MANILA, Philippines — I'’m giving myself a break from the hubbub in the political and business scene. I figured I’d write about something close to home and close to heart for a change—something to celebrate the season. It’s christmas flowers canada .As those close to me know, I’ve been a foodie practically my entire life. I was one of those kids who grew up in the kitchen throughout my elementary and high school years. My father, Virge, was a restaurateur and the oldies among us would remember him as one of the first fast food chain operators in the country. This was back in the ’60s and ’70s. His C&M Coffee Shops had a network of more than 40 restaurants at its peak. For a short while, Dad was the market leader in his field until a labor strike killed his company. Dad passed away, too.
I learned a lot from Dad, which is why I eventually ended up in the food industry myself. I remember going straight to his office after school just to hang out with him, his workers, and the visitors that came and went. Summers were spent in his commissary and restaurants as well—it was there where I learned how to be a stock clerk, a kitchen hand, a quality control supervisor, a cahero and a waiter.
No surprise that immediately after college, I ventured out as an entrepreneur and opened a small fast food business called Dimsum ’N Dumplings. Even if I was trained to be an economist, I suppose I was subliminally drawn to the food industry if only to keep myself connected to my father. In any event, that small venture of mine grew from one to two, to 10 to 50, to a hundred stores until I eventually sold the business recently. It was a good ride and I’d like to think I carried on Dad’s legacy that, unfortunately, was cut short when he died at just 45.
A new mission
My wife Sandee and I are both involved in the food industry—me, as a businessman; and her, a professional food stylist. Apart from attending to the obligations of my job as a businessman, our travels, reads and socials as a couple are largely dominated by food and food-related events.
In the past five years, we’ve seen how Vietnamese, Malaysian and Singaporean cuisines have gained headway in the world culinary scene, joining the Thais in terms of acceptance and appreciation. It kills us to see how our very own Filipino cuisine is being left behind again.
Even in our travels, we’ve witnessed how most Southeast Asian cuisines have come of age in major melting pots all over the world while ours remains confined to serving just the ethnic market. In Vancouver, a city we frequent, despite Filipinos being the third largest ethnic group in the city, there are only five Filipino restaurants in operation, all of whom catering to Pinoys exclusively. In contrast, there are a little bit less than 50 Vietnamese places and more than a hundred Thai eateries in the city, all of which cater to the mainstream market. The story is the same in Sydney, Paris, Frankfurt and even Madrid.
The situation is truly lamentable given that Philippine cuisine is arguably one of the richest cooking disciplines in the region. Like the great cuisines of the world—French, Italian and Chinese—our cuisine has the same depth of flavor and taste differentiation according to geography. Just as the Chinese have their Cantonese, Hainanese, Peking and Zsechuan style of cooking, so do we Filipinos have our Ilocano, Ilonggo and Palaweño styles, and more. The flavors of our regional cuisines vary as much as their methods of cooking and ingredients do. This speaks volumes for our rich culinary heritage.
The fact that Filipino cuisine is not given the recognition nor attention it deserves has been festering in both Sandee and I. Our Filipino pride just can’t swallow it.
So together, we took action. We embarked upon a mission to revive age-old Filipino dishes otherwise forgotten in this age of hamburgers and pizza, and showcase them in a manner befitting any world-class cuisine. We put up a restaurant called XO46 Heritage Bistro in Makati as our vehicle for this crusade.
We focus on preparing Filipino heritage recipes the way our forefathers did—the slow, long-handed way without any fusion influences. We’d like to show everyone (and prove to ourselves) that our cuisine can stand head and shoulders among the best cuisines of the world.
Since opening XO46 a few months ago, we’ve been extremely encouraged with the reviews we’ve been getting from fellow Pinoys and foreigners alike. To us, the message is clear—Filipino cuisine, in its purest form, can be made just as elegant, visually enticing and delectably complex as their Japanese or Thai counterparts. It is a cuisine that can be acceptable even to foreign palates.
Sandee and I continue to dream. We hope to follow the footsteps of Nora Daza as she boldly brought Filipino cuisine to Paris in the ’70s via her restaurant, Aux Iles Philippines. Her elegant Filipino eatery was eventually named among the top five restaurants in a city considered the epicenter of the culinary world. We also hope to emulate Romy and Amy Besa, owners of the critically renowned Cendrillon and Purple Yam restaurants in New York City. In the same manner, Sandee and I dream of bringing XO46 with its slow-cooked kare-kare, binagoongan sa gata, sugpo sa aligue and kinunot na lapu lapu to Spain, Canada, Australia and the U.K. The world deserves to know how extraordinary Filipino food is. Heck, it never hurt anyone to dream big!
For those curious about the name of our place, “XO” stands for Extraordinary, and “46” is representative of the year we gained colonial independence and became a self-governing republic. We’d like to think that the Filipino is becoming more and more extraordinary as we shave away the neurosis that centuries of colonization has brought us.
With purity and pride
We’ve been told many times that our food is too oily, too brown, too salty and too exotic to be acceptable in the global food scene. They say it needs to be “westernized” to be palatable, let alone appreciated by foreigners. Our experience has proven this to be false. Based on what we’ve seen in our travels and talks with fellow food experts, Filipino food can stand on its own just as it is with a little bit of creative plating.
I’ve had long discussions about this with my good friend, Sandy Daza. He concurs and even recounts how dinuguan was the best seller at the fine dining room of Aux Iles Philippines. Glenda Baretto, the country’s grand dame of cuisine, also agrees as she narrated how lumpiang sariwa and pansit luglog turned out to be the biggest food hit at the Seville World Expo in Spain.
First-hand experiences from food icons like Daza and Baretto show that being “distinct and exotic” is a good thing—an asset that provides character and soul to any cuisine. Think about it—who would have ever thought that Malaysian Laksa, Indonesian Sate, Japanese Sashimi and Thai Fish Head Curry would be just as acceptable in the west as Burritos, Pastas and Fish ’n Chips?
Filipino cuisine has evolved over the centuries based on the produce that the land had provided our ancestors and the cooking methods they’ve learned along the way. Our flavors are distinct, complex and are a reflection of who we are as a people. Even better, our 300 years of exposure to Spanish cuisine has made our food even more interesting. We have all the reason to showcase it with pride and by no means be apologetic for it.
Since Christmas is just six days away, my Christmas wish is to have the world experience the extraordinary qualities of our cuisine and appreciate it for what it is. I wish to one day see the man on the street in Johannesburg, Cairo, Lisbon and Antwerp enjoy a bowl of beef pares or batchoy for lunch as if it were the most ordinary thing to do. Merry Christmas, everyone!
XO46 is located at the ground floor, Le Grand Building 130 Valero Street, Salcedo Village, Makati. Tel. no. (2) 553-6632.
Andrew is an economist, political analyst and businessman. He is a 20-year veteran in the hospitality and tourism industry. For comments and reactions, e-mail andrew_rs6@yahoo.com.
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