Two chefs, four hands equal a taste of the future

The Pen’s Old Manila chef Allan Briones and Toyo Eatery chef Jordy Navarra brought their Michelin-star training abroad to two very different settings back home. And now they’re collaborating in a one-night-only dinner at Old Manila.

Like how most great meals start, this one begins with an idea — that chefs enjoy being around each other but rarely get to cook together, especially two chefs that have had Michelin mentoring abroad, and then taking that to two very different settings back in Manila.

Chef de cuisine Allan Briones of Old Manila at The Peninsula Manila and chef Jordy Navarra of Toyo Eatery, winner of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, are collaborating on a six-course, one-night-only, four-hands dinner called “A FourTaste of Things to Come” at Old Manila on Nov. 28.  This is the first time Old Manila is collaborating with a local restaurant, and the second time that the two are cooking together. In July this year it was Allan who went to Toyo Eatery to cook with Jordy as part of the Salu-Salo Series.

Kinilaw of oyster by Jordy Navarra

Allan is the first Filipino chef to helm Old Manila. The 42-year-old Peninsula Manila, a beloved landmark in Makati and one of the first luxury hotels in the country, sees it as a natural evolution for its outlets to stay relevant at a time when great restaurants are emerging around the city.

The Peninsula Manila general manager Mark J. Choon calls them “arguably two of the best Filipino chefs.”

“Some of you may have heard that a few of our older clientele expect a French or Swiss chef at Old Manila since this is an international hotel,” Choon says. “The irony is the Belgian chef that Allan replaced here, they both have the same pedigree and training. And frankly, I think Allan has worked in much more intense and innovative restaurants and yet there is this barrier. For me, the most exciting part is that Filipinos who leave the country to train and work abroad are coming back and introducing new concepts and ideas. There was kind of an inside joke that Allan shouldn’t come out until the second course, and to just let the food speak for itself first.”

Smoked Iberian pork tenderloin by Allan Briones

We had a tasting lunch of their menu and it’s true: four hands are indeed better than two. Allan and Jordy will create two dishes each, and the Pen’s pastry chef Xavier Castello is serving gin-and-tonic sorbet and banana tatin for dessert to cap off the dinner. All three chefs will be using mostly local ingredients — something that Toyo Eatery is known for and Allan is now pushing for at Old Manila, combining 50 percent local and 50 percent sourced from abroad.

For the preview lunch, we started off with cocktails by the hotel’s beverage manager Federico Deang, who used to work with the Pen before spending nine years abroad, including at Wolfgang Puck’s Cut Steakhouse at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.

Wagyu beef cheek croquette by Allan Briones

It’s interesting — and serendipitous — how he got to work again at the Pen. GM Choon, who’s headed the hotel since February 2016, was on a PAL flight and reading a magazine that featured Rico. When he got back to Manila, he asked his people to call Rico to do some tastings. “We’ve never really had a beverage program manager in the hotel. I said, find out what this guy’s doing, and if there’s any chance he’s looking to return to Manila.”

They did some tastings and the rest is cocktail history. For our lunch, Rico made Kasabihan, a local white grape liquor with chico, dayap and pandan; and Poor Man’s Tea, which is genmaicha infused with vodka, dayap and sugarcane.

The first appetizer is Jordy’s: oyster kinilaw with gamet seaweed and kabayawa. Sourced from the Visayas, the oyster was lightly poached and tasted so fresh it felt like your taste buds were being swept to the sea.

Then came Allan’s, which was wagyu beef croquette with preserved cabbage, picked radish and apple. I have to admit this is my fave dish. The wagyu was braised for 36 hours before being shredded, coated, and deep-fried. The croquette just melted with the first bite and then a burst of flavors.

Crab and ginger by Jordy Navarra

Next was Jordy’s crab and ginger with crab roe and young coconut. The crab was sourced from Butuan, where his father hails from.

After his stint at Heston Blumenthal’s three-Michelin-star The Fat Duck in England, Jordy realized that food is about memory and home as much as it is about sustenance. “At the end of the day, I found that I wanted to work with flavors I was more familiar with.” And so he came home, reinventing Filipino food he grew up with and armed with his training from abroad. “At Fat Duck, the amount of effort they put to get the food to a certain level was very eye-opening to me.”

Allan’s smoked Iberian pork tenderloin with king oyster mushroom, long beans, camote and shallots represents what he wants to do in the kitchen of Old Manila, which is to combine local and imported ingredients.

Allan trained under chef Marco Pierre White in London and in Abu Dhabi. White is the youngest chef to ever gain three Michelin stars. Allan describes his experience as “a bit violent and intense.”

Banana tatin by The Peninsula Manila pastry chef Xavier Castello

“I had guys stabbing each other in the kitchen over a pinch of salt,” Allan says. “Marco Pierre White just said, ‘Wipe your blood, it’s dripping on my floor.’”

The two Filipino chefs agree that Asian chefs in general “are more diplomatic.” Allan adds, “It gets you more respect rather than fear. We give them a reason to want to work with us. I think that’s the approach we’re both taking. Once in a while, you get angry at your cooks but after that you’re still friends.”

There’s a new energy that’s been invigorating the dining scene in Manila over the past few years, and you can see this in restaurants and hotels around the city.

Jordy adds, “In the past five to 10 years, there’s been more interest in local things, which has given farmers the confidence to try new things. Before, you go to an organic farm and ask for something that’s not lettuce and they ask you why. ‘Why are you looking for singkamas? Just buy it sa palengke.’ Now it’s sort of, hey, I have singkamas.”

Gin-and-tonic sorbet by Xavier Castello

Allan says, “I told my executive chef I want to change the menu of Old Manila four times a year, he said that’s too much. So I said, three. I’m motivated to do new things not just for me but also for the young guys in my kitchen and our guests. And you learn a lot from collaborations like this.”

“It’s always nice to see how other people approach food,” says Jordy. “We look at an ingredient in different ways. Whenever you work with another chef, it’s very eye-opening because your thought processes are different.”

Indeed, the Old Manila dinner promises to be a taste of things to come from young Filipino chefs.

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The “A FourTaste of Things to Come” dinner at Old Manila on Nov. 28 is priced at P4,500+. Call the Peninsula Manila at 887-2888.

Visit the author’s travel blog at www.findingmyway.net. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @iamtanyalara.