Two longtime friends from the Philippines opened a restaurant in downtown Yellowknife last week.
Wing Freak, located on the third floor of the Nova Inn, is co-owned by Erick Paz and Laurence Barbosa.
The pair moved to the city nearly a decade ago and met each other through a shared love for basketball. They first worked together at the Independent grocery store, later joined a cleaning company and eventually launched one of their own four years later, called Floor Gen Cleaning Services.
During cleaning shifts in 2018, they began brainstorming ideas for a food business.
The two had considered opening a restaurant in their home country, but Covid-19 changed those plans. After experimenting with Filipino dishes, they quickly realized it wasn’t their strong point.
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“Me and Laurence love wings,” Paz told Cabin Radio. “I think everybody loves wings. We decided just to actually make a dish that we want, and that everybody wants – which is wings.”
“We did a lot of things together. We have travelled a lot,” said Barbosa, who recently celebrated his 10th year in Yellowknife. “We have the same kind of mindset when it comes to business. We wanted to start something for ourselves.
“We didn’t know if it’s gonna work or not. We just tried it, and it did work – the people loved it. We got a good reception from people.”
The restaurant had its grand opening on Friday evening.
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It now operates daily from 7am to 2pm, serving breakfast until 11am before switching to a lunch menu. Evening hours are from 5pm to 9pm Sunday through Thursday, and until 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays.
Before securing space at the Nova Inn, Wing Freak was a home-based business that began in 2020. Paz and Barbosa cooked fried chicken from a small apartment kitchen over the weekend, using just a few electric fryers.
“The love and the support of the community here in Yellowknife is overwhelming, and we are really grateful for that. The way we did it, like the setup, it blows our mind,” Paz said.
“Laurence cooked the wings, and then after he popped it, he used to deliver it – and vice versa.”
Barbosa hopes that five years from now, Wing Freak will still be serving locals.
“We used to put all the orders on colourful sticky notes on the wall in our kitchen. The walls would get full [with] like five rows of orders,” he said.
“It was a great time. We are really grateful for it. It was a great experience for us.
“It is authentic, and just the effort that we put on it is what makes it special.”
