In the last decade or so, with more and more Indians travelling around the world, cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru have increasingly seen restaurants that showcase unusual flavours and give diners the chance to try new cuisines. The newly opened Kopitiam Lah in Bengaluru’s Indiranagar, for example, serves Malaysian style breakfast. With Soy Como Soy, not too long ago, Pune got its first restaurant serving Nikkei cuisine (a fusion cuisine that combines Japanese and Peruvian ingredients and cooking techniques).
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There have been pop-ups by Michelin-starred chefs and some of these restaurants have even opened in Mumbai adding to the city’s already star-studded foodscape. With the recently started series called ‘Ode To Home’, The Bombay Canteen hopes to host pop-ups and takeovers that are a celebration of heritage stories through food. The idea is to honour the essence of culinary roots and have chefs share their unique origins through their dishes and cuisines.
The second edition of the series that will take place this weekend will give diners a glimpse of the culinary traditions of the Philippines. This edition will feature Chef Jordy Navarra of Toyo Eatery that was at No. 24 on the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024 list, along with Chef JP Cruz of Inatô from Manila, Philippines.
Exploring Filipino Flavours
“Filipino food has a wide range of flavours and it’s a cuisine that makes use of a lot of condiments. It has a lot of savoury, sour, and sweet elements that always seem to complement each other. For example, if you have a dish like sinigang, a sour soup, it's accompanied by fish sauce as a condiment. If you have Pinoy barbecue (grilled skewered meat) with a sweet and salty glaze, vinegar or pickled vegetables are usually served with it,” says Jordy Navarra, Head Chef & Owner, Toyo Eatery.
While both restaurants serve Filipino food, their outlooks vary. Toyo Eatery, which was also awarded, The Best Restaurant In Philippines on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024, is named after the Filipino word for soy sauce. It pays homage to an unassuming condiment that the chef believes has deep complexities. The eatery hopes to offer a deeper understanding of Filipino culture through food. The dishes and drinks find inspiration in simple Filipino flavours, traditional cooking methods and humble ingredients and highlight dishes whose flavours span generations.
Inato on the other hand is an expression of chef JP Cruz’s own culinary style. The dishes here draw inspiration from Cruz’s travels and experiences. With a strong focus on seasonality and availability, the restaurant serves dishes that use local and global ingredients, but are made using Filipino cooking techniques and flavours. In Binisaya, a local dialect in the Philippines, it means “our way.”
“Filipino food is a melting pot of different influences. We have a lot of Spanish (and Mexican by way of the Galleon Trade), and American influences, which have, over time evolved into something that’s innately Filipino. And, much like countries around South East Asia, the food culture tends to blend and spill over from one country to another so you have a lot of Chinese and Malay influences as well,” say JP Cruz who served as Sous Chef for seven years at Toyo Eatery and then in late 2023, under the Toyo banner, opened up Inatô.
This will also be the first visit to India for some members of their team. “While they’ve tried Indian food back in the Philippines, it’s always different when you try something from where it's originally from. Chef Hussain and his team have been very generous hosts. They’ve been feeding us and giving us an amazing experience (and lessons) on Indian food. We’re excited to try Bombay Duck, Dosas, and the wide range of vegetarian food,” says Cruz.
What’s On The Menu?
“We hope to be able to share a little bit of what Filipino food is all about. More than just highlighting what is unique about our cuisine, we also hope to be able to show the similarities in our cultures. We hope to highlight the things that bridge both of our cultures by using Filipino techniques and flavour profiles on India or Mumbai’s local ingredients,” says Navarra.
Pointing out the similarities between Indian and Filipino cuisine, Cruz says, “one of the things we have in common is our affinity for condiments, where people can customise each bite depending on how they like it. Another is eating with our hands. India has Thali and the Philippines has Kamayan. It’s just a different kind of experience when you get to hold the food in your hand.”
The elaborate menu will include Laing, a traditional dish made with taro leaves in coconut milk, gets a twist with colocasia leaves and is paired with idli, Soft Shell Crab Noodles paired with palabok sauce, a savoury Filipino noodle dish made with shrimp heads, the Crab Buntaa that features banana leaf-steamed crab cooked in coconut milk and topped with crispy shallots and fried small fish and Rambutan Kinilaw, featuring fermented rambutan and nata de coco prepared kinilaw-style, a Filipino way of curing with acid, among a long list of dishes.
For dessert don’t miss the Papsi, a tart and refreshing popsicle made with pineapple, mango, peach, and lime, and Tsoko Bicho, a deep-fried doughnut-like pastry filled with chocolate, dusted with cocoa powder, and finished with a sprinkle of salt.