A Filipino Bar in Halifax: What Pulutan Is and What to Order
Pulutan is the Filipino food that comes with the drinks. What it means, what to order at the bar at Barrios Kitchen & Bar on Barrington Street, and what it costs.
Barrios Restaurant & Bar
10/6/20266 min read
A Filipino Bar in Halifax: What Pulutan Is and What to Order
In the Philippines, drinking and eating are the same event. When there is beer on the table there is food beside it, and that food has its own name. Pulutan. The word comes from pulutin, to pick something up, which is what the table does all evening: picks at a plate, talks, orders another round, orders another plate.
Barrios Kitchen & Bar is a Filipino restaurant at 1571 Barrington Street in downtown Halifax, and the drinks list is not an afterthought to the kitchen. If you have been looking for a Filipino bar in Halifax and you have never eaten this way, pulutan in Halifax, Filipino drinking food, is the easiest way in.
One thing to know before you come: there is no bar counter. Every seat is at a dining table, which suits pulutan anyway, because the plates go in the middle and everyone reaches.
What pulutan is
Pulutan is food eaten with drinks. It is not an appetizer, because nothing follows it. It is not a snack, because it can run all evening. It is the meal, arranged around the conversation instead of around a main course.
The flavours do a specific job. Salt, fat, sour and chili all make you want the next sip. That is why pulutan leans on crisp pork, grilled meat on a stick, seafood with garlic, and something sharp to dip it in.
The other rule is that nothing belongs to one person. Plates go in the middle. You order in waves rather than all at once, and you stop when the table stops.
What to order with drinks at a Filipino restaurant in Halifax
Prices shown are from our current menu and may change.
Sisig, $20. If you order one thing, order this. Chopped roasted pork seasoned with soy sauce and chili, brought out sizzling on a cast iron plate with a raw egg on top, which you mix through while the plate is still hot, then a squeeze of lemon, and steamed rice. It is the best known pulutan plate in the Philippines today, although the version that made it famous in Angeles City is built on pig's head, ears and liver with vinegar and calamansi. Ours is the roasted pork version. It comes as a full plate with rice, so treat it as the centre of the order rather than one small dish among several.
Sisig tacos, $7 each, or $5 on Taco Tuesday. The same roasted pork, crisped, chopped and tucked into a soft shell. One hand, no cutlery. Order these when the table wants to stay light.
Pork barbecue skewers, $15. Three skewers marinated Filipino style and basted on the grill until the edges go sweet and smoky. Marked gluten free on our menu. This is the barbecue sold on a stick at every street corner back home.
Spring rolls, $9 for four. Lumpiang shanghai, ground pork and vegetables rolled thin and fried crisp, with sweet chili sauce. The easiest thing to put in front of someone who has never eaten Filipino food.
Lechon kawali, $19. Pork belly simmered with spices and then deep-fried until the skin shatters, served with steamed rice. Crisp pork is pulutan in its plainest form, and this is a lower-priced way to get it than the crispy pata below.
Crispy pata, $27. Pork hock, the same idea on a bigger scale, deep-fried and served with a soy vinegar dip. This is the celebration plate. Two hands, a pile of napkins and no hurry.
Calamari, $18. Lightly floured with mango chipotle spice, with chipotle mayo and lemon garlic aioli. Calamares is standard pulutan in the Philippines. This version is a non-Filipino twist on it.
Gambas al ajillo (listed on our menu as Gambas Ala Jillo), $17, the Spanish-Filipino classic. Shrimp sauteed in olive oil with garlic and chilies. Garlic, oil and heat, which is about as close as a plate gets to asking for a cold drink.
Chicken wings, $19. Breaded and crisp, with a list of sauces that runs from mild through honey garlic to spicy ranch.
