Chef Edwin Sta. Ana: On food, love, keeping a resto alive

MANILA, Philippines – Like most great adventures, it starts with a girl.

Chef Edwin Sta. Ana was living a great life in South Africa, making a name for himself in the culinary world. Then a trip to the Philippines to reconnect with his heritage was extended, rather indefinitely, by a Filipina.

“I decided to come here for holiday purposes. I hadn’t been back since 1994 when I was still a kid. I wanted to know more about the Philippines,” Edwin narrates.

Little did he know that after just one trip to his parents’ homeland, he would end up staying. The fateful holiday he took was last February, and just a few months later, he found himself working on taking Southern American restaurant ‘Cue Modern Barbecue to a new direction. 

Edwin spent all his life in South Africa. His Filipino parents were overseas contract workers who were among the first group of Filipinos to work in that part of the world. Being away from the Philippines doesn’t mean that Edwin was brought up differently. He says his family kept their heritage intact and his mother made sure that Filipino food such as adobo, sinigang, nilaga, and caldereta were familiar to him and his brother.

However, it was Edwin’s father who inspired him to become a chef.

“I got into food because of my dad’s influence. He’s not a chef but he worked in Japan. After his time in Japan, he ended up cooking a lot of Japanese food at home. From there, my brother and I got really interested in food,” Edwin says.

Edwin says making good food and building your reputation can be a long journey. With 10 years of experience on his curriculum vitae, he has already built his reputation in South Africa. He started with Japanese food and is an accomplished sushi chef. But since South Africa has a rather diverse population, he was able to touch more on modern dining as well as different cuisines like Frence and Italian.

Life in Manila

Edwin admits that living and working in Manila is very different from what he’s used to. “Manila is very stressful but at the same time I find that the people – though they go through a stressful time and their routine is not easy – nothing brings them down.”

When he first told his mother that he would like to stay here in the Philippines, she did not take it lightly. “As a kid they would always tell me to appreciate the things I get in life. They are well aware of how hard life can be in the Philippines that’s why they moved to South Africa,” Edwin says.

But his work in ‘Cue seems to be keeping him interested in staying. Despite his busy schedule, he admits that his current job is more of an adventure as he gets to do mostly management tasks.

After all, Edwin has been tasked to take the restaurant to a new, different direction.

‘Cue is rolling out a new menu soon and Edwin has been very hands on in whipping up new dishes that, he says, will give the restaurant the “identity that it deserves.”

But it’s not all work and no play for Edwin. As a lover of the outdoors and the beach, this chef has already been to Palawan. He also enjoys sports – particularly Rugby. “I grew up with Rugby, I sleep, I eat Rugby.” 

The restauranteur’s challenge

One other thing that Edwin noticed in Manila is how food seems to be like fashion so restaurants always have to keep up with the trend. “You have to be creative and playful to stay here [in this industry],” he says.

Keeping up with trends can be tricky as well. However, Edwin has some great ideas: “I’m not saying change your menu every month. Why not introduce something new every now and then. I noticed some ingredients are seasonal. Why not use that to your advantage?”

Yet another trend he pointed out is how food photography and social media converge to become a marketing tool in this country. “Before, everytime we eat, we pray. Now, there’s this thing called Instagram,” he says. This new trend that has customers taking photos of the food in a restaurant they are about to eat and posting it online has become a challenging marketing trend for restaurants. “It’s not all about the taste these days. You have to make your dish look sexy to make it work.”

But in order to keep a restaurant healthy, Edwin has one thing to remind aspiring restauranteurs out there: It’s not all about your food. Service plays a big role.

In fact, Edwin says, one of the best things he learned in the decade he spent in the food industry is that good food and good service go hand in hand. “Think about it as a hotel. you’re a guest who gets special services. You feel special and that makes you come back,” he adds.

In ‘Cue, he says he encourages the staff to be consistent with the standard of service and to forget about the Filipino concept of “bahala na.”

“To me, that just won’t work,” he says with a strictly business face. But will this chef stay for good in Manila? Or will he end up taking his skills back to the international ball game?

Edwin says he’s taking everything one day at a time. “I’m in a good vibe. There’s lots of potential. Exciting times ahead.” – Rappler.com