The contemporary culinarian

MANILA, Philippines - It was a rainy night when Dani Aliaga came for his photo shoot. The Spanish restaurateur came in casual chic and very gamely posed on the driveway of Joya Tower, even pausing to wave to a curious passerby. Then he surprised the team by exclaiming “grabe naman!” upon seeing his stunning photographs.

The Filipino phrase, he picked up somewhere along the way to his 10-year stay in the country. “I first came here for work when I finished my Tourism and Management course at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. Together with my business partner (Sergi Rostoll), we decided to explore and start something new.”

“Sergi would always talk to me about the Philippines and Manila, so we decided to pack our bags and try our luck. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t,” he shrugs.

The partners set up Barcino, which became a hit that by the time Dani left to work with the Fuego Hotels, they already had six outlets. After Barcino, Dani spent five years with the Fuego Hotels as general manager of its Boracay property and was then moved to the main office as director of operations. It was around this time that Dani decided to go back to his own company, Andilisia, where he joined Uri Singla to open Rambla.

For Dani, Rambla’s location is a right fit for the restaurant’s market. “I think Rockwell is a special neighborhood. It is like a small upper class city within a big city, with 90 percent of the buildings residential. I think being located here is both fantastic and challenging,” he smiles. 

“Your neighbors go to your restaurant several times and you have to cater to them properly. If not, they will not come back. It is not like a big city where you have heavy foot traffic and a lot of walk-ins,” he explains.

To keep this crowd coming back, the owners make sure the restaurant constantly revamps its menu — to be exact, seven times since it opened in 2013. They have also developed a degustation menu and came up with regular events.

He lives in the area as well, saying it is a godsend that he does not have to contend with traffic in order to go to work. “This is why I meet my customers in places like the elevator,” he grins. They are able to give him feedback and suggestions, which he thinks is great. 

Their company’s hugely successful La Lola Churrieria brand started out in Rockwell, too. “It was a very kamikaze project. We were given a 10- to 12-meter space in the Power Plant basement, right around Christmastime. We built the store in about 40 days, and we hired three staff members,” he says. “It really caught us off guard! In the end, the three staffmembers were Uri, executive chef Pepe (Lopez), and I! We had to hire six more people in two weeks.” Lines snaked outside the stall, prompting security to step in. “But what could we do? It was crazy!”  

He muses that La Lola fits in with their aim of keeping things fun and interesting. “I think in all our outlets, we want to project a non-pretentious happy place. Our food is fun, we have a nice presentation, and an interesting mix of flavors. I also think that we are lucky to have a great staff,” says Dani, who also admits that of their three concepts, La Lola is his favorite as it reaches across different segments of the market.

Dani’s own food memories were that of his mother’s cooking. “She would take some fresh artichokes and bake them in the oven with salt, olive oil and jamon Iberico. “In Catalonia, our food is not complicated, but we use the best ingredients. This is something that we try to practice at our restaurants, we always make sure that our menu is not complicated and our food is straightforward.”

Of Filipino food, he likes laing, which he always orders at his favorite Pinoy restaurant. There’s pork sisig, too, and he has this to say of our kinilaw, “It is underrated. Now, everywhere it is ceviche this and that, but Filipinos have been eating kinilaw for a long time!”      

When he arrived in Manila 10 years ago, a memory was etched on his mind. “As I passed by the shanties of the airport compound, I saw two kids, taking a bath in a palanggana. Both kids looked at me and they were smiling. They were having so much fun. The parents were there and they were smiling, too. That is my first impression and I think I could summarize everything I love about the Philippines with that picture,” Dani concludes.

Photography by RITA MARIE • Creative direction and overall styling by Luis Espiritu Jr. • Grooming by BABA PARMA • Hairstyling by RONNIE TUMAMAK

• Associate styling by Tara Subaldo • Shot on location at JOYA LOFTs & TOWERs