Raise the bar in social distancing at these luxury hotels in Metro Manila

There’s nothing quite like the cocktail bar of a luxury hotel, with its legendary tales, lavish hospitality and carefree atmosphere. Considering the restrictive “new normal” of the current times, there’s little we wouldn’t give to be in one right now.

Manila’s cocktail bar culture had been enjoying a sort of renaissance in the years right before the pandemic. Nondescript spaces in not-so-prime locations ingeniously transformed into dimly lit, low-profile yet high-concept bars, with dressed-up millennial bartenders serving drinks with a flourish as if it were the 1920s.

Smelling an opportunity, mainstream hospitality players eventually caught on.

Pretty soon, the young maverick mixologists who had previously been at independent bars were shaping the beverage programs of luxury hotels in Makati and Bonifacio Global City.

These institutions were able to up the ante on customer experience through premium and novel ingredients and the polished execution of creative concepts, along with five-star hospitality and rigorous safety and sanitation protocols.

They were doing well – some even won accolades from international award-giving bodies – until the country was placed in lockdown because of the Covid-19 pandemic and operations were put on hold.

Now that Metro Manila is slowly warming up to the idea of stepping out for a drink once again, will cocktail bars in luxury hotels become the most popular – and sensible – choices?

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FEW PLACES CAN TOP THE PLEASURE of having a sunset cocktail on top of a skyscraper like The Peak, a multi-concept F&B establishment occupying the top three floors of Grand Hyatt Manila in BGC which reopened in October.

To the east are the mountains of Rizal province and Manila Bay to the west. Needless to say, the space offers welcome sights and much-needed breathing room after months of limited mobility.

As dusk falls and the metropolis turns into a jeweled vista, senior mixologist Sean Carlos de Vera is busy making The Peak Sour, the hotel bar’s signature cocktail and a nod to its extensive whisky collection.

It takes skill and audacity to successfully reinvent a classic – especially one as simply constructed as a whisky sour, which requires only whisky, lemon juice and sugar, with the option of adding egg white. But de Vera transforms this old favorite by combining 16-year-old Lagavulin single malt and Maker’s Mark Kentucky bourbon, creating a nuanced complexity that is brightened with pineapple and basil.

It is a triumphant departure from the indispensable lemon, delivering tropical notes with fragrance, sweetness and well-rounded flavor. To smoothen the drink’s smoky and peaty finish, De Vera tops the drink with the rich texture of egg white foam.

Starting on the 60th floor of the hotel, The Peak consists of a bar and grill restaurant, music lounge and whisky parlor – each distinct in character but coming together to form a coherent whole. Its Tokyo-based designer, Nao Taniyama, explored Manila’s arteries without a map, and his experience shaped The Peak as a multi-concept space, the sheer size of which allows for various diversions in a single night: one could dine on the open deck, dance in the music lounge or relax in one of the two private whisky rooms.

Unifying all three sections are refined, contemporized motifs of Filipino culture, such as indigenous tattoo patterns embossed on industrial-inspired walls and traditional Filipino basket weave designs known as solihiya.

The play of light, as it streams through the latticework and bounces off the textured walls, was intentionally designed by Taniyama and enhances The Peak’s pleasant maze-like quality, reminiscent of Manila’s network of streets and alleys. The concept is a boon in a city famous for its gridlock—and which now can be challenging to explore.

“Whatever you want to do, you can find it all here at The Peak. Guests can enjoy their sunset cocktails with our cheese soirée or champagne and oysters, then move indoors to have some whisky in one of the private rooms, before enjoying a late dinner at the steakhouse. Our guests do all three and mix it up according to their mood,” Heidi Manabat, the Grand Hyatt’s marketing communications director, says.

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THE BACK ROOM SEEMS DETERMINED NOT TO BE FOUND during my pre-pandemic visit. Disavowing any kind of association with Shangri-La at the Fort, which it is actually a part of, the speakeasy has no direct access from the hotel.

Instead, I go out into the street and get over my reluctance to enter an unmanned side door into a deserted, dimly lit hallway. I head down a staircase and I am lost; I should’ve made a sharp left after the shoeshine station where the dark cloakroom would lead me right into the Prohibition era.

It’s that era’s tradition of homemade booze that The Back Room has tapped into during the lockdown. According to bar manager Dicky Hartono, closing the bar to ensure the health and safety of guests “encouraged us to be more innovative and to work around limitations. We moved towards the general direction of Shangri-La’s F&B where we cater to guests in the comforts of their home. We launched DIY kit variations of our cocktails, including our in-house gin, Bee’s Knees.”

Even before the pandemic, The Back Room was creating its own gin at its in-house gin laboratory, bottling it for guests to enjoy at home. The Bee’s Knees – the ’20s slang expression for something excellent – adds a Filipino touch to the idea of bootleg gin by using endemic botanicals such as malunggay (moringa), sampaguita (Philippine jasmine) and dalandan (native orange).

Used as the base for the bar’s cocktails, the Bee’s Knees is lighter than your usual gin, with a delicate fragrance and dry floral taste. When paired with Fentimans tonic and topped with lime, it makes for an excellent G&T.

The bar’s range of bottled cocktails includes seven unique flavors using rum, vodka, gin and other spirits as the base. Hartono reveals that there’s currently a drink in the works that highlights the local berry bignay.

“We are happy to support our local producers in these times, and we also welcome opportunities to customize requests from clients,” adds the barman, who has hosted virtual master classes together with beverage manager Alexandre Renoue to remain connected with their patrons. “Many of our guests are actually looking forward to us re-opening, and we can’t wait to welcome everyone back.”

