No bluster at The Blackboard, just down-home cooking

MANILA, Philippines - Chef Michel Cottabarren is not one of those chefs blatantly aspiring to be the next darling of Manila’s influential dining crowd. Sure, he sports a ponytail and likes to mingle with guests. But this is only because he is a genuinely friendly guy who likes people. Instead of regaling you with a litany of his qualifications, or namedropping Michelin-starred chefs with whom he has worked in the past, he is quite happy to speak of his unforgettable life experiences while interspersing funny and memorable quotes from popular cartoon sitcoms like The Simpsons and Family Guy. This is while he prepares an international menu of dishes that he thinks more people will genuinely understand and like.

“I would never open a typically French restaurant serving haute cuisine. You need to educate people for that,” says chef Michel. “You can’t, for example, feed typical Filipino food to a Caucasian American who has no idea what Filipino food is.”

He launches into an amusing monologue, one of several during our conversation. “Oh, what’s this pungent thing? It’s called bagoong. You like it or you don’t.” But it simply isn’t the same unless you are there because a lot is lost in transcription. One has to see the sparkling eyes and the parody of nose twitching to be able to laugh out loud.         

The multinational flavor of The Blackboard, chef Michel’s restaurant in The Podium, Ortigas Center, therefore, is a reflection of who he is. “I travel around so I’m kind of international myself. My parents are both French but I was born and grew up in the States. I’ve apprenticed and worked in Europe, and the Philippines is my seventh country in Asia.  I’ve been all over the place and I’ve picked up something here and there.”

While his family spoke French at home, chef Michel has a distinctly American accent. He can also converse in Thai, Chinese, Indonesian and is brushing up on his Filipino.

The chef recalls that while they had traditional French food at home; he was also exposed to the multi-racial cuisine of America.  “I ate everything — hamburgers, spaghetti, but I didn’t want to see anything with blood. I had to learn the real French culture when I went to train in France; not only the cooking, but I also had to learn about their icons. I went from a modern city in the States to a farmhouse in France.”

His relatives had a dairy farm in Lourdes, so chef Michel apprenticed with a multi-starred Michelin chef who had an establishment near the area.  He did not identify who it was and we soon find out why.

“I had a tough apprenticeship. This was in 1981 and my boss was 87 at the time — very old school. He was mean and there was a lot of verbal abuse. No disrespect to the guy — he worked in better places than me. But his idea of a good joke was to dunk your head into a bucket of sour cream, or else stuff wet paper in your shoes on cold nights so that you stuffed your feet into them when you got to work the next day and would find ice cubes.”  Nevertheless, chef Michel persevered while gaining skills and confidence.  

Why call the restaurant “The Blackboard”? We are told that this was the name of chef Michel’s restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, which he ran for more than two years. The restaurant was closed because the chef chose to relocate to the Philippines with his lifetime partner Issa Rodriguez. (If the name is familiar, it is because Issa was the vocalist of the hugely popular Rage Band of the 1980s.) Moreover, the main courses are listed on a blackboard that is prominently displayed in the restaurant because there is something new every week. Says chef Michel, “The appetizers are more or less staple dishes. I have some new ones but I have to focus to be able to add more because I’ve been quite busy these days.”

The chicken liver parfait was a paté that was especially smooth, creamy and had none of the faintly metallic liver taste. The black olive tapenade was very nice with just the right amount of salt and acid, while the gravlax was not overpowered by dill. What I most enjoyed was the spicy eggplant, a surprisingly tasty and simple dish. “There were a lot of eggplants in my restaurant (also called The Blackboard) in Kuala Lumpur, so I whipped up something new. This became quite popular and was sold out every time,” the chef relates.

There are also mussels in vinaigrette, grilled mushrooms or calamari and salmon croquetas. The main courses looked appetizing but there was only enough time to try the appetizers during our visit. However, we will surely be back to try more. We like The Blackboard’s good vibes.

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The Blackboard, part of The Cravings Group, is at Level 5 of The Podium, Ortigas Center in Mandaluyong City. Call 696-9083 or visit www.theblackboardbychefmichel.com for more information.