Toyo Eatery
If there is one place that is synonymous to Progressive Philippine Cuisine for quite some time here in Manila, it will be Toyo Eatery. This place has been considered as a mecca for Filipino cuisine since it opened its doors in 2016.
At the helm is Chef Jordy Navarra who has trained at various kitchens around Hong Kong and London before setting his sights on coming back to the Philippines to create food that brings back his childhood memories. Toyo means soy sauce in Tagalog also has a slang meaning a little bit crazy in the head ☺
Toyo Eatery has won multiple awards including the Miele One to Watch in 2018 and the best restaurant in the Philippines in 2019 both by San Pellegrino. Their vision of rediscovering our national identity through the Philippines product and culture has brought them much success and time in the spotlight. Helping put Philippine cuisine on the map along with other celebrity chefs like Margarita Fores and Chele Gozalez, Chef Jordy has remained a public figure in bringing awareness to our country’s ingredients and the local sustainability movement. Toyo’s vision remains true to itself, and it reflects on their seasonal tasting menu which highlights produce and protein from far and wide found around our archipelago. The restaurant is located at 2316 Chino Roces Avenue in Pasong Tamo Extension in Makati.
To begin our tasting menu, we had our first set of snacks which consisted of three bites, wild talakitok, purple rice kakanin and black rice dumpling.
The second set of snacks consisted of scallops, stuffed squid and queso de bola.
The third course was a ceviche of tanigue with Zamboanga vinegar.
The next course was burnt squash soup with uni and assorted vegetable tempura.
Buro with dorado and fermented mango followed wrapped in mustard leaf.
Burnt eggplant and banana catsup was the sixth course and symbolized the middle of the meal.
The palette cleanser was the pineapple sorbet that which was quite refreshing and had exquisite flavors.
The porksilog was our main course which consisted of Batangas black pig, Nueva Ecija sinangag, fresh pako salad and blue crab with gata in gabi leaves.
The dessert started with their popular toasted rice pudding which would mimic the coffee that the Ifugao would drink every morning.
Strawberry from Pangasinan and Hibiscus from Abra followed with white chocolate cream and meringue.
To end the meal was a set of leche flan ice cream, grilled cassava cake, pili roll and asin tibuok.
This was truly a magical meal and a journey of cuisine around the Philippines ☺
#KULINARYATRAVELS is off to Casa de Memoria next…