Meet Bandeira Bandeira, a new LGBTQIA+ bar with a menu full of lesbian jokes

It was from a match on a dating app that turned into friendship that the newest LGBTQIA+ bar in São Paulo was born — and another new space on Souza Lima Street, which concentrates much of the buzz that Barra Funda has seen grow in the last year. .

At Bandeira Bandeira, still in a soft opening scheme and scheduled to open next Wednesday (15), lawyer Ana Laura Miotto and engineer Claudia Nakamoto are now splitting between drinks and commands just 100 meters from where they met in October last year. last year to talk about the idea of ​​opening a bar. The meeting was held at Trago, one of the disputed spaces on the street, which is also home to Laskarina Bouboulina, Cervejaria Central and A Dama e os Vagabundos.

“I already wanted to create a place that would be the ride I wanted to go to. And Barra Funda converges our profiles. Claudia is from São Paulo, more urban, lives in Largo do Arouche. I’m from the countryside and I’ve always been da Água Branca, from Perdizes”, says Miotto, who, in the process of opening the bar, discovered that his grandmother lived and worked in the surrounding streets. “It all seems to make more sense.”

This family atmosphere is precisely one of the pillars of the space, which occupies a 1917 building that once housed a glass factory. The place can host about 30 people with antique tables and chairs, candles and low lighting.

The menu includes preserves such as shimeji with seaweed and girl’s finger in chayote made by Nakamoto’s aunt – served for R$15 in warm slices of bread – and a Japanese umeshu liqueur, aged for 20 years by the family. The pork rinds served in the bar portion, which costs the same price, is made by an acquaintance from Presidente Prudente, in the interior of São Paulo, the city where Miotto grew up.

Also in this footprint, on the counter and on the shelves are coloring books, drawing sheets and crayons so that children can visit the space, which also has a baby changing room. Pets are also welcome.

“We want Bandeira Bandeira to be a comfortable place. It’s an LGBT event, but it’s also for everyone. There is a great demand for spaces played by women and LGBT people”, says Miotto.

But it is in the menu that the essence of the bar with a bar atmosphere is translated. The names of the cocktails make jokes with expressions known from the lesbian universe and used to refer to topics such as relationships and sexual organs, for example — such as Sapatrícia, Greloni, Chádi and Larissinha. The first two, by the way, are versions of the classic cosmopolitan and negroni.

“As much as it is delicious to sit at a bar and order an elaborate drink, we missed doing it in a more unpretentious way, for days when you don’t want to spend so much, but want to drink something delicious and that fits in your pocket. re-readings also appeared, designed to maintain the quality of the originals but at an affordable price”, explains the partner.

The menu has seven house drinks and five classics in their original recipes, such as the bloody mary and the gin and tonic – all ranging from R$20 to R$24. Bottled beers from the Barra Funda, Heineken and Original are sold at R$ 16.

The duo also invited baker Raquel Leal to join the project, who will open her first physical bakery there – operating independently of the bar, during the morning and afternoon. Until then, she commanded Farinha, a brand created at the beginning of the pandemic, straight from her home and only in delivery. The breads served with Nakamoto’s family preserves are from Leal.

Natural fermentation breads such as rosemary and coarse salt and olive oil and parmesan will come out of Flour, but also cherry tomato, rosemary and fleur de sel focaccia, brownies and some sandwiches – which can be made for pick-up, delivery or consumption on the spot. , accompanied by a cup of coffee. It is also a way to keep the spot active for residents and those who travel in the region during the day.

“We don’t like this idea of ​​gentrification, which makes residents no longer recognize the neighborhood. We want to expand and promote partnerships that make sense, talk to brewmasters, collaborate with bars in the region and strengthen the work of other women” , says Miotto.