Ever tried to describe what Filipino cuisine tastes like to someone who’s not familiar with it? Is it predominantly sweet? Salty? Or bitter?
Often, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact descriptors that perfectly encapsulate our local cuisine. This is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s what makes our cuisine so much more complex and unique.
“When it comes to food, we’re not the kind that’s standardized,” Jordy Navarra, head chef and one of the founders of Toyo Eatery shared. Toyo Eatery is one of the top of mind restaurants that highlight Filipino dishes in the metro, and understandably so. The restaurant boasts of superb dishes that truly echo the essence of Filipino cuisine and quality service that’s reminiscent of the world-famous Filipino hospitality.
Photographer — Zaldine Alvaro
We sat down with Jordy Navarra one afternoon to talk about his beginnings, what Toyo does, and more importantly the key to navigating and continuously reinventing Filipino cuisine. Jordy started his journey towards food in—unsurprisingly—the most Pinoy way: fiesta celebrations. But he hadn’t thought about delving into food as his career right off the bat. However, it fueled his enjoyment for it which later on led to him wanting to pursue it as a craft.
“Consuming and enjoying is a big part of food, but finding food that has meaning, that integrates with people and how they live was what made me realize that I wanted to learn more.” This is the foundation upon which Toyo Eatery was born. Their desire to have an intimate connection with the food that they make and to represent where they are, where they’re from, and what they have are eventually what solidified their decision to be a Filipino restaurant. “It was always about how we express being Filipino and how we communicate our flavors,” he shared.
While Toyo Eatery has already established a name of its own—a name that’s recognizable and synonymous to top-quality Filipino dishes, Jordy underscores that it’s an ongoing process as they continue to discover new things about Filipino cuisine day by day. “We’re so regional that outside Metro Manila sometimes feel like a different world,” he shared.
“Everywhere you go in the Philippines, people have different cooking styles and techniques that are just specific to that region or area. For me, it’s puzzling that it can be so near, yet we have more access to ideas from overseas than we do with the ideas back home,” he expounded. Take longganisa, for example, there’s the sweet kind and there’s the garlic-y kind—depending where you got it from. Preference also differ depending on which type a person is more exposed to. Having Toyo Eatery is a way for them to understand and learn more about these differences and then eventually express that to a bigger audience since it’s difficult to find resources about our local cuisine online.
They do this through constant local travels and interacting with locals. Even their team is represented by people from different provinces, and everyone has something to share and contribute to what Toyo Eatery puts out.
“There have always been discussions on the best kind of Adobo, and for me personally there’s no best. It’s always about what you have. It’s always about how you’ve always cooked it. It’s very practical.” And this is where the marriage of creativity and practicality comes in.
“There’s something beautiful about the fact that you find creativity not for the sake of it, but because of the situation you’re put in,” he said. When it comes to dishes, their best approach is looking at what they have and finding the best way to do it. In a way, it becomes both pragmatic and an expression of creativity. The question that they always ask themselves is, “How do we best put this into life?” Whether it’s with the flavors of the dishes on their tasting menu, their drink pairings, the ambiance and design of their restaurant, the focal area has always been the best way to put across what being a Filipino is the best way they can. That has always been the driving force that helps them to continue to reinvent themselves over the years.
At the end of the day, as with anything Filipino, our creativity has always been imbued with practicality and resourcefulness. Jordy Navarra proves that cooking is no different. And perhaps, this is exactly just the way to go about it.
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