Linamnam x Hapag: A Worthwhile Collab More Than a Year in the Making
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The idea to cook together happened a long while back. November 2021, to be exact.
“When we went to Iloilo together,” Thirdy Dolatre vividly recalls. Along with Sandy Daza and this author, the chefs of Hapag and Linamnam were invited to judge the Tabu-An Ilonggo Heritage Cooking Competition two years ago. It was there when the promising concept of Thirdy, Kevin Navoa and Don Baldosano, all of whom are championing Filipino cuisine in their respective restaurants, came to be.
At the beautiful Las Casas Filipinas De Acuzar
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The dinner had to be shelved though as both camps couldn’t find the right time to turn the plan into fruition. “It took a while to happen because we were just really busy with our own restaurants,” says Dolatre. “Aside from that, we weren’t really sure how two Filipino restaurants would collaborate on a menu and what angle we were going to approach it.”
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They each had their own strengths and though they do serve the same cuisine, their nuances make it slightly challenging to really produce a cohesive and tight menu. Baldosano has always been more forage-driven. He goes deep into research when doing his themes and has an ever-evolving roster of dishes based on what he finds in the market.
Pansit pusit sa gata
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Grilling the pork tongue tocino
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The boys of Hapag, on the other hand, are very fermentation and culture-forward, relying on both traditional and modern techniques to plate familiar flavors. It would have been easy to simply alternately serve what they have been cooking in their restaurants, but they wanted the dinner to be as collaborative as possible and so they let the idea and the event simmer a bit longer.
Close to two years from when the concept was hatched, the three chefs felt that they were finally ready to roll out a formidable repertoire. And it greatly helped that April is when we celebrate Filipino Food Month and that they were offered by Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in Quezon City to use their grounds as a venue. Everything just fell into place.
To get the ball—and their creative juices—rolling, they ate at each other’s restaurants (and yes, there were a lot of drinks consumed too) and threw ideas at each other until they came up with a menu they were proud to serve.
Aged tanigue in calamansi butter sauce
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Fried bilo-bilo on a pool of ala king sauce
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Silog was reimagined as a rice cracker cradling mushroom sisig and wild tomato ensalada that had been liberally covered with cured yolk shavings, while Cavite’s pancit pusit was turned on its head and arrived on the table as baby squid noodles in a pool of squid ink-smeared coconut milk.
Naga’s streetside snack kinalas came as a refined ramen composed of egg noodles, grilled beef tongue tocino and beef garum-smoked beef broth; sinigang soup was prepared to be deliciously sour with libas leaves and miso; and the savoury sutukil (sugba, tuwa, and kilaw) was remade as a dessert—smoked and grilled banana tibok-tibok with dulce miso fudge and latik cashew crumble; pineapple, ginger and coconut water stew; and fresh melon slices in sampaloc vinaigrette.
Kinalas
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Otap at batirol at gatas
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Both brands placed their stamp on every plate. Linamnam, for example, provided the aged pork and cashew miso ala king sauce to Hapag’s sweet potato bilo-bilo and sweet potato katsuobushi. For dessert, Linamnam contributed the chocolate mousse and tisa fruit, while Hapag took charge of the otap and the cacao nib red bean miso.
Yet, even if this was the case, all the dishes were smooth and seamless; not one tasted and looked disjointed, or worse, superficial. Proof that great things take—and taste better with—time.
Linamnam's Don Baldosano flanked by Hapag's Erin Ganuelas, Kevin Navoa and Thirdy Dolatre
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