Elevating a cuisine and redefining what it means to serve Filipino food is a tall order. Fortunately enough, Chef Stephan Duhesme of Metiz knows his stuff.
Food is an international love affair to many, but to Chef Stephan Duhesme of Metiz, it's a lifelong journey that's taken him across the globe and then back home. Having trained in megalopolises such as Tokyo, New York, and Bogota, Chef Stephan has seen—and tasted—quite a bit of the world. Now he says, he misses home, and has taken his chef's whites with him to a new kitchen in Chino Roces Avenue, at the hip Karrivin Plaza, where other foodies and restaurants have been known to gather. "I figured," he shares, "[that] there is no better place to cook Filipino food than in the Philippines".
Chef Stephan tells us that Metiz is without a doubt a Filipino restaurant. What makes him a stand-out is that he re-defines what it means to serve Filipino food. It definitely isn't the place to go to if you're looking for "just the usual". He says passionately: "If I need to make adobo, or sinigang to have a Filipino restaurant, then we will never think progressively as a nation". This chef (like other notable culinary talents) pays homage to the classics, revisits, and then innovates.
Metiz is the place for gastronomes, for people who understand the fluidity of flavour, and can appreciate the growth of a culture. "We will most likely keep pondering on the 'what is Filipino food?' question. It allows us some focus and perspective on how we cook," Chef Stephan comments.
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Metiz' ever-evolving menu makes for exciting eating and courses such as egg mollet with carabao cream sauce infused with bangus tinapa or corn salad with hibe and fermented tomato and sautéed bagoong only add to the fun. Chef Stephan has intertwined his personal experiences and techniques into creating his fresh take on Filipino food. "[In terms of taste however], I think there are a lot more similarities [between Filipino and international flavours] than we imagine from a 'balance of flavour' perspective. The palate looks for similar things across cultures. Many of the obvious differences lie in how we achieve these notes and flavours through the ingredients and the way they are used, cooked, prepared, preserved, fermented based on geography, access to resources and culture," he explains. "In a way, we could say that I brought everything with me to Metiz".
And truly he and his team have. They aren't lacking in ideas either. In such a fast-paced kitchen, discovery is always just around the corner and needless to say, they play around with flavours. "We [recently] added a pancit dish. We are bringing out a dessert of corn, ube, nata de coco and dikay leaf," he says. "Changing dishes keeps us sharp, the more you create, the more the ideas flow and I don’t like us falling into routines".
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