Cover Photo: Daniel Bradley/Unsplash
Photo: Daniel Bradley/Unsplash
1 / 1
While exploring the many ways talented Filipino chefs are interpreting local flavours, we examine how it fits the usual constructs of fine dining and what it truly means to “elevate” our native cuisine
Fine dining is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as “a style of eating that usually takes place in expensive restaurants, where especially good food is served to people, often in a formal way.” Of course, this is open to interpretation and a hot topic for discussion, but the most common adjectives that do come up are “sophisticated”, “unique”, and “elevated”. It is an experience featuring the highest quality food–an all-encompassing, elegant experience.
Filipino cuisine is not something that people commonly associate with fine dining. The latter is often associated with Western cuisine and certain Asian cultures with lasting monarchies, wherein ceremonial meals called for formal service and refined dishes befitting their grand royal occasions. Filipino food, while flavourful and unique, has always been considered more homey and casual. Valued for their comforts and unpretentiousness, the dishes we grew up with are sure to bring nostalgia, yet are often cast aside when the situation calls for something ‘fancy and refined’.
See also: Inatô by JP Cruz, a new Filipino dining experience
Does modernity equal refinement?
With Filipino food and ingredients becoming more mainstream in the global culinary scene, our chefs back home are more inspired and even more determined than ever to continue elevating Filipino cuisine, call it, in one way or another, modern Filipino. More thought is given to presentation, as many of our dishes are simply grilled or prepared into brown, obscure stews. Traditional Filipino restaurants have left the bahay-kubo aesthetic long ago in exchange for more modern interiors, making it more attractive to a broader demographic.
Many young chefs are getting classically trained (either formally in schools or straight into the fire of commercial kitchens), and seeing how those techniques can make the food they grew up with even better, they take unassuming local ingredients and find innovative ways to make them shine. Tasting menus have become the popular format to provide these high-concept dishes with the reverence they deserve; with the chef or server introducing each dish, guests are aware of the painstaking attention these were given.
When these progressive Filipino restaurants started sprouting more than a decade ago, there was still an almost self-conscious attempt at keeping things casual. Perhaps, as these chefs and their restaurants started getting more attention and, most deservedly, charging more per head, their target clientele evolved with them as they now expect (demand?) more from their dining experience. Hapag (who have since moved out of their Katipunan Avenue location and into their ritzy Balmori, Rockwell address), for instance, is making sure their interiors are given just as much attention as their intricate twists on obscure Filipino dishes while also employing a full-time sommelier who aids guests with the tricky task of pairing their meals with wine. Chef Francis Tolentino’s Taupe in BGC offers no clues regarding cuisine with his monochromatic dining room and a name pertaining only to his desired aesthetic until you scoop a spoonful of delicate custard into your mouth, which looks like chawanmushi yet tastes like adobo.
See also: Manam at the Triangle: ushering a new era of Filipino dining
Bespoke experiences: celebrating in style
While modern dining rooms and highly stylised tasting menus indicate a higher form of dining, we cannot simply forget the elegant ways our ancestors lived, celebrated, and dined. Chef Margarita Forés invokes the genteel ways of a bygone era with her catering arm, Cibo di Marghi, where waiters in white coats are trained to pamper without hovering, and the bartenders are well-versed in the art of a well-crafted cocktail. A video recently posted on their Instagram showed an elegant garden wedding wherein one of Forés’ chefs was preparing lumpia a la minute.
Nothing new, one might say. However, for this kind of event, the pre-packed variety of spring roll wrappers simply will not do. Forés commissioned a popular lumpia wrapper maker from Cubao’s Farmer’s Market, have them make the wrappers fresh onsite, mopping up the batter with what appears to be a giant sponge and then blotting it on hot plancha, making perfect crepe circles on the surface that cooks in mere seconds. This was then used as the vessel for freshly fried spring rolls that accompanied chilled champagne and gin and tonics as guests roamed the manicured lawns.
I showed this to a friend (who herself loves to entertain). She remarked, “When Margarita does fine dining, it’s so effortless, no?”
See also: Fine dining in BGC: Taupe by Chef Francis Tolentino
A history of indulgence and luxury
While Filipino food may not be historically known for fine dining, it does not mean there were no traces of elegant and refined meals throughout our history. The province of Pampanga is arguably one of the epicentres of our food culture, and the locals pride themselves on being the best cooks and gifted with discerning palates. A meal with veteran chef Gene Gonzalez many years ago in Cafe Ysabel demonstrated how his ancestors dined in Sulipan—a locality in Apalit, Pampanga and what was once the address of such grand homes with ballrooms which hosted visiting European royalty back in the 1800s. The food was heavy on French and Spanish influences, but our culture has always been a convergence of everything our conquerors have left behind and what immigrants bring along with them.
Cultural conservationists in Pampanga keep their culinary heritage alive through their food memories and heirloom recipes. People like Marc Calo Medina, who occasionally opens his ancestral home in Arayat, Pampanga. Here like-minded friends can enjoy epic meals, while on other days, some of the country’s best chefs partake to exchange ideas and learn centuries-old techniques passed down to the current masters of the Medina kitchen—Lucia Ramos y Mutuc vda de Mallari and her grandson, Kim. Meals there mimic the town fiestas that Medina and his ancestors grew up celebrating every year, and perhaps due to the magnitude of the feasts, the presentation is quite straightforward and unpretentious, at least by today’s standards. Still, the spectacular array of food is presented in elegant platters; the tables are set with spotless linen and pressed napkins; and both food and guests are always worthy of the monogrammed China. And, yes, it is very exclusive, because for you to be able to dine in the 150-year-old home you will have to be invited by its custodian.
See also: How Are These Chefs Pushing The Boundaries of Filipino Food?
Growth
When one is asked to define Filipino fine dining, it is easy to focus on the obvious descriptors related to more common norms, which are truly beautiful expressions as well. But, with the diversity of our cuisine spanning so many regional subsets with a multitude yet to be categorised or explored, there seems to be no cap to the possibilities of elevating our local cuisine. Filipino fine dining, at least to me, is an explorative study of Filipino culture through food, presented in unique and refined ways that highlight the beauty and distinctive qualities of our ingredients, cooking techniques, and culinary traditions. With deference and mastery come elegance and refinement, and I know this to be true in any language.
NOW READ
Brazilian-Japanese restaurant Uma Nota Manila opens its doors in BGC
Topics
Jaclyn Clemente Koppe is a food and lifestyle writer, as well as a consultant to some of the country’s beloved food and beverage brands. Her passion for food and drink is only surpassed by her devotion to her family, most especially to her soulmate, Pepa the poodle.