Pinakbet, $14. If someone at the table does not eat meat, this is the plate our menu marks vegetarian and vegan-friendly: squash, beans, okra, eggplant and crispy tofu, made without shrimp paste or fish sauce. The torta, $12, an eggplant omelette, is vegetarian too, and pancit bihon or guisado can be made with vegetables and tofu if you ask. The mushroom salpicao is made with Worcestershire sauce, so it is not one for a strict vegetarian.
Desserts are occasional specials, not menu items. If the chef has halo-halo on, ask.
What to drink
On tap: Propeller Galaxy, Nine Locks Dirty Blonde, Stella Artois and Alexander Keith's. In bottles and tins: Corona, Budweiser, Oland, Coors Light, Blue Lobster Lemon-Lime and Keith's IPA, plus two Nova Scotia ciders. Propeller, Nine Locks, Keith's and Oland are brewed in Nova Scotia; the rest are national and international brands. Beer runs $7 to $9.75. The wine is all from Nova Scotia, from Jost Vineyards and Ducks Crossing, at $12 a glass. We do not pour San Miguel or Red Horse.
The pairing is not complicated. Something cold and dry goes with anything salty and fried, which is most of this page. On the cocktail list, the Manga-Rita, tequila with lime and mango, and the Weng-Weng, rum, gin and vodka with pineapple and lime, both have the sour edge that cuts through fat the way a squeeze of citrus does back home. Cocktails run $13 to $15, and mocktails $7 to $7.50. Nobody at a Filipino table minds that one person is on beer, one is on a cocktail and one is on something without alcohol. The food is what is shared.
How to build the table
Order one crisp thing, one grilled thing and one sizzling thing to start. Spring rolls, pork barbecue skewers and sisig will do it. Then add as the plates empty, rather than putting everything down at once.
If it turns into dinner, add rice. Steamed is $2.50 and garlic is $2.75.
If it stays a picking night, keep going with the tacos, $7 each, or $5 on a Tuesday. Skewers come three to an order, so for a table of four, get two.
Pulutan for a house party
A house party runs the same way, and our party trays are built for it. Spring rolls, pork sisig, pork barbecue skewers and crispy pata all come by the tray.
Siomai is the one to plan ahead for. The steamed pork and shrimp dumplings are not on the regular dinner menu. They come as a party tray, and tray orders need 24 to 48 hours of notice, with your pickup date and time entered at checkout. Some trays can be done the same day if you call 902-444-2515 first. You will also find siomai on the Sunday brunch spread.
When to come
Tuesday to Saturday we open at 11:30 AM. Tuesday to Thursday we close at 9 PM, with the last booked table at 8 PM and walk-ins until about 8 or 8:30. Friday and Saturday we close at 11 PM, with the last seating at 10 PM. Saturday nights usually have live music. Mondays we are closed. Walk in, or book a table, and for a group of eight or more, call ahead.
Sunday works differently. Filipino brunch runs 10:30 AM to 4 PM at $29 for adults and $15 for children 12 and under, it is a fixed-price spread rather than the menu on this page, and we do not serve after it. Sunday is not the day for a pulutan night.
Quick answers
What is pulutan, the Filipino drinking food?
Filipino food eaten while drinking. It is shared, it is picked at over a long stretch, and it leans salty, fried, grilled or sour, because those are the flavours that go with a drink.
What is the best pulutan to order at Barrios?
Sisig at $20, with spring rolls at $9 and the pork barbecue skewers at $15 as the easiest openers.
Is Barrios a bar or a restaurant?
A restaurant with a full drinks list: cocktails, local and imported beer, Nova Scotia wine and cider, and mocktails, alongside the Filipino menu. There is no bar counter; every seat is at a dining table.
Do I have to order a main?
No. Order two or three plates for the middle of the table and keep adding. Rice is there if you want it to become dinner.
Can I order siomai?
As a party tray, with 24 to 48 hours of notice, or on the Sunday brunch spread. It is not on the regular dinner menu.
Where is Barrios?
1571 Barrington Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3J 1Z7. Filipino food and drinks in downtown Halifax. Call 902-444-2515 or see the menu.