Filipinos find Italian food familiar, friendly — chef
MANILA, Philippines — Filipino food is family-friendly and good for sharing, which is likely why they find a familiarity when eating in Italian restaurants.
Philstar.com sat down for an exclusive interview with Sicilian Roast executive chef Matthew Navarro and discussed how Italian cuisine fits into the Filipino palette.
Navarro began by sharing that his mother loves Filipinos pastes, meaning she loves her spaghetti sweet and cooked a little bit more, typical descriptions of a Filipino pasta.
To not compromise the essence of Italian cuisine but still cater to what customers will enjoy, the chef settled on a compromise.
"The example I love using is our marinara, it used to be really sour and people didn't like it. There was no way I was putting sugar. No way," said Navarro. "So what did we do? I started roasting the tomatoes. Just put a little bit of tomato paste, throw it in the oven, and it makes it naturally sweet."
For the chef though it isn't necessarily about taste but rather a point of preference.
"[Italian food] is very family friendly, it's for sharing, it's very carb heavy, it's very fat heavy... all similarities with Filipino cuisine noh?" he noted, adding that it felt both familiar and new.
Sicilian Roast chief executive officer Enzo Vega chipped in that some international cuisines like Indian and French are hard to sell to families, whereas Italian and Filipino as well as Japanese and Spanish are all commonly favored.
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Beefed up
One of Sicilian Roast's signature pizzas is the Mateo, named after Navarro, which is the restaurant's all-meat option with marinara, mozzarella, chili flakes and honey on the side.
Upon being asked why the choice to name the all-meat pizza after the chef, Vega simply pointed to Navarro's huge biceps as the chef gamely flexed in his chair.
"Because he's a bodybuilder and this is the all-meat pizza!" Vega exclaimed.
Navarro shared that outside of work, he and Vega often talk about going to the gym, getting their macronutrients and eating protein bars.
"We obviously count our protein intake per day. So when we came up with a high-protein pizza, if you will, it just seemed natural to name it after myself," the chef said.
He also admitted it would be funny that whenever a customer would ask if the pizza is called the Mateo, servers could simply point at Navarro in the kitchen while flexing.
"Not everything we do is smart," Vega quipped to which Navarro added to end, "We may not look smart, but we're perfectionists."
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