DC - Kaliwa
The 3rd installment of this trip has brought us to The Wharf, DC’s newest waterfront attraction which hosts restaurants, music venues and live seafood place.
Water sightseeing tours and day trips to Alexandria, Virginia are also available here along with various cafes and to highlight this tourist attraction is the beautiful Pearl Street. Kaliwa which is a Filipino Asian restaurant is situated right after you walk down Pearl Street approaching the water to the right side. We were graciously met by our host Chef Julie Cortes who welcomed us with a tour of the 2 story restaurant. The place has astonishing decoration and an inviting open kitchen that would showcase their Asian inspired dishes in the nation’s capital.
The first dish that Chef served us was their take on the Filipino classic lumpia and the braised pork belly appetizer which was so tender and rich that it almost had me ordering rice after the first bite.
Bicol express was to follow which had subtle notes of spiciness and accompanied by squash and eggplant both cooked to perfection.
The pineapple aligue fried rice with shrimp arrived shortly after the crisp fried flounder escabeche, with these 2 dishes being my favorite for this meal. The pineapple would cut back on the fat and saltiness of the aligue while the charred shrimp that it was garnished with added a depth of smokiness to the dish.
The flounder escabeche was simply to die for with the proper balance of sweetness and acidity matching the crisp skin and moist meat of the fish, overall an excellent dish.
Our last 2 dishes served were the thai curry and korean galbi which were both excellent takes on popular asian dishes.
Speaking with Chef Julie after our meal and hearing her plans for the future for Kaliwa was so inspiring and how she plans to reopen their front kiosk during the spring to start serving Philippine inspired street food dishes just made my heart raised with pride as she continues to do her part in promoting Philippine Food and Culture here in DC. Kaliwa will definitely be a place that I cannot wait to come back to visit next time I’m here in DC but for now I’m leaving the wharf with so many fond memories of my dining experience here.
Next stop is a night out with JoJo Valenzuela of The Game Sports Pub and Tiki on 18th… If you’ve ever been to the ADMO neighborhood here in DC you know you’re going to be out for a fun night…