As it leaves its QC digs for a new space, it’s offering its greatest hits until the end
of the month
It has been quite a momentous four-and-a-half years for Hapag Private Dining—from multiple collaborations here and abroad (their most recent being the one for Kita Food Festival, where they teamed up with Ross Magnaye of Serai in Melbourne and Kurt Sombero of Kubo in Singapore) and a busy pop-up at the Balmori Suites at the Power Plant Mall, to an invitation to be a part of the Ubud Food Festival last June and a series of one-off dinners with fellow Filipino chefs like Don Baldosano and Nicco Santos. Last month, Thirdy Dolatre, John Kevin Navoa and Erin Ganuelas set up their very last collaboration in their Quezon City spot. And it was with Kuala Lumpur’s Nadodi, which is known for their take on Southern Indian cuisine.“I’ve only heard good things about them from my friends in Dewakan,” says Navoa on how the event came to be. “Head chef Yavhin Siriwardhana and I have been talking about cooking together since last year, and were only able to make the plan concrete after they have moved to the Four Seasons. When I recently visited Malaysia, they invited me to try their food and I enjoyed it, as well as their service, which made me excited to accept the offer to do a collab. They’ve always wanted to know what was going on in Manila.”
Nadodi’s dishes packed a punch and were redolent with spices. As such, Hapag developed items that didn’t match the intensity of flavors, instead complementing them to achieve balance. “We wanted to counter all the flavors with light ones so we could have our guests enjoy until the end of the menu,” the tattooed chef says. “It was very interesting because we learned how to understand spices and how to pair them with wines.”
There was murukku, a crunchy snack, piped with laing puree; Cebu-style lechon seasoned with Nadodi’s roselle leaves mix; and tinapa mousse