Bacon, but make it epic
The recipe for this successful dinner? Chefs Jordy Navarra, Johanne Siy, and a whole lot of Baken.
“We want to go beyond snacking and be able to innovate and make the breakfast table an all-day obsession,” said Rachel Carrasco, CEO of snack brand Baken. “In the past, we’ve done a lot of cocktails, we’ve done snacks, but to be able to bring the brand into a full meal is a totally different experience.”
And who better to take on this challenge than award-winning chefs Navarra, the genius behind Toyo Eatery, and Siy, Asia’s Best Female Chef 2023 and the powerhouse at the helm of Lolla in Singapore?
The choice in chefs is symbolic for both Carrasco and Baken, as they represent their two homes—the Philippines and Singapore.
For Siy, “It was a very fun process,” one that, she said, took her out of her comfort zone, given that in Singapore, her tasting menu is all seafood.
“It was challenging, but at the same time, I wanted to push myself, do something exciting, do something out of the box that I have not done before. And then the fact that I know the people who I’m doing it with.”
Navarra said, “I love Chef Jo. We’ve cooked together a few times in different settings, different situations. In a way, we’re sort of used to it, but at the same time, since it’s always new, it’s always fun. We respect her and her work so much. For me, it’s super cool and important to have a strong woman like her representing Filipino food and Filipino food culture in Singapore.”
For the Baken 1104 dinner, Navarra said, “The challenge was using Baken in almost everything, from snacks, savory, dessert. The approach we took was not just using the products that they make, but also the ingredients and the techniques that they use, trying to merge that with our style of cooking. So we used sometimes their seasoning, sometimes their raw pork, or their smoked pork. We used elements of it so you can have it in every dish.”
The result was a multilevel tasting experience and, really, a feast.
Indulgence
Carrasco told guests, “Tonight is all about feasting, it’s all about what our brand is, which is true indulgence. Everyone’s been asking us, ‘How many courses?’ It’s not courses, guys, it’s a feast.”
“I hope you’re hungry,” Siy added.
Our Baken journey started outside Toyo Eatery, where a snack stop had been set up. There, we sampled the empanada (fermented pork and bacon bits wrapped in pechay and sourdough batter), dipping it in sawsawan—Toyo’s killer suka that people always end up obsessing over. (Seriously, they should bottle it and sell it.)
We also had Toyo’s homemade fishball with Baken Bacon Jam and Lolla’s chili garlic oil. Next was the piaya with cheese, sambal, and bacon strips. All three were delicious—we couldn’t pick a favorite.
Then we had the lambanog, mango and coconut slushy topped with Baken Bacon Cookie. Guests could also get lambanog on the rocks with Baken Real Bacon Crisps.
Inside Toyo Eatery, a kamayan feast was waiting to unfold. There would be three drops, we had been told.
First, a series of delightful appetizers—kueh pie tee with kesong puti and Bacon Jam, fried oysters placed back in their shells with Real Bacon Crisps and a beautiful cheese sauce we didn’t want to waste a drop of, and bacon silog, a bite-sized bacon-wrapped creation that we quickly popped in our mouth.
A Filipino feast wouldn’t be complete without rice, and it came wrapped like a gift—pandan rice enclosed in banana leaf that, once opened, was topped with a variety of dried fish (dulong, kalkag, pinindang, fish tapa made from sulay bagyo from Bantayan Island) and Real Bacon Crisps scooped from bilao by Toyo Eatery’s stellar staff. This was served with sawsawan, of course—the return of Toyo’s homemade (and now legendary) suka, this time with smoked bacon fat.
We would have been happy with just the hot rice and its assorted crunchy toppings, but no, we were just getting started.
Next came tuna with inihaw na Real Bacon Crisps and calamansi; crab relleno with Bacon Jam and pansit-pansitan; hinalabos na hipon sa smoked bacon stock; ensaladang labanos; grilled squid in etag and bacon patis and fried bisugo, pickled wild garlic and Bacon Jam chili garlic.
The bisugo is one of Siy’s favorites from the menu—and ours, too.
Refills
Everyone dug into each dish with their hands, many of us needing refills of rice which Toyo’s friendly waitstaff gladly doled out.
Then there was another highlight, a glorious lechon, adorned with flowers, and presented for admiration, before being chopped and served in pretty woven plates.
It was an incredible meal, washed down with buko cocktails and red and white wine—and it wasn’t over yet.
Because Toyo Eatery knows how to spoil its guests, we washed our hands right there, at the table, using water, pandan leaves, and calamansi.
It was time for dessert. We headed up to the sweet lab where an impressive spread of kakanin—with Baken elements, of course—was waiting. Siy said, “I like all these warm Pinoy desserts, because it’s so Asian. Usually hot desserts, like fudge in a Western context, it’s more of a play on temperatures, hot and cold, but never a comforting dessert like this.”
What did we want? Tupig? Bicho? Cassava? Balinghoy? Ube? One of each? But before we could choose, shots were handed out—”taho in cold form” made with whiskey infused with bacon and soy milk.
We made our selection and headed back to our table to enjoy them and when we got there, another surprise: halo-halo, Navarra’s favorite from the evening’s menu. “The halo-halo I really like, I like desserts kasi. In the Philippines, we always like to straddle the line of sweet and savory. In this case, pinapanalo lang namin yung sweet.”
Guests left Toyo Eatery that night stuffed and happy. Carrasco was pleased, too, with how the event turned out. “When we started the brand, we had this whole ‘better with Baken’ philosophy… I think that really came to life today… Ultimately, this whole thing is really about becoming a snack that is a pantry staple, not just for snackers, but for foodies, for home cooks, for mixologists, for chefs.”
