Pinoy food with a Japanese twist

Deane-Deane Montoya recalls sitting at the dinner table surrounded by polite, pin-eyed Japanese in Osaka some years back. The patriarch, his wife, several aunts and uncles as well as a gaggle of youngsters were all waiting tensely for Deane-Deane to taste the delicacy they have so delicately prepared: shrimp with all the trimmings. Not raw shrimp, mind you, but seafood that was still alive and kicking.

"They asked me if I like ebi. And I said, ‘Oishi, oishi.’ And then they offered me a plateful of live shrimp. I put one in my mouth. Pagkagat ko, nag-wriggle pa nga eh. But I had to eat it because all the members of the family were staring at me, waiting for my reaction. Actually, masarap siya," shares Montoya.

Deane-Deane, who owns a Japanese restaurant in Dish called Hoshi, participated in a Filipino-Japanese cultural exchange program shortly after college. She lived with two families in Osaka and Tokyo. In the land of sushi and the rising sun, Deane-Deane was able to observe upclose the Japanese people’s madly methodical manner of preparing food.

"Very particular ang Japanese sa look and preparation ng food," she explains. "Even when it comes to sandwiches. They would wrap them with colorful paper and put toothpicks and generous garnishing. I am very intrigued with Japanese food. Filipino dishes, on the other hand, are different. They don’t look enticing or appetizing at all, but they taste so good."

That’s why Deane-Deane thought of fusing together the best features of Japanese and Filipino cuisine, synthesizing the best of both worlds, and the result has been a fastfood joint called Pinoydon, at Level 5 of The Podium in Ortigas Center, which opened just last April.

"At Pinoydon, we offer Filipino dishes prepared donburi-style. It’s neither Japanese nor Filipino; it’s both. It’s a mixture of the simplicity of Japanese cooking and the comfort of Filipino food. You’ll notice in the menu that there are a lot of comfort foods like longganisa and tapa – food we’ve grown accustomed to. But here in Pinoydon, we give it a twist by preparing food the Japanese way."

One look at the disarming green-and-white Pinoydon menu would give diners an idea of how Deane-Deane and partners tweaked with the traditional way of preparing Filipino and Japanese delicacies.

The restaurant offers rice toppings with a twist. The Pinoydon chefs took the popular oyakodon and katsudon (Japanese breaded chicken and pork chop cooked in a donburi pan poured over Japanese chahan) and came up with variations such as Tocidon, Longgidon, Veggiedon, Tapadon, Cornydon, Adobon (pork and chicken), Bistekdon and Bellydon. These traditional Filipino dishes are cooked in a donburi pan, mixed with egg, tomatoes, nori strips, caramelized onions and poured over piping hot Japanese rice.

"A year ago pa, I was thinking rice bowls. I thought of cooking Pinoy favorites like tocino and longganisa using the katsudon and kyakodon way. By the way, that’s how I came up with the name Pinoydon."

And the rice bowls sell like crazy. Deane-Deane says she made sure that the rice bowl sauce seeps all the way to the bottom unlike the beggarly toppings offered by scrimpy restos. "The sauce is an extension of the taste of the dish. So even if ubos na ‘yung ulam, sinisimot talaga ng customers ‘yung rice."

Aside from rice bowls, other items on the menu include sushi with tortang talong and tinapa fillings, as well as agemono or deep-fried side dishes like Bangus Bellykatsu, Pinoydon Chicken, Kani Ensalada and Kani Lumpia, which my taste buds dictate is just like lumpiang Shanghai but with a Pinoydon alteration —— tasty Japanese crabsticks, bean sprouts and bokchoy are used as filling instead of the obligatory meat.

"The Kani Lumpia is our bestseller, along with Bistekdon, Adobon, Tapadon and the Pinoydon Chicken. Instead of marinating the chicken in traditional Japanese spices, we use Filipino ingredients. Very Pinoy ang lasa."

That’s usually the comment people make about Pinoydon treats (that is, after sampling the food and after getting over the excusable jolt at the strange names of the dishes).

Deane-Deane shares her quirky obsession. "Everytime somebody eats here, I look at the bowl. Tinitignan ko kung naubos. One time hindi ginalaw, sobra akong affected."

She makes the claim this is the first time somebody came up with the idea of combining distinct features of Japanese and Filipino cuisine and saw to it that the idea was realized. "You know, the concept was in my mind for a year and I was telling myself, "Shucks, sana hindi ako maunahan."

At first, she had a hard time explaining the concept of preparing Filipino food the Japanese way to other people. The idea was so simple it must have boggled their minds. But when Deane-Deane met up with partners Jane Cruz-Walker, Alain Panlilio, Martin Litton and Raymond Cruz, that was the point when the Pinoydon idea became a reality.

"My partners and I want to elevate the level of quality and service that you would normally get in fastfood establishments. Fastfood usually entails compromising on quality, which I don’t want to do. An example is our use of real Japanese rice, which is stickier and more expensive than ordinary rice. People were telling me not to push through with it. But that, for me, is non-negotiable. We don’t compromise when it comes to the quality of our ingredients. "

What Deane-Deane wants for Pinoydon is to be able to penetrate the market, be part of the culture of malling, and be a byword when it comes to good food. Pinoydon is set to open a branch in Robinsons Place and another one in Makati. New dishes will also be introduced in time for the Ermita launch this August.

"I’m thinking, off-hand, crab and yakisoba and pansit with aligue, or something like lomi with nori and udon noodles, as well as more sushi. But in every case, it’s always going to be a fusion of Filipino and Japanese."

So if you stray into Pinoydon with its disarming mint green interiors, antiseptic tile walls and rows of Mentos lights, and you start reading the puzzling items on the menu (Aligue Maki, Teriyaki Inihaw, etc.), bear in mind that you have the chance to partake of well-cooked, palate-pleasing and affordable Filipino slash Japanese dishes.

And here, the shrimp won’t wriggle a bit.