Kumba by chef Tina Legarda is now open in BF Homes, Parañaque

The birth of Kumba springs from her natural evolution, a reflection of Legarda’s maturity and self-assurance as a chef. The menu of modern Asian dishes comes from her experimentations in Bamba, which initially was very much about her interpretations of European and Filipino comfort food. Asian food was something unfamiliar to Legarda, not having trained in the genre, and so opening a concept that is now home to all her bestselling Asian dishes from Bamba is a true testament to how far she has come.

While Bamba was inspired by Legarda’s grandmother and mum, focusing on comfort and nostalgia, Kumba represents a new era of discovery for the working mother. The restaurant’s bright and cheery interiors are sunny and decidedly tropical, a theme that carries over to the food that Legarda describes as “traditional, but not classic.”

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A simply labelled grilled broccoli salad layered with flavours and textures—dates, anchovies, orange, bleu cheese tzatziki, and cashew—explains what she means and reminds diners of who helms this ship. Legarda then goes full-on modern Asian with her Peking duck bread, which is a thin and crispy flatbread topped with slices of roasted duck, leeks, shiitake mushrooms, honey hoisin, Japanese mayonnaise, and crispy wanton. And, since Kumba was inspired by Legarda’s noodle-loving daughter (who, true to form, was there enjoying a mid-afternoon snack of her favourite spaghetti with cheese and butter), we had to try one from their current selection of three. The black pepper crab noodles were a good choice, made fragrant with butter, garlic, cereal and fresh coriander, the wheat noodles colored and flavoured with squid ink.

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You can stop here for a light lunch or proceed to the main courses, representative of Legarda’s Asian food all-stars. There’s steamed grouper and clams in papillote redolent of aromas from a Cantonese kitchen. The tamarind chicken inasal is skewered chicken thigh fillets brushed and grilled with anatto oil and lemongrass, garnished with whipped chicken liver and scallions, then served with pineapple vinegar. “I will force you to be vegan today,” Legarda says with a cheeky smile, but her plant-based dish called P.S. I’m Vegan is actually the opposite of torture. Sliced and seared banana and eggplant are placed in a shallow pool of pineapple express sauce and Asian romesco, eaten with a scallion rice that can stand on its own. It’s a surprisingly comforting throwback to my childhood when I was served ripe bananas to be eaten as a condiment with my lunch or dinner.

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If you had to choose one dessert to end the meal, it would have to be the sikwate & suman— milk chocolate mousse, sticky rice, mango butter, coconut, and peanut. But, there will be days when Legarda’s mom, renowned pastry chef Betina Kahn Legarda, will be offering some confections. That day, it was her buko pie offered in solo portions, perfectly encasing creamy custard mixed with the tender meat of coconut in a buttery pie crust, sweetened with crunchy streusel.

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Legarda opened Kumba hoping to offer something new and exciting to her community south of the metro, and she is happy that her love has been reciprocated. Just as expected from a truly creative person, the menu at Kumba will be constantly evolving, reflecting Legarda’s changing tastes and preferences. After all, maturity comes with the awareness that the only thing constant in life is change, and with it, hopefully, continuous growth.

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