While the Filipino chef hasn't been based in the Philippines since 2003, she can't help but miss the variety of nostalgic dishes that shaped her love for food
Johanne Siy’s profession as a chef has taken her all over the world. Her journey started in New York when she enrolled at The Culinary Institute of America and further honed her skills under celebrity chefs Eric Ripert at Le Bernardin and Daniel Boulud at Café Boulud. She moved to Singapore to join Taiwanese chef André Chiang's culinary team, and helped the restaurant earn two Michelin stars in 2017 and attain its highest ranking (No. 2) at the Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2017.
When Restaurant André closed for good in 2018, she spent a few years travelling the globe and doing short stints at lauded dining establishments, including Faviken in Sweden, and Relae and Noma in Copenhagen, to expand her palate and knowledge about food. After her sojourn, she's back in Singapore as the head chef of Mediterranean-inspired outfit Lolla where she whips up creative plates inspired by her travels.
She may have a global palate, but comfort food for her is always the Filipino dishes she grew up eating in her hometown of Dagupan in the Philippines. Here are some of her favourites.
Read more: Did You Know That Filipino Food Is One Of The Richest Food Cultures In The World
What do you miss most on the food/drink front when you are away from the Philippines or haven’t been back for a while?
I miss specifics—like my mum’s arroz caldo (rice porridge), my aunty’s dinuguan and bopis (Filipino delicacies), a friend’s frozen brazo de Mercedes (meringue roll) and so on. I think home cooking is really the focal point of our food culture and the best meals to be had are those in homes where you have recipes handed down through generations.
What is the first dish you eat when you return and where do you go for it?
Caldereta and kare-kare with my in-laws. My father-in-law has an impressive compilation of family recipes. The dishes are so good that we are perfectly content to just eat at home if we didn’t need to catch up with some friends we haven’t seen in ages.