When Roots intertwine: inside Kaos 003, a collab by Roots and Hapag in Siargao

“It was actually Hapag who reached out to us last year with the idea of a two-part collaboration—one in Manila and one in Siargao,” explains anthropologist Daan Overgaag, Roots’s community engagement director. “Funny enough, we were just about to propose the same thing to them.” “We have similar stories,” adds Turrini, “both starting from humble beginnings, and building our visions with deep respect for local ingredients, which play a critical role in both our approaches to food. Their passion, creativity and relentless pursuit of expanding the horizons of Filipino cuisine are not only inspiring, but also offer a meaningful opportunity for us to better understand our host country through its food.”

“Visiting Siargao felt like a breath of fresh air,” Recto revealed. “Siargao set the tone for something creative and grounded. Being there inspired a different kind of focus.” In preparation for the special dinner, both camps immersed themselves in Siargao’s north, kayaking through mangroves and visiting regenerative organic farms, before quickly getting to work on the collaboration. “It was amazing to witness firsthand how the Roots team goes about their foraging and sourcing from the markets,” Dolatre adds. “You can see the community they’ve built and the strong relationships they’ve nurtured with farmers, fishermen and local purveyors.”

The process, they share, was as seamless as they come. “Planning felt natural, almost as if we had already worked together many times before,” divulged Marina Castañeda, art director for Roots, who also runs front-of-house. “We began this collaboration as colleagues, and we part ways as friends, grateful for the memories and the connection forged along the way.”

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Roots is situated within the heart of Kaimana Resort, inspired by the Filipino bahay kubo. Wind flows freely throughout the open-air restaurant, where the air is never without a whisper of sea breeze. Guests were warmly welcomed with a vivid dragonfruit sour, a magenta-hued variation of Roots’ signature calamansi-cello cocktail. Slightly sweet and citrus-forward, the drink opened the palate while grounding guests in Siargao’s tropical mood.

Roots’s first dish appeared familiar at first glance: a classic Italian caprese. But we soon discovered there was more than meets the eye. Roasted watermelon stood in for fresh tomatoes—a trick fashioned after Mugaritz’s famous vegetable carpaccio—while the oil was extracted from bitter ampalaya, giving the dish a soft, vegetal character, not unlike a grassy olive oil. To the disbelief of many, the “mozzarella” was entirely plant-based, inspired by Okinawan jimami tofu (a mock tofu made from peanuts and starch). Made from pili nut milk, it mimicked the springiness of bocconcini with a buttery, milky profile. Thai basil, dried heirloom tomatoes and asin tibuok tied it together in a dish that nodded to Turrini’s Italian heritage, but spoke in the language of local landscapes.

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The Hapag team took this opportunity to grant guests a taste of their current tasting menu, bringing some of their culinary learnings from Western Mindanao to Siargao. Their take on the Tausug siyagul, a coconut-simmered seafood stew, featured sailfish cooked in burnt coconut, layered atop a rice cracker made from smoked tinapa. Pickled onions offered brightness, while generous shavings of Malagos Farmhouse’s borracho cheese (goat cheese aged in beer) brought a bold, nutty edge.

Roots returned with slices of mackerel cured in vinegar powder, resting on a plate of smoked guyabano water and guyabano leaf oil. On top were three small spheres that, though similar in size and shape, varied greatly in mouthfeel and flavour: crunchy adlai, pickled inyam (a fruit closely related to bignay, known to locals as saliargaw) and bayou roe cured in rice vinegar, each adding textural rhythm and complexity.

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From the coasts of Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, Hapag brought agal-agal—a seaweed with a toothsome bite that grows abundantly in the region. Dressed in housemade shoyu and served with yellowfin tuna kinilaw, tomatoes, jalapeños and generous spoonfuls of bubuk (toasted spiced coconut, a common topping in Western Mindanao cuisines), the dish walked a line between briny freshness and roasted depth.