It’s easy to see why. Being in The Back Room is quite the experience. From the covert entrance, one is initiated into a different dimension. Inside there are no windows, making it easy to lose sense of time. It seems to be perpetually twilight here, with moody dark wood furnishings, black marble floors, leather wall panels and luxurious green Chesterfields lit by the soft glow of the bar. Sink into the plush chairs and soak in the clandestine atmosphere.

Don’t even try to Instagram your visit – any shot will be out of focus and nondescript to further defy attempts at discovery. But barely a year after its opening, The Back Room made it to the list of Asia’s 50 Best Bars in 2019.

Head bartender Aldrin Ivan “Poch” Ancheta, well-known for his creative technique and use of local ingredients, is no stranger to awards, having been with The Curator when it made it to the same list in the past.

But with Hartono’s deep knowledge of spices and beverage manager Renoue’s exposure to rare botanicals and cuisines, The Back Room’s menu of crafted originals always feels like a wild romp through the Age of Exploration.

Sure, Prohibition may have been about constraints – and lockdown came with its own restrictions – but The Back Room shows that skill and imagination know no bounds.

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NO ONE IS MORE EXCITED TO REOPEN in December than The Peninsula Manila, a five-star hotel in Makati City with an iconic lobby that is the meeting place of choice for the country’s politicians, socialites and top businesspeople.

Having celebrated its 44th year in the Philippines in September, the Peninsula is the grande dame that has witnessed triumphs, turnovers and takeovers – its longevity and stability signaling that we’ll get through even this latest episode in the city’s history.

And besides, nothing lifts the spirits like the entrance one makes at the lobby, with its high, sweeping ceiling and mezzanine. Past the palm trees and grand marble staircases is The Bar, which exudes a strangely cozy ambience despite its opulent surrounds.

Here is nostalgia for the good old days at its finest, with checkered floors and wooden walls adorned by black-and-white photographs. Inspired by an old cigar factory in timeless Havana, The Bar exemplifies the comfort of a true classic – exactly what beverage manager Rico Deang wanted. Here, amidst the leather chairs enveloped in pools of relaxing dim light, one can quietly savor a superb drink after a long day and believe that this is one of life’s singular pleasures.

True to its vintage atmosphere, The Bar is the only place in the hotel where smoking is permitted. And with Deang’s scrupulous eye for detail, honed by his training in mathematics, The Bar landed in Forbes Travel Guide’s 2019 list of the 44 best hotel bars in the world, alongside The Savoy’s American Bar and the Ritz Bar in Paris.

The Bar is the only Philippine establishment to make it to the list, which is curated by anonymous inspectors who evaluate over a thousand hotel bars based on 900 standards of luxury and quality. To make the cut, bars must achieve near-perfect scores for food and beverage, and the overall bar experience needs to be more than impressive.

“People know just by looking at the set-up if they are going to get a good cocktail or not,” Deang says. Behind him is a well-stocked bar flanked by dark wood and dusky light, and while the bar list is impressive – it includes premium wines created exclusively for The Peninsula – everything is designed to evoke a sense of comfort rather than spectacle.

For instance, a well-designed cocktail glass enhances the experience of having a tipple here, Deang says as he prepares Dancing Days, a drink that is as light and pleasurable as it sounds.

Made from red apples and lemons with a base of Citadelle gin, Dancing Days is best served in a coupe so that as you drink, the broad opening fills your head with the aroma of summer.

Deang adds a nuanced texture against the drinker’s lips with the velvety egg-white froth, the glazed crispness of dehydrated apple and the extra delicate rim of the coupe. The color is the blush of sunset. Drinking Dancing Days transports you to that one memorable summer you keep secret; the cocktail is a fine balance of carefree sensuality and understated charm.

These days, The Bar’s new menu leans towards the classics such as Negroni and bestsellers such as Beast of Burden, Deang says, “to bring back a sense of familiarity for our clients,” while making sure “there’s something to play with when it comes to ingredients, from infusing spirits with tea to ageing cocktails in oak barrels.”

Deang is a well-known prolific creator, whose Batangas Old Fashioned received a special mention in the Forbes Travel Guide. Served in a lowball glass, the cocktail uses Maker’s Mark bourbon infused with kapeng barako (Batangas coffee), a twist on a classic that is Deang’s tribute to his grandmother.

He was so inspired by Filipino souring agents during his collaboration with envelope-pushing restaurant Gallery by Chele that he ended up mixing 270 cocktails in one evening. This included the tongue-in-cheek Nampucha, a mango-based cocktail made with the Gallery’s kombucha, and the delightful but potent Saludo Kay Andres, made of oregano, cane syrup and bourbon.

As The Peninsula prepares for its December reopening, Deang adds that in the meantime guests can enjoy the same libations from The Bar in their own homes with bottled cocktails and contactless service via PenChat.

“You can purchase the bottle, throw in some ice, add a garnish or two and you’re back at The Bar,” he says. He’s pleased that the bottled drinks “have been flying off the shelves,” but hopes guests “don’t like it too much that they’d rather have it at home”.

After all, pre-Covid, The Bar had one of the longest happy hours in the city, running from nine in the morning until six in the evening. When it reopens, it’s likely patrons will want to return to those comforting armchairs. Who can blame us? Cocktail in hand, we are transported to those longed-for dancing days under the sun.