Barmini or the Ministry of Innovative and Craft Cocktails

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Words and photos by David Santori 

The discrete door on the corner of 9th St NW & E St NW transports you from Chinatown/Penn Quarter into a world of expert cocktails. 

The discrete door on the corner of 9th St NW & E St NW transports you from Chinatown/Penn Quarter into a world of expert cocktails. 

If you’re invited to a cocktail tasting at Barmini by José Andrés, you should not even hesitate one tiny second. Run there and grab a friend on your way while you’re at it! Have you heard of their cocktail flight experience? Word on the street is that the modern techniques, ingredients, and artful skills with which their cocktails are created will take you on quite a tasty adventure. Foam, fire, nitrogen, air, and other molecular phenomenons will leave you speechless yet wanting more. So what are you waiting for?

Our expert bartender, Al, making our liquid nitrogen course, the LN2 Caipirinha. 

Our expert bartender, Al, making our liquid nitrogen course, the LN2 Caipirinha. 

When you step inside Barmini, you step into a different world - Palm Springs meets Anthropologie meets art déco. It’s sophisticated, it’s whimsical, it’s innovative.

The floral cocktail changes colors as it is prepared. 

The floral cocktail changes colors as it is prepared. 

But the real treat awaits behind the long white bar with enticing and inventive names such as Espuma, Infusion and Spherification - truly the type of cocktails you will visually appreciate being crafted in front of you and let’s not forget enjoy sipping all night long.

Delicious bites from minibar can be ordered like these grilled cheese sandwiches with truffle, cheddar, and caramelized onions. 

Delicious bites from minibar can be ordered like these grilled cheese sandwiches with truffle, cheddar, and caramelized onions. 

Tuna tartare with quail egg to quell our mounting appetites. 

Tuna tartare with quail egg to quell our mounting appetites. 

Learn more and make reservations for barmini at their website here. 

Photographer, blogger, Instagram addict and Parisian expat, David Santori has spent 17 years in the country before recently settling down in our nation’s capital. David’s musings are sprinkled with food, colors, lifestyle photos, travel experiences as well as humorous cultural differences. Follow his adventures @frenchieyankee on Instagram. And no, David does not own a béret.