Pinoy chefs of Nobu cook for Asia Society

They talk about their work with such passion, you’d think they were trying to change the world. They describe their working environment in terms of how hard it is to make a name for one’s self but how fun it is to be there. They talk about the stressful hours, but they also talk about those special moments when creative things happen, and how they wouldn’t change jobs with anyone in the world.

No, they’re not painters or writers, but they’re artists just the same. They’re the Filipino chefs working at Nobu New York, a favorite of critics and food mavens alike. Owned by chef Nobu Matsuhisa, Robert De Niro and Tribecca Grill’s Drew Nieporent, Nobu’s food has won the hearts of celebrity clients – including Madonna, France’s legendary chef Paul Bocuse, Martha Stewart and Giorgio Armani – and restaurant reviewers with its fusion of Japanese and South American cuisines. In fact, that’s how Nobu started. Robert De Niro was such a fan of Matsuhisa restaurant in LA, he invited owner Nobu Matsuhisa to join him in a New York venture. Nobu initially turned down De Niro (how many people would do that?) and said yes only four years later.

So why are these six young Filipino chefs in Manila? The original plan, according to Rex Soriano, was for them to come home for the holidays and cook for their families. Retailer, restaurateur and Nobu fan Ricco Ocampo, who’s also a member of Asia Society, convinced them to cook for a good cause, thus a fundraising dinner by Asia Society is being staged on January 10 and 11 at the Top of the Citi in Citibank Tower, Makati. Part of the proceeds of the P5,000 per plate, nine-course dinner will go to Bantay Bata Foundation.

The Filipino chefs in Nobu are led by chef de cuisine Ricky Estrellado. His team includes Rex Soriano and Frank Gorriceta; and former line cooks Gilbert Pangilinan, who has come home to open his own restaurant in Pampanga; Peggy Salazar, who is going to Switzerland to take up her bachelor’s degree in hospitality management; and Pierre Angeli Dee, who just ended her externship at the restaurant last October. Ricky and Peggy are graduates of the New York Restaurant School; Rex and Gilbert are graduates of the Culinary Institute of America in New York, while Frank and Pierre will be graduating next year from CIA.

So what’s on the menu? Ricky says the dishes are all bestsellers at Nobu, which Filipino fans will undoubtedly be thrilled about. As Asia Society executive director Sonia Ner puts it, "Filipinos who’ve been to Nobu couldn’t believe the chefs were coming over. The tables for January 10 have all been filled, we only have tables available for January 11."

The nine-course dinner will include yellow tail tartar with wasabi pepper sauce and dark osetra caviar; new style tiger prawns sashimi with yuzu soy; seared tuna salad with Matsuhisa dressing; black cod miso, garnished with seared foie gras and lakyo and rice; grilled Kobe beef with anticucho sauce, garnished with grilled asparagus and lemon, served with rice; non-traditional sushi of stuffed squid with tinapa sushi rice, brushed with soy mirin and wasabi reduction; and flourless chocolate cake with white chocolate and shiso sauces served with green tea ice cream.

For four of the chefs, it was their inherent love of food that led them to the culinary arts. Rex Soriano’s father was a cook in the navy. As a young boy, Rex would grill his father with questions about cooking and ingredients, and when his father was assigned to Japan for four years when Rex was seven, a whole new world of food opened up to him.

Ricky Estrellado had a slightly different experience. His father was in the diplomatic service and assigned to the Philippine embassy in Tokyo, Japan. He was left in Manila with his brother and the help. It was the maid’s uninspired cooking that pushed him to cook for himself. "She had this set menu that she’d cook for us every week and we got fed up. We called it the giniling menu – bola-bola, then torta, then hamburger." Ricky started reading cookbooks and watching cooking shows (does Wok with Yan still ring a bell?). He lived in Baguio for two years (actually, he "stowed away") where he started cooking and selling food to offices. "I remember going to hotels in Manila and every time I’d see the executive chef, he’d be a foreigner, and I’d get pissed."

Though the four of them knew they’d end up in the kitchen, not a single one of them went to culinary school straight from high school. They have degrees in fields such as biology and entrepreneurship, and one of them even thought of becoming a dentist.

In contrast, cooking for them is a passion. Rex says, "We get excited when we cook a piece of chicken that’s perfectly done, golden brown outside and moist inside. Oh, wow, you know you did it so right. It stinks when you mess up, it really gets you down."

One of the most memorable nights in Nobu’s kitchen for Pierre was when all the cooks on the line were Filipinos. And with Ricky at the helm, whom they all profusely look up to both as a chef and a friend (their open admiration led us to joke the interview was indeed a love fest for him), it was perfect.

For Ricky, one of the highlights of a day at Nobu is the "family meal" he shares with his chefs. A "family meal" is the meal the kitchen staff shares each day at 3 p.m., the dead hour between lunch and dinner, when the restaurant is closed. Sometimes, they cook Filipino foods such as dinuguan or adobo or arroz caldo or garlic rice, which their non-Filipino colleagues also look forward to.

So how do Nobu clients express their appreciation for a perfect meal? After all, only rock stars get underwear thrown at them. Ricky reveals with a laugh, "One time, a female customer went into the kitchen and flashed us. Another time, somebody said she had an orgasm. Sometimes, they send beer to the kitchen."

At Asia Society’s fundraising dinner, perhaps a round of applause would do?