Our 2nd stop brought us to the much talked about wine bar in the Philippine community for the past few months, Barkada Wine Bar at 1939 12th St. in NW DC. I was cheerfully met by one of the owners, Anthony Aligo and he gave us a brief tour of the dining room which was elegantly set up with a hint of modern touches here and there.

Their wine list was perfectly curated to showcase the richness of the Virginian terroir but also playfully balance with their west coast CA counterpart and of course highlighting the “Old World” favorites and featuring some extended skin contact selections as well. 

“Barkada” means friendship in Filipino and this place was at the receiving end of a lot of negative controversy by the Philippine community in naming their wine bar as such without even having a Filipino co-owner or chef in the restaurant. This was 1 of the main reasons that made me want to meet Anthony and his partners because I knew that there must have been a reason for this and as a restauranteur myself I felt that we should give these people an opportunity to share their story.

True enough, Anthony had told us that right after graduating College at Villanova University they had a Filipino room mate named Alex Abad Santos who taught them a thing or two about our culture and how they named their group “Barkada” which eventually made its way to their new business.

After trying the lumpia with banana ketchup and the selection of “mani” (peanuts) I was already convinced that these guys were “Pinoy” at heart. The spirit of Barkada definitely lives in this space and more than the word the most important thing is the message, which Barkada wine bar resonates perfectly. It’s a place where friends can have some wine and some food while they converse with each other in an environment that is conducive to celebrating friendship.

Be patient… #KulinaryaTravels DC will be back next week for to start an action packed weekend of fun “Pinoy” style