Each year for the last four years, I’ve traveled to Seattle, Washington for Emerald City Comicon. I’ve attested that ECCC is my favorite comicons of the ones that I attend. It has the best mix of size, layout, quality of cosplay, quality of artists, ease of attending, and at the end of the day, you’re in Seattle surrounded by tons of great restaurants and bars. Each year, I try to visit different places on my list to try new things because there are so many great places, but I also always have my “must go” places every time i visit, and Rumba is one of those places. It’s a bar/restaurant that focuses on rum (duh, right?). When I say that the place focuses on rum, I mean it has a rum bible about the size of War and Peace and about two pages list all the other spirits they carry. They one of the few bars that I’ve been to that carry almost the entire Lost Spirits line of rum. So needless to say, you won’t have any issues with a lack of selection. The bar staff there is also very well educated. I’ve been fortunate enough to befriend their Bar Manager, Jennifer Akin. She’s quite the bad ass when it comes to her knowledge and experience. If you ever go there and there is space at the bar, I’d highly recommend sitting there and letting one of the bar staff take you on a rum journey.

The cocktail menu at Rumba is also quite extensive. They have the entire slew of more classic, and well known rum cocktails, like El Presidente, Cuba Libre, the Daquiri (a real one, not the slushy monstrosities that the name is associated with), Dark n Stormy, all the way up to a properly done Ti Punch! Along side those they also have their own original cocktails, and of course, you can always try individual spirits neat. In my multiple visits there I’ve had quite a few cocktails there but sadly did not keep track of which ones, I’ve had but I did take pictures though!

Aside from the great cocktails the food at Rumba is fantastic! It's Caribbean inspired but with Rumba's own interpretation and twist. Usually, we usually just get a bunch of bites to share. Everything was very good but there were two dishes that really stood out to me. The Chicharrones were unequivocally my favorite because who doesn't love deed fried pork skin? They're served fresh from the fryer and still crackling!! And that effect is amplified when you squeeze the lime onto them! It makes my mouth water just writing this. Check out the video below to hear the crackling goodness! A close second were the Rock Cod Fritters. They're absolutely amazing! Crunchy fritters that crunch when you bite them but are soft on the inside with hits of Rock Cod in them. Be careful when you bite into them though because the insides some times are still hot. I learned this the hard way because I'm impatient. Don't be like me. I'd really suggest trying all the bites if you ever visit but be sure to try the stars of the show while you're at it.

I hope I've piqued your interest to visit Rumba when you're in Seattle. I'd love to hear how your experience was! Hopefully I have some idea of what I'm writing about. 😉