Two successful collaborations by Toyo Eatery and Inato
On my last food trip in Singapore, there was one restaurant that wasn’t initially on my list. But due to the recommendation and last minute booking of a reliable local, it became the best meal I had on that quick visit. That was Ami Patisserie, which started as an online pastry shop in 2021 and has since opened a brick and mortar along Scotts Road, offering fresh perspectives into the craft and appreciation of pastries.
At its helm is chef Makoto Arami, who recently bagged the Pastry Talent of the Year Award from French gastronomy guide La Liste.
I only found out he would be in Manila when I received an invitation from May Navarra of Toyo Eatery to attend the one-night-only collaboration between Ami, Toyo, and Inato. Of course, I juggled my schedule to accommodate this not-to-be-missed event.
A synergy of three
It started with a chance encounter, with Jordy Navarra trying the goods at Ami and meeting the chef personally. They agreed to do something together but Arami didn’t think much of it until Navarra reached out and worked on that promise.
Two weeks before the collaboration, Arami flew to Manila—his first time (though he has been to Cebu a few times)—to try the food at Toyo Eatery and formulate ideas on how to go about their menu. The trip and quick research paid off. What they collectively rolled out proved to be a good synergy between the three, as it highlighted their individual talents.
Ami’s signature golden choux pastry, stuffed with egg mayo and crowned with caviar, started the repertoire. It’s the dish that definitely left quite an impression on me, back when I had his tasting menu in Singapore. And when I had it at this dinner, it continued to rouse amazement—seeing and tasting the consistency of his work once more.
For his turn, JP Cruz and the meticulous manner in which he handled the monkfish and matched it with a luxurious cream sauce were also among the highlights, along with Navarra’s pinindang-studded, rosella powder-dusted dark chocolate chip—an offbeat take for a palate cleanser.
Other hits include a piece of peach embraced by briny clams; a hotate kani tart with green apple and forage blanc; a decadent Pacific oyster with young ginger and lumot seaweed; a pares roll that came with shrimp nuggets, chili garlic, and Negros kamote puree; and a mango rice pudding with Hokkaido milk ice cream.
Ami closed things off with mochi—patterned after his grandfather’s recipe—with kuromitsu and kinako, washed down with Inato’s warm tea.
If anything, my fondness for chef Arami and his work grew exponentially because of this collaboration, especially knowing that he flew in solo and worked on many of the components by his lonesome. As for Toyo and Inato, well they have always had my admiration and respect.
Eight hands
I was initially clueless and curious as to how Ivan Brehm’s Nouri and Darren Teoh’s Dewakan would effectively match the cuisine and signature styles of Navarra’s Toyo and Cruz’s Inato. Teoh champions Malaysian produce in his two Michelin-star restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, while Brehm showcases crossroad cooking in his equally celebrated joint in Singapore. Their food, as I recalled from the times I ate in all four restaurants, were rather different from each other.
And I was schooled each time a course came out and dispelled my hesitations.
The celebrated chefs kicked things off with four starters that duly whet my appetite—goat and pili on a fermented rice cracker, chicharron bulaklak with shredded papaya on a skewer, battered and fried pork brain with banana ketchup, and Quezon corn with diwal dressed in powdered dahon ng sili.
These were succeeded by kinilaw in a variety of interesting iterations: squid with lychee and habanero, tuna with salted lime and mulberry dressing, mackerel with kamote cashew apple vinegar, and blood clam with tamarillo.
The lovely acid notes from these plates prepared our tastebuds for the stronger flavors of the entrees, which included a fish curry, beef brisket with pepper sauce, Inato’s beloved pinakbet, and a three-cut pork barbecue. Adding more punch and profile is a condiment composed of mostarda, kelayau, and mustasa. And to act as a reliever from all the flavor frenzy was a warm mug of batwan soup.
They finished the meal again with an array of items—desserts that came in the form of a bambangan sorbet with cream curd, tinawon rice mochi with latik, balinghoy and dabai, and chocolate tart with candied santol.
I initially doubted how their cuisines would tie up, when it should have been their philosophies that I should have looked at, as theirs married so well that it resulted in one fantastic meal.
