuano, some making us laugh and reminisce about common memories.

The “Mutiara Moringa” is served with drama and flair — a sweet citrus cocktail nested in a glass pyramid and blasted with nangka smoke. It may be pretty, but patrons say it packs a punch.

Our other favorite, the “Maayong Buntag” is a vodka-based sikwati drink topped with a cute piece of puto. Yes, you read that right, and it tastes as good as it sounds and looks.

But perhaps the winner of the night would have to be the “VUDU”, named after a Cebuano nightlife nexus that seasoned patrons would be quite familiar with. How does it taste? This fruity feather-adorned citrus cocktail has well more than name recall to stand on.

The Speakeasy

Hidden behind the facade of a door-sized painting is 12 Notes, the establishment’s speakeasy. A sexy dark ambiance and local contemporary art provided by Qube Gallery may set the mood for this bar, but it’s the live Jazz that animates both venue and patron. 

The History

With food and drink this excitingly contemporary, it was easy to forget that we were dining in a heritage home. That is until JP Chiongbian reminded us that we were in the presence of over a hundred years of history.

Previously used as a shelter during World War 2, this old house has now become a cozy place of gathering with its revamped look that retained its old charms. This bit of history served as the inspiration for our first cocktail of the night — a pink Japanese yuzu-infused drink named “Tagay” to be poured into shot glasses. Cebuanos commemorate the best way we know how to — shot. Now add in live jazz music in the background and it’s definitely a pleasurable trip to the past.

Perhaps fortunately, there were no paranormal sightings that night (or any other night, we’re told). The living enjoyed our cocktails, meals, and chit-chat in peace and bliss.

Cava is located in the Circa 1900 Compound on Sanjercasville Ext. Road, Barangay Lahug, Cebu City. You can check out their Instagram and Facebook for more information.

^{Photos by Francesca Fernandez and Tommy Mitra
Featured photo from Cava on Facebook}