Discovering my legacy: A culinary journey

MANILA, Philippines – Ever since, I was already interested in cooking. As young as six or seven, I remember cooking eggs and garlic rice, and watching chefs cook at restaurants. Things turned serious when I was 16 and an exchange student in the US. I cooked adobo for my host family and it turned out pretty good. My host mother was impressed and told me that I’m good and that I should go to cooking school.

That was the first time somebody told me that I should pursue it as a career. Like most people, I ventured into other fields until I realized that I feel alive, inspired, and fulfilled when I cook. That’s when I felt like I should be doing this for a living.

My family is from Bacolod and we opened a few restaurants there, and eventually, I decided to open one in Metro Manila because I wanted to bring and showcase the range of Negrense food to the city.

Negrense cuisine is special because the flavors are bold and there are a lot of ingredients that you can only find in the Visayas, like ginamos, or fermented shrimp, which makes batchoy unique. Our inasal uses really good coconut vinegar. For kansi, we use a unique souring agent called batwan, a type of fruit. Apart from the ingredients, what makes our food special is the culture: we really go out of our way to make sure that the people eating are having a blast.

To this day, I am driven by my passion to serve. I get a kick when I serve someone a good meal.

It’s this passion to serve that has inspired me to open my own restaurant in Manila. The journey to opening Sarsa was challenging. In the beginning, no one wanted to partner with me because I had zero “street cred” in Manila. I sold my idea to several groups but no one believed in me.

Eventually, things fell into place and I knew Sarsa became a success when I saw that we were full every night for two years. That’s when I felt that Negrense food was recognized, respected, and appreciated.

I learned many things while running Sarsa. In order to succeed in the industry, you need to have the heart and the stomach to handle the day to day grind. The first two weeks may be fun but once the buzz dies down, you have to have the time, patience, resilience, and passion to do this for a long time. You should also have the trait of wanting to serve people. You have to ask yourself if running a restaurant is really what you want to do.

Whenever I think about the legacy I want to leave the dining industry, I want to be one of those guys that pushed Filipino food to the next level. I want to give Filipino food the recognition it deserves.

We’re on the right track. We’ve held Madrid Fusion Manila for the past three years and it’s the first and only Asian edition of the world’s most important gastronomic event. I’ve been promoting Filipino food in all its runs by preparing innovative takes on local dishes. Next year, I’m excited to finally be one of the speakers. The past years were all about sharing my recipes, but this time I will be given the chance to talk about my mission to elevate Filipino cuisine. I look forward to meeting like-minded people who are interested in what I can share, and the realization that I am imparting knowledge that will help them eventually.

The idea of serving others through what I know keeps me going and it inspires me to further push our cuisine in the global stage. By serving others and imparting inspiration in any way I can, we can all band together to put the Philippines on the world food map.

The mission to elevate Filipino cuisine needs constant evolution and innovation. I think we shouldn’t be stuck in the past. Cuisine is a never-ending journey and it should always be growing and getting better. After all, creating a legacy means being a work in progress every day.

Creating a legacy for our cuisine is a long journey but it’s possible. We’ll get there. – Rappler.com