In commemoration of the world's 50 best restaurant awards for 2011, I'm publishing this first post. What is the connection to the blog? Nothing really. At least for now, I hope. One day I dream a Filipino restaurant would make that list. Would I love to one day have a restaurant and be on that list? Abso-fucking-lutely! It would be the pinnacle of achievement for a Filipino (serving Filipino food, I might say) to be on that list. It's possible, my friends. Anything is possible. But for now that's a pipe dream. Let's take baby steps. And since today will be the new year for a new list of best restaurants, consider this my new year's resolution. Three things that might help us get a Filipino restaurant on that list.
Support our local produce and indigenous ingredients!!!
Let's buy more local meat, local veg and local everything. One thing we should take from the French is their pride in their terroir. We tend to copy only their techniques and their dishes and less of the philosophy behind what makes them brilliant. Let's be fucking proud of pechay, kang kong. Let's use the pili and the batuan. Let's rock the kamoteng kahoy, ube and gabe. Let's stop buying the veg from Taiwan and buy the veg from our local farmers. Noma put Scandinavian on the map, we can find a way to do it for the Philippines too.
Let's lay-off the chained restaurants a bit.
I met this guy who told me (after he found out I was interested in one day opening my own restaurant) that I should open a minimum of three chains/restaurants, or else I was just playing around and wasting time. Since when has it always been about the money? One thing that attracted me to this profession was the fact that the most respected and talented chefs also happened to be the idealists. They supported their local farmers and believed in eating local. They made things perfect, no matter what (I later learned the meaning of this when I got the chance to experience working in a top five restaurant and Michelin-starred restaurants in general). They saw money as the means for them to provide the most amazing experiences of a lifetime, not as the main objective of cooking. Being an idealist growing up in Manila (not exactly a nice combination, by the way), I was often seen as naive and just plain fucking dumb. This profession gave me the opportunity to continue being myself and not be corrupted and I fucking love it. Chained restaurants spend a chunk of money on marketing and franchising and non-food related expenses, meaning less go to the people who actually give a fuck about the food and its production but more to the people whose job is to get your ass in the seat and eat. I'm not saying some major fine dining restaurants don't use a chunk of money on marketing and promotions, but that I greatly admire the ones who really care about and spend a significant amount of time and resources on providing the best experience they can for the diner. Which leads to the final one...
Let's make things from scratch and lay off the MSG. Support the Artisan and the proper way of doing things.
I couldn't believe how rampant the liberal use of MSG was in the fine dining kitchens in Manila. Chicken powder, Aromat, chicken and beef cubes, I just didn't realize how rampant this was. Some even claim they don't use it on the technicality that they don't really use MSG itself but another product which is basically MSG renamed. Looking back, I guess shortcuts were to be expected but I was just so disappointed how rampant this was. It fucked up my palate for a while. That's what happens when you get told to put the fucking magic powder in anything you make. Let's experience food with it's natural taste and do things naturally. The chef is an artisan, let's be proud and do it the right way.
Baby steps.
J
good to see a manila-based blogger writing some quality stuff. looking forward to future posts!
ReplyDeletehaving also grown up in manila, a few thoughts on the barriers preventing Filipino cuisine from reaching a higher / haute level.
off the top of my head:
1. there's the filipino mentality where locals are always looking to abroad for success, quality, etc. im guessing its due to the remnants of colonial mentality pervasive in manila.. will be quite hard to change as its the nation's mindset
2. unlike first world countries, there isn't support -both from a private and govt perspective- for quality produce and agriculture.. in addition, farming is often seen as a "probinsyana profession". together, incentives to grow, raise, and sustain quality produce is difficult.
btw am curious to hear what your culinary background is?
Thanks for reading the blog, Daniel. You make very good points, as well.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's part of our identity now in that we see success in other countries. Our love for imports and the way we see the quality in imports over local goods is very pervasive, indeed. I see little victories in some industries like say furniture with Kenneth Cobonpue seen as quality. Then again, his market is outside the Philippines.
Going back to food, I guess more people just need to want to taste and experience Filipino cuisine at a haute level. If there's a big enough market, I guess more chefs will dedicate themselves to doing this.
Thanks again for the comment! Your comment gave me a something new to write about.
BTW, I enjoy reading your blog and look forward to reading your posts on restaurants you've eaten at. Have you been to any Filipino restaurants in California?
Cheers!