How Manila inspired chef Todd English’s Pound
Rikki Dee of FooDee Global Concepts introduced the Todd English Food Hall to Manila in SM Aura in March 2014. Almost two years later I had the privilege of meeting the father-and-son team of chef Todd English and his son Oliver, together with FooDee managing director Eric Dee. They introduced their new restaurant, which had just opened last Feb. 5. They had a five-day opening promotion, “Pay what you want!” where you ordered anything on the menu and paid whatever amount you wanted. It was such a big hit that the lines were so long. According to chef Todd, “The burgers became so popular at the food hall, so what we did was extract some of the popular burger dishes out of the food hall and came up with Pound.”
Oliver and Eric worked on the overall concept while chef Todd worked on the food. “He’s never failed me — never!” says Eric. So this is the first Pound by Todd English in the whole world.
Pound offers a simple menu with five kinds of burgers but many different options to add on to your dish, which means endless possibilities. Five kinds of cheese: Gruyere, Gorgonzola, white cheddar, yellow cheddar and parmesan crisp; five kinds of extras: fried egg, caramelized onions, TE crispy chicken, TE burger patty and crispy bacon; seven sauces: mustard relish, TE Sauce, truffle cream, apple aioli, TE sweet spice, cilantro aioli and truffle ketchup.
Premium add-ons are roasted bone marrow, foie gras mousse and seared foie gras. There are three salads, fries, and three kinds of poutine, which has crispy, fresh-cut fries. Sides are cubed onion, pickled fried chilies, truffle risotto tater tots, roasted bone marrow, pickled chilies, house-smoked bacon and truffle French beans. With all these options, you can create your own burger, poutine, salad and fries!
It is so nice to see father-and-son teams working together. And I am so happy that chef Todd has Oliver to travel with him and watch over his interests. Oliver is a “hotelie” from Cornell and when you are a hotelie, you must be good! Chef Todd English and Rikki Dee are so lucky to have their sons help them grow their businesses. What struck me the most about meeting these two families is the partnership they have built. Aside from good food and great concepts are great relationships that are fostered. Chef Todd himself said it so well: “They are friends of the family and that means the most to us. That’s the real reason they are so good at what they are doing, and that is why we have been great partners.”
The Philippines is looking forward to more new concepts from this tandem! As Oliver said, “We come from New York but we consider us to have a family here now.”
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Pound by Todd English is at B3, Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City, tel. 617-8633.
