Chefs flex new attractions in Rockwell and Poblacion
La Chinesca started as a pop-up in Parañaque back in 2013 and evolved into a hole-in-the-wall in the same neighborhood four years later. In 2018, they opened a stall inside the Grid Food Market in the Power Plant Mall. More than a decade after introducing this Mexican brainchild, chef Bruce Ricketts, along with his equally hardworking wife and business partner Jae Pickrell, is set to add another branch in BGC toward the end of 2024. But before that, for a quick month only, they tease people’s palates with the things to come with a temporary residency at the Balmori Suites, also in Rockwell.
Running only until July 21, the pop-up is offering a mix of dishes everyone has already come to love from the brand, such as the tuna tostada and the carnitas taco, as well as numbers that have been crafted exclusively for the monthlong event, like pato tetelas, Wagyu suadero taco and sharing plates like the prawn zarandeado, which is meant to be enjoyed with their house-made tortillas.
This in-mall residency is a flex for the talented chef as he gets to show guests and loyal patrons that the brand can do more than just tacos and tostadas.
“Mexican food goes so deep, and this is our way of exploring the cuisine a little more, while paying tribute to traditional techniques and the bold flavors we enjoy so much,” Ricketts says. “It’s always been a source of pride for us to cook everything with the right methods and good ingredients. For example, since we started as a pop-up concept in 2013, we have made every single corn tortilla by hand and cooked it to order—and we will only elevate our standards higher at La Chinesca at Balmori.”
Crowd favorite
His dishes prove that so. He made an upscale version of their crowd favorite tuna tostada by including chūtoro zuke, ōtoro aburi, akami and tomato pico de gallo into the usual mix. The menu also introduces the jaiba tostada, which has soft-shell crab and local mud crab along with mango, tapatío mayo and a togarashi-dressed lime cheek, all piled high on a toasted tortilla. In the taco department, a Wagyu cheek with their homemade tare joins the regular ensemble.
They also have sharing plates that come with warm corn tortillas. Fillings can either be duck carnitas with truffle cream, sampinit jam, pickled red onion, and chicharrón; adobo-rubbed lamb rib barbecue with plantain chochoyotes, dulce de leche and salsa borracha; and hamachi aside with salsa macha, tomato confit and guacachile.
“We closed the first branch of La Chinesca in BF Homes and consolidated operations with Sensei during the pandemic so we missed having a full restaurant experience,” says Jae, who has taken on the role of a food expeditor in the kitchen.
“While the Balmori pop-up is meant to be a preview of the menu we’d like to offer at our upcoming third branch in BGC, the experience in the two will be entirely different. We closely followed Balmori’s identity codes and you can see this expressed in our table settings and even some of the dishes that have a distinctly Filipino inspiration, while La Chinesca BGC will be much more urban and contemporary, with a bodega feel and a small retail footprint. We’re having a lot of fun localizing La Chinesca in whichever spot it’s in, and it was a fun challenge to elevate the brand, or dress it up, so to speak, for Balmori.” (La Chinesca at The Grid is closed for renovation during the Balmori pop-up. La Chinesca at Balmori is open daily for all-day dining from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. For reservations, call tel. 0905-2059151.)
Spanish sensation
Those who have been to Siargao and have tasted chef Luis Martinez’s food in Alma may already know what they’re in for in the newly opened branch in Makati. And that is, good Spanish food, the type people would keep coming back for.
Valencia-born Martinez was poised to be something other than becoming a chef, a profession he had to temporarily give up to make way for his brother, who was already deep into it. He got into veterinary medicine instead, and as a worthy break from his taxing job, decided to vacation in the Philippines, particularly the island of Siargao. He fell in love with the place and decided to try his luck here, this time as a hotel owner. But it seems that fate and the pandemic had other plans for the 38-year-old, as the project didn’t pan out. He ended up opening a restaurant instead. And as things turned out, the role fit him perfectly.
He opened the first Alma back in 2020. Four years later, he, together with business partners Carlo and Jackie Lorenzana of Nikkei and Terrazzo Martinez restaurants, opened in bustling Poblacion. It brought the aesthetic and vibe of the island with it to the metro. The menu, though, he kept in Siargao and came up with a slew of new ones for the concrete city.
Start your meal with something light and clean with plates like the yellowfin tuna cappuccino with ginger-lime mayonnaise, and the roasted tomato tartare with white anchovies and pickled capers. There’s the roasted smoked duck breast as well, which I had the pleasure of consuming. It was accompanied by an EVOO demo-sauce and tuna mayonnaise.
There are other tapas to be had, like the seared scallops with smoked chorizo butter, gorgonzola and spinach croquetas and black tempura barramundi. Whatever you choose, be sure to save room for paella, a dish Martinez has perfected as he had been cooking it since age 13. And there are five varieties to choose from: prawns carpaccio seafood, Valencia con alcachofas (artichoke), presa Iberico and sobresada, black seafood with fried baby squid and beef ribs and wild mushroom.
Cooking is something Martinez may have once disregarded, but life led him back to it and now, we are all to benefit from it.
(Alma Poblacion is at 5887 Fermina corner Enriquez Streets, Makati.)
