Pinoy food has not just arrived: It’s going places

Filipino food has finally arrived.” It’s a phrase that has been circulating in the international food media scene for the past year or so. Articles on the 10 best Filipino desserts you absolutely must have or a killer recipe for adobo, musings on why it’s only really making waves now.

I’m proud of our food, our produce and find it wonderful how so many of our chefs are striving to preserve our culinary heritage and all their efforts to use local indigenous produce. As a history buff, I believe it’s crucial to embrace the past before we can move forward, especially in the culinary realm, where so many have forgotten how to make a sinigang from scratch, relying on instant powders and flavor packets.

And all these efforts by our local chefs and those abroad striving to bring a better, more authentic yet more approachable face to our cuisine, have been recognized and crystallized in those headlines — yes, Filipino food has arrived.

The question I would like to ask, though, is: where is it going?

Let’s face it, as delicious as it is, our food is rustic. It’s generous, it’s hearty, it’s soulful, born out of geography, necessity and a mishmash of cultural influences. Due to our colonial history, for many years there has been no real occasion for creative refinement in the likes of cuisines that had to evolve in royal courts, their real stage for perfection is in the hearth — each home lovingly perfecting their own version of their favored dishes.

Flash-forward to today, what’s the next step of evolution for Filipino food? Is it real, out-of-the-box cooking, a big step away from simply rehashing old favorites, moving beyond an upgraded adobo or deconstructed sinigang?  This was an experience I had in Jordy Navarra’s recently opened Toyo Eatery — a little glimpse into the future.

First off, the space makes a real statement: beautiful local solid-wood tables, chairs done by E. Murio with that signature contemporary yet distinctly Filipino touch. There’s a sense of unfussiness and communality, which in reality is the real soul behind Filipino cooking.

I loved the flexibility of the menu — you could opt for a tasting menu or a la carte or share everything that was on it. I had never tried chef Jordy’s food before except for his famed Bahay Kubo vegetable dish. There is no lack of technique here; everything was cooked perfectly, even the humble bangus. Although the sauce was a bit on the salty side, it was cooked in a fashion worthy of the finest fish restaurants in Paris — perfectly nacré. 

There were clearly some standouts for me, like his amazing burnt kalabasa soup with sea urchin and orange kamote —a velvety bowl of rich, buttery, nutty heaven. I kept digging into it, hoping it would be a magical, never-ending experience, that that bowl would be like Mary Poppins’ enchanted bag of eternal giving.

The Pinoy favorite of pork barbecue made with melt-in-your-mouth cuts had one foot forward and one foot still firmly planted in the past, with a homage to his childhood memories of family barbecues.

“I get inspired by random things,” explains chef Jordy. “Like conversations with the team at Toyo and traveling. I think to make it into a reality, there’s a lot of trial and error and collaboration among our team. We all taste and try and see if it fits the idea of it.”

He describes his cuisine as a “raw and natural approach to Filipino.” His anything-goes vision doesn’t bind him to simply trying to reinvent classic dishes but also drives him to create something completely new, like his “Bahay Kubo,” a vegetable dish that combines all the vegetables in the nursery rhyme. I’m personally looking forward to seeing the evolution of his own cuisine as he gets more confident in his experimentation and exploration of the endless possibilities our produce and heritage have to offer.

Ending On A Sweet Note

I’ve often wondered about our local desserts: how do we make them more contemporary? How do we get halo-halo and the like to evolve? How does one bring our traditional sweets to the world stage?

During the last Madrid Fusion Manila, I had just given birth and was living vicariously through my Instagram feed. A series of stunning photos of jewel-like polvorons kept coming up, piquing my interest. Young, talented chef Miko Aspiras had breathed new life into the classic home-economics recipe, creating beautiful morsels in unusual and delightful combinations: Strawberry and Goat’s Milk with strawberry flour, goat’s milk powder, Bukidnon butter, strawberry pate de fruit and strawberry glaze; Calamansi and Pili butter with calamansi flour, calamansi gelée, pili nut butter and green honey; and my personal favorite, Davao Chocolate made with Davao chocolate flour, cacao nibs and 46 percent Davao dark chocolate ganache. The latter is a tiny bomb of powdery decadence, to be relished in small, ceremonial bites with some coffee.

“It wasn’t until just recently that my eyes were opened to using local ingredients in my desserts,” says Aspiras, a chef traditionally trained in French pastry who credits chef Chele Gonzalez of Vask for his shift in focus. “Since there has been a recent rise in demand in using Filipino ingredients in both the international and local food scenes, it is a very good thing for our farmers, producers and growers who have long been trying to provide their ingredients.”

Chef Miko dreams of having our local sweet confections and pasalubongs be recognized on a global scale, moving them out of the realm of hearty home baking and thrusting them forward with sophistication and aplomb. “I know it’s a very hard task but I’m here to take on the challenge.”

When asked why he thinks Filipino food has taken this long to be recognized, he says, “We just started believing in our food — that our food is more than just for our homes. Right now it is on trend and we Filipinos love trends. I hope we treat our cuisine as more than just a trendy piece of plate. It should be a lifestyle to crave for our food, to elevate it all the time.”

With the rise of young chefs and restaurateurs like Jordy and Miko taking on the challenge, the different articles and recipes that have been cropping up, and the high-profile conferences taking place on our soil, Filipino food has not only arrived, it is going places.

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Jordy Navarra’s Toyo Eatery is located in The Alley at Karrivin, 2316 Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City, call 0917-720-8630.

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Chef Miko Aspiras’ polvoron creations will be available very soon at “The Workshop” by Le Petit Soufflé in Megamall Fashion Hall 2nd Level. Follow his IG account for more updates: @chefmikoaspiras.