Off Menu 2024: Buy your tickets to Tatler Dining’s food festival

Josh Boutwood, Kevin Navoa, and Thirdy Dolatre

Chef Josh Boutwood of Helm, Ember, The Test Kitchen, Savage, and soon-to-open Juniper is not one to think inside the box. Boutwood finds inspiration in everything, from the mundane to the outrageous, and more of then than not from his authentic life experiences.

The team of Dolatre and Navoa put their hearts and souls into celebrating Filipino stories through nostalgic, well-made food at their flagship tasting menu restaurant Hapag, and lounge Ayà. 

With a team composed of Josh Boutwood, Thirdy Dolatre, and John Kevin Navoa, we are blessed not only with the promise of excellent food, but endless laughter too! This playful trio will bring forth an off-menu dish filled with finesse, whimsy, and a unique sense of perspective. With Doltare and Navoa’s devotion to modern Filipino flair, Boutwood’s passion for outstanding produce and technique, plus a healthy dose of team’s meticulous attention to detail, is sure to result in a dish that is ready to impress.

Miko Calo and Chele González 

Chele González of Gallery by Chele and Asador Alfonso is known to be a busy man, continuously innovating, playing, and learning as he gives his whole heart to the Philippine dining scene, with the ultimate goal of simply serving damn good food. Miko Calo is the chef and owner of Taquería Franco, and culinary creative director of Avec restaurant group. To say Miko Calo is one of the country’s most talented chefs is no exaggeration. Trained under the late, great Joël Robuchon, Calo settles for nothing short of excellence in her restaurants, and we diners have reaped the rewards.

González’s devotion to classic Spanish fare, Filipino flavours, and sustainable practices has helped elevate the Philippine dining scene. Year after year he pushes boundaries, proving time and time again how unafraid he is to leap towards his dreams, continually testing the waters to reach new heights. Calo’s exquisite French training and masterful understanding of flavour, dosed with her playful perspective never fails to impress. Partnering these two titans together, poking at their shared passion for haute cuisine, has made us wonder about the divine creation that will emerge from this duo.

See also: Siargao’s restaurant Roots celebrates 1st anniversary with a collaborative dinner

Nicco Santos, Quenee Vilar, and Aaron Isip 

Chefs Quenee Vilar, Nicco Santos, and Aaron Isip join forces for Off Menu by Tatler Dining. 

Over the past decade, Santos and Vilar have been responsible for some of the best-loved restaurants around town, including Hey Handsome in BGC and Aurora in Makati, crowned Tatler Dining’s Best New Restaurant just this 2024. With their recent departure from the restaurant, diners and fans eagerly await their new restaurant, Celera, set to open later this year at Comuna.

As a maître saucier with a decorated resume in the kitchens of Paris, chef Aaron Isip is an expert at building flavours. His fashionable Poblacion restaurant, Kása Palma, proves exactly that. Though French-trained, Isip’s love affair with Filipino and Latin flavours makes for a creative tropical cuisine menu. 

With Vilar and Santos’s mastery of bright Peranakan and Asian flavours combined with Isip’s precise French training and love for Filipino and Asian fare, together, this group is primed to bring a striking dish to the Off Menu table. 

JP Cruz and Jorge Mendez 

Jorge Mendez, the brain behind Mōdan, Some Thai, Ohayo, and Tadeo, has a deep-rooted adoration and stronghold on Japanese cuisine and yet successfully plays with flavours of the globe, dabbling in a vast array of culinary techniques too. JP Cruz of Inatô on the other hand, has taken new Filipino cuisine into his own hands, artfully presenting the flavours and ingredients of our country in manners that surprise and impress. 

Chefs Cruz and Mendez collaborate with such synergy in the kitchen, moments of laughter peppered between their clear and palpable focus. It soon became clear to us that these two are long-time friends. Their dynamic and habits in the kitchen seem quite reflective, similar, supported by a layer of personal insights on who one another inside and outside of the kitchen.

Both these chefs champion their respective chef’s table, open kitchen restaurants, front and centre with the diner, nowhere to hide. Mendez’s experience in food R&D plus his impeccable skillset, paired with Cruz’s sophisticated and boundary-pushing grasp on flavours, has piqued our curiosity. We cannot wait to see what this team produces at Off Menu.

See also: What makes an authentic meal?: Chef Jereme Leung’s limited-release ‘The Emperor's Table’ menu at China Blue

Carlos Garcia and Kerwin Go 

Kerwin Go of People’s Palace and Blackbird at The Nielson Tower is a chef who emphasises quality and consistency—values that evidently never go out of style, as these two haunts remain some of the city’s most fully booked establishments. Carlos Garcia of The Black Pig, Fiddle Leaf, Tiago’s, and The Pigpen offers sophisticated, modern European fare and comfort food accented by Asian flavours to the Metro. He is celebrated for timeless dishes that cautiously marry comfort food and sophisticated cuisine. 

Chefs Go and Garcia will collaborate for the first time at Off Menu by Tatler Dining. With Go’s well-sharpened tool kit for all things Asian cuisine, Garcia's artful grasp of Spanish flavours, and refined, expert cookery on all fronts, it's a chef pairing that is bound to keep us on our toes, asking for more. 

See also: Meet Me at The Bar: Get to know Royce Pua, one of Manila’s most seasoned beverage consultants

Patrick Go, Alex Tan, and Mikee Lopez 

Patrick Go, the executive chef of Your Local, proves there’s a right way to do fusion cuisine. The Legazpi Village neighbourhood favourite has remained a go-to for contemporary Asian comfort food. Chefs Mikee Lopez and Alex Tan on the other hand may be the new kids on the block, but their maiden restaurant Tandem proves they’re ones to watch. 

With Go’s penchant for bold Asian cuisine and the Tandem duo’s ever-ticking creative minds, there is little doubt that their creation at Off Menu will be refreshing to say the least.

Sonja Ocampo and Joris Rycken 

With 25 years of experience under her belt, chef Sonja Ocampo has made quite the name for herself when it comes to desserts (By Sonja, Cupcakes by Sonja, and Cakeshop by Sonja).

As the executive chef of Shangri-La The Fort, Manila, chef Joris Rycken runs a tight ship. From in-room dining to all of the hotel’s exquisite dining outlets, and every single banquet or event, nothing gets past Rycken. His nuanced understanding of global cuisine is noteworthy. This chef cooks and creates fearlessly, much to the delight of his many guests.

Ocampo and Rycken will combine the powers of Ocampo’s pastry expertise and Rycken’s strong, masterful grasp of global flavours to craft a spectacular sweet ending to Off Menu 2024.

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