Lunch with Friends at Barkadahan Grill

Barkadahan Grill in Divisoria

In my second year of my MBA, I decided to shake things up a little. I usually take my meals and snacks  alone, but for this school year, I wanted to spend more time with my grad school classmates. That is, if they invite me. Fortunately, offers did come and I've blogged a few of those too. Recently, two of my friends brought me to Barkadahan Grill.

Barkadahan Grill is a local chain and as its name suggests specialize in grilled food. Their repertoire is not limited to the grill; they have the usual Filipino fare that is not prepared by grilling. They have four branches and the one we went is their Divisoria store.

It is "pay as you order"

Their original location was in Divisoria and though they currently have a store in the exact same place, that is not the original. The original burned down a few years back. When a new building was erected from the ashes, Barkadahan returned to establish a new branch.

We went there for lunch and ordered four courses. Now would be a good time to declare that our meal was sponsored by Quilin who was just appointed as municipal accountant of his hometown. The guy was really intent in sharing his blessings. We ordered Calamares, Sisig, Lomi and Sinuglao, and this was how our meal fared.

Hot soup during a rainy day will always hit the spot.

Lomi was our first course. It was a rainy morning and some soup would hit the spot. Lomi is an egg noodle soup with a lot of toppings. It has a thick broth in which flour was added and a raw egg to help thicken it. I was especially pleased that the vegetables in it were particularly fresh as I could actually taste the freshness. I believe I had four servings of the noodle soup, it was quite good.

This wasn't the calamares that I expected.

The entrees came after we had our fill of the Lomi and the Calamares came first. Calamares are squid rings wrapped in batter and deep fried, but it seemed that this version of the seafood dish had a lot more batter, at least two and a half more than the actual squid meat. Although I could still taste the squid, this was not how I imagined Calamares to be.

Their sisig might not have been spectacular but I still ate it.

Sisig came next and their version of the thrice cooked finely chopped meat bits from a pig's head was surprisingly good. Not the best in the city but I liked how they differentiated their dish. It was served in a sizzling plate and topped with fried garlic bits. I think they added some pork liver to it as well.

More fresh ingredients in their dishes.

Sinuglao was the final dish to complete our four courser. Sinuglao is a portmanteu of Singuba and Kinilaw. Singuba is grill roasted pork flesh and Kinilaw is fresh fish fillets pickled in vinegar. Sinuglao is Kinilaw mixed with the roasted pork slices. It is a dish with a lot of regional variations. Barkadahan's version is hit or miss. The Kinilaw component I have no compliants but the pork was undercooked.

It was a filling meal and was reasonably priced. It's a good place to have lunch or dinner, especially if you have company. The food wasn't spectacular, well most of it anyway. The Lomi was really good.