Chef Jordy Navarra brings Filipino food to greater heights with Qatar Airways

The result is a five-course Business Class menu palpably rooted in home. A chilled scallop is sharpened with mustard leaf, radish, salted egg and the funky tang of buro. Braised beef short ribs draw inspiration from tiyula itum, enriched with charred coconut and brightened by palapa, before being served alongside heirloom Tinawon rice. There is a pansit ensalada with chayote and pomelo for those seeking something lighter, a purée of arroz caldo for morning flights and a decadent yet cleverly balanced sans rival layered with kalingag (local cinnamon), paired with a chocolate sorbet made from Davao cacao and Zambales sea salt.

“From the very beginning, we knew that if we were going to do this, it had to reflect who we are,” mused the flag carrier’s newest collaborator. “That meant highlighting local Filipino ingredients and the communities behind them. Qatar Airways was incredibly supportive of that intention.”

Through this monumental partnership, Navarra not only brings Filipino cuisine to a broader audience but further strengthens the relationships they’ve nurtured with local suppliers. “They even agreed to source specific elements of the menu directly from us, which is huge,” he explains. “It allows us to continue supporting the farmers and producers we’ve built relationships with over the years.”

Navarra’s “Flavours to Fly For” menu now takes to the skies on all Manila to Doha flights with Qatar Airways, with the return leg set to follow in July. Below, we speak with the chef about the experience, what it was like to taste his menu onboard and the unexpected obstacles they overcame along the way—including crafting a fully halal menu.

See also: Planning a trip to Doha? Here’s how to enjoy Qatar the Tatler way

What excited you most about this partnership?

We’ve never done aeroplane food before, so we were genuinely excited to step into something new. It pushed us out of our comfort zone, which is great. Working with their team became such a learning experience—not just in understanding the technical side of cooking food for that altitude, but also seeing how they thoughtfully and efficiently feed that many people every single day.

What really energised us was the challenge of bringing the heart of Toyo Eatery to that setting. How do you translate something rooted in place and intention and bring it to a completely different environment without losing its soul? That process of adapting our food made the experience very meaningful, especially with how supportive Qatar Airways was.

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Tell us about the menus you prepared for Qatar Airways. What was the inspiration behind them? 

For the menu, we wanted to highlight traditional ingredients and regional dishes that feel familiar and comforting, while still being appropriate for in-flight dining. The intention was to present local flavours and techniques in a way that’s approachable and satisfying.

The starter we created is a chilled scallop with mustard leaves and salted egg. We used buro, or fermented rice, to introduce a traditional element. It’s a simple way of bringing heritage flavours into a lighter format.

For the main course, we have braised beef with charred coconut, loosely based on tiyula itum. It includes palapa, a condiment made with chillies and sakurab, which adds depth and gentle heat to the dish. And then, we serve it with a side of Tinawon rice.

For dessert, we prepared a kalingag sans rival with salted chocolate ice cream. We used kalingag, a local variety of cinnamon, paired with chocolate from Davao and sea salt from Zambales. It brings together familiar Filipino ingredients in a balanced and straightforward way.

In case you missed it: Azukitoyo by Toyo Eatery and Florilège present an 8-seater kakigori wonderland

What were some of the unexpected challenges you had to face, and how did you overcome them?

One of the early challenges was realising that the menu had to be fully halal. Filipino food leans heavily on pork—it’s such a big part of how we cook and how we eat. At first, it felt like a limitation. But eventually, we began to see it differently. It became a kind of motivation for the team.

It pushed us to look deeper into our own food culture, especially toward Southern Filipino dishes and traditions that don’t rely on pork. There’s so much there that doesn’t always get the spotlight, and it felt meaningful to explore that space more intentionally.

I had previously visited the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, and we found ourselves drawing from that experience—revisiting what we’d learned about their history, culture, art and food. It shifted our perspective. Halal cooking isn’t just about restriction; it carries history, intention and identity. Understanding that helped us approach the menu with more care and clarity.

In the end, what initially felt like a constraint actually helped us define what we wanted to present. It allowed us to stay true to Toyo’s identity while expanding our understanding of Filipino food in a way that felt honest and grounded.

Read more: Haute Spots: Chef Jordy Navarra of Toyo Eatery on what makes Manila so special

Have you been able to try the menu in the skies yet?

Actually, yes! I got to try most of the dishes on the plane during my recent trip to Doha for R&D in their development kitchen. I had the majority of the menu, except for the breakfast dishes, since those are only served on morning flights. I really enjoyed everything I was able to try.

It’s a bit surreal seeing other people in the cabin eating the dishes we designed, but it also makes me super happy to see Philippine ingredients like Tinawon rice and Davao Chocolate, as well as condiments like palapa and curo, featured as part of the meal service on one of the best airlines in the world.

Aeroplane food has a bad rap for being quite bland, as the altitude and lack of humidity supposedly affect the flavour of food. Was this a point of concern for you when designing the dishes? How did you navigate this obstacle?

Traditionally, the way to fix problems like this was to go heavy on the flavour or seasoning, but modern cabins are a bit more controlled than before, so instead we focused more on the dimensions of food—texture, acidity, aroma and contrast. 

We approached this the same way we do any collaboration: we first explored a lot of different ideas and dishes, and we slowly chipped away at what was possible and what wasn’t. As we got deeper into the process, and with a lot of help from the Qatar Airways culinary team, we slowly figured out the constraints better. We decided to focus on stronger flavours and textural counterpoints. For example, for the beef dish, we have palapa (an aromatic and spicy chilli-sakurab condiment) as well as rich coconut cream cooked down and caramelised for the aroma and mouthfeel. Focusing on bolder flavours gave us a nice base to push forward from, and I’m sure the more we learn, the more we can explore further the possibilities of eating and serving food on the plane.

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What, to you, makes great aeroplane food? How did you design the menu to address these factors?

I feel that I enjoy aeroplane food the most when it’s simple and comforting, rather than fancy or overly technical. So we decided to focus on comfort and satisfaction through hearty dishes and nostalgic flavour profiles. Of course, we wanted rice to play a part, so we created a few dishes that feature rice because there’s nothing more comforting for a Filipino than eating anything with rice.

Aside from that, we also have a light dish we called “pansit ensalada.” We wanted to combine the comfort of noodles with a nutritious serving of vegetables and fruit (it includes sayote and pomelo).

This partnership is an incredible milestone not just for yourself, but for Filipino cuisine. What does this mean to you, to be able to amplify the stories of Filipino cuisine on such a large scale? 

Honestly, it still feels surreal. We’re just really grateful to Qatar Airways for giving us the space to share our food—and more importantly, the stories that come with it—on such a global platform. To be able to present Filipino cuisine to people from all over the world is something we don’t take lightly.

From the very beginning, we knew that if we were going to do this, it had to reflect who we are. That meant highlighting local Filipino ingredients and the communities behind them. Qatar Airways was incredibly supportive of that intention. They even agreed to source specific elements of the menu directly from us, which is huge. It allows us to continue supporting the farmers and producers we’ve built relationships with over the years.

For the menu, we’re using Tinawon rice and purple sticky rice from our partners in Batad, lemons from Tublay, vegetables from Teraoka Farm and sea salt from Zambales, to name a few. These aren’t just ingredients to us—they represent real people, real places, and shared work.

Any updates you’d like to share that we can look out for?

We’re launching the menu from Doha to Manila soon, with the possibility of exploring other routes.

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