Then came Roots’s mar y montaña, tales of the sea and mountain in two parts. First, a juicy rabbit tsukune with a demi-glace of rabbit bones and reduced tapuey, topped with cured duck yolk and crisp rabbit skin chicharon. Beside it, a bowl of cockles in their own broth—naturally briny, clean, and gently oceanic. An homage to the Castañeda sisters’ Mexican roots, the sea mantis flauta featured a striking black tortilla made from tinigib (an heirloom corn native to the Visayas region). The tortilla was then swiped with kadyos, mashed like you would Mexican frijoles, and wrapped around the succulent sea mantis, all fried to perfection, achieving a crisp tortilla while preserving the crustacean’s juicy meat.

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Hapag’s signature salu-salo course arrived as a celebration of the Filipino’s love for food and family-style meals. At its core was the tender Maranao riyandang, beef short ribs painstakingly cooked low and slow in coconut milk and spices–a familiar dish closely related to the rendang of our Indonesian and Malaysian neighbours, though with a sweeter and more coconut-forward flavour. Armed with a spoon and fork in either hand, Dolatre then meticulously unravelled mysterious parcels wrapped in banana leaves for each guest, revealing a fragrant bed of rice known as junay: a rice cake cooked in turmeric, burnt coconut and chicken stock, finished with calamansi, puffed black rice and shallots. A refreshing pomelo salad with pickled jalapeño brought brightness and punch to the spread, encouraging guests to mix and match at will as you would with atchara.

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For dessert, Hapag brought back a retired favourite: the strawberry taho, first served at their Ayà pop-up at The Balmori Suites in 2023, before the wine lounge found a permanent home on the 7th-floor mezzanine. Made with whipped soy milk and white chocolate, chewy sago in mulled wine arnibal and fresh strawberries, it captured the nostalgia of the beloved street snack while demonstrating the team’s clever use of technique. 

Roots maintained the playful attitude with their Honey Honey Honey, a honeycomb-shaped cake made with wild honey from Bataan. Each cell was filled with various surprises, from fresh manzanitas and white chocolate namelaka to jam of a fruit that they discovered while foraging the day before. But the most curious of all were the green and black honeydew—not to be confused with the honeydew melon, it’s the sweet, honey-like excretion from insects that feed on sap. Designed to share, it inspired a child-like excitement and curiosity as we ate our way through the cake.

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Finally, the hosts keep it simple with a homemade marshmallow dusted with blue pea flower and finished with biasong zest, resulting in a galactic stain of blue, specks of green and the faintest pink-purple hue—a magical interaction between the acidic rind and the flower’s anthocyanin pigments.

Throughout the evening, the beverage pairings echoed the menu’s intent. From vibrant Loire Valley sauvignon blanc that brightened the agal-agal to the Vadio Perpetuum, a complex solera-style sparkling from Portugal, and the dessert’s final pour: a Japanese fortified wine that, as Recto described, “reminds you of champoy, in the best way possible.” Each selection elevated without overshadowing, adding depth to the memorable experience.

See also: F&B insider: Why a restaurant’s beverage programme is as important as the food

“Collaborating with Roots has been an exceptional experience,” reflects Navoa. “Our seamless and enjoyable teamwork has been a hallmark of this partnership. The shared passion for their respective fields has fostered a strong bond between us.”

“Collaborations offer a unique opportunity to exchange knowledge, visions and experiences,” adds Ricardo Miranda de Sousa, who manages Roots’s business operations. “They open windows into diverse approaches to gastronomy and serve as bridges that connect cultures, philosophies and people. For us, they are also a way to position Siargao—its ingredients, farmers and fisherfolk—on the world map of gastronomy, highlighting the island’s unique biodiversity and landscapes.”

For two nights in Siargao, this vision came to life, uniting two restaurants with a shared commitment to purposeful cooking. Beyond the food, it was about the relationships behind it—the communities represented, the ideas exchanged and the mutual respect that made it possible.

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