While my wife Jun and I don’t go to Filipino restaurants as often as, say Italian or French, we do like the versatility of this country’s cuisine with varied influences from around Southeast Asia and beyond. One of the restaurants in DC, Purple Patch, came into my attention when it was listed as restaurant critic Tom Sietsema’s favorite restaurant in Washington Post last fall. Owned by Patrice Cleary, born in the Philippines to an American father and a Filipino mother (her story is written in greater detail in the restaurant’s website), Purple Patch seemed like an intriguing option to include in our casual dining roster. Overall, our experience was somewhat mixed although there were a couple of dishes that I really liked.

A Filipino meal typically starts with lumpia, or fried spring rolls. The one at Purple Patch, with fillings of beef, pork, carrots and scallions, that you can dip on banana ketchup and spicy vinegar, would certainly get you on the right footing before your move on to bigger dishes. On the other hand, the chicken wings, which Jun insisted that we order (we ended up getting the spicy calamansi version), were underwhelming, particularly with a surprisingly dry texture of the poultry. If there is one dish that you absolutely have to order at Purple Patch, it is the sizzling pork belly and shoulder sisig. Just listening to the sizzling sound as our server brought out the dish immediately my mouth water, and the dish indeed delivered with its wonderfully fried pork and distinct flavor from soy sauce aioli. The sisig was definitely a star in our meal that it ended up overshadowing the short rib adobo braised in coconut milk soy sauce. Of course we needed to try at least one dessert with ube based on purple yam, and I could tell that Jun enjoyed the ube cheesecake with ube ice cream scoop that was addictive in a good way. If you have some extra room, the leche flan is also a solid option.

Although Purple Patch offers limited online reservations, getting one isn’t likely to be too challenging. The Mount Pleasant-based restaurant seems more suited to spontaneous walk-in dining anyways as it is open daily from morning to night. There is subterranean bar area as well as upstairs dining room (we were seated at the latter). Do give a try to one or two cocktail options incorporating Filipino ingredients and flavor. Perhaps we need a bit more experience with Filipino cuisine (and also order a few more dishes) to truly appreciate what Purple Patch brings to the table. For now, we will see what other Filipino restaurants in the DC area are out there that could entice us to order another plate of lumpia.  

Address: 3155 Mt Pleasant Street NW, Washington, DC 20010

KenScale: 7.5/10 (Jun’s Score: 7.25/10)

Website: http://www.purplepatchdc.com/

Reservation via Resy