The evolution of Bamba Bistro—and its kitchen-loving chef
Tina Legarda practically grew up around food. Her grandmother was a great cook and she, along with close to 50 of her cousins, often watched her maneuver around the kitchen as if she was hosting her own show.
Her mom Bettina was no different. She was already baking and selling her goods when she was still based in Cebu. And when she and husband Chito moved to Manila, he built a home with her dream kitchen in mind. She had her own baking room situated at the basement of their house, which eventually led to her own catering company around the late 1980s. Tina was old enough to appreciate it then.
“I was surrounded by a lot of different flavors already at a young age,” the 41-year-old says. “That got me interested. I took Maya Kitchen classes when I was 8 years old.”
Her interest in cooking continued until college where she took up Hotel, Restaurant, and Institution Management (HRIM) at De La Salle–College of St. Benilde. It was as if she was being groomed to take over her family’s business, but this wasn’t so.
“I chose to go my own path,” she says. “I didn’t want to go directly to being a boss or leading the kitchen. I got so interested in the industry that I wanted to work my way up. Intentionally, I didn’t want to be a part of the family’s food business. Gusto ko the cooking side talaga, not the operations. So I wasn’t ready and I felt that I still had a lot to learn. I found that out when I started working from the bottom up.”
Her first professional job was in a French creperie run by Jessie Sincioco located in Binondo. “It was funny because I didn’t want to be a boss, but it was such a small space that she made me a sous chef. That’s when I realized that I wanted to learn my way around still, from the lower ranks.”
And so that’s exactly what she did, bouncing from different sections in the kitchens and different formats of restaurants. Legarda even worked abroad, at Osteria Mozza in Singapore, for a taxing but definitely transformative year.
A restaurant before 30
She moved back to Manila in 2012 and hosted private dinners at home before finally setting up shop, something she had long set her eyes on.
“I made it a goal to have a restaurant of my own before I turned 30. I opened Little Bamba a month before I turned that age.”
When things started getting busier, which didn’t take that long, she was forced to shelve her tasting menu gigs to focus on her humble neighborhood eatery.
It has been 11 years, and Little Bamba has never taken its foot off the pedal. In 2021, it moved to a bigger space to accommodate the demand. And every so often, it gives loyal customers a delicious reason to come back by introducing a slew of new dishes.
Just last April, it offered merienda fare that included Vietnamese spring rolls with honey fish sauce, sloppy banh de sal with slow-cooked pork and liver mayo, baked mac and keso, yakisoba bowls with crispy chicken skin and teriyaki hotdawgz. The profits funded the team’s summer outing. Legarda would also organize Sunday suppers with the crew, which allowed the chefs to use their creative juices to come up with their own dishes. Some have made it to their regular menu.
Her most recent releases continue to prove that Legarda is the kind of chef who composes very indulgent dishes that guarantee a balance in flavors as well as comfort without the guilt. Case in point: roasted bone marrow with strawberry jam and sizzling kesong puti; foie gras with peaches and ricotta; grilled lapu-lapu and scallops with pumpkin risotto and crumbled chorizo; and grilled lamb ribs with camembert whipped potatoes.
“Bamba started off as a playful way of presenting comfort food, familiar dishes that we have fun with,” she says. “But I’m having a bit more fun now. The new stuff coming out are more playful and not anymore reminiscent of a dish. Even I am unconsciously noticing that the stuff coming out of our kitchen is more adventurous—something that now has its own soul.”
Now that is something to get excited about.
Bamba Bistro is at 57 Aguirre corner Arsenio Luz Avenues, BF Homes, Parañaque; tel. +63285-197097); follow @bambabistro on Instagram. Follow the author @fooddudeph on Instagram.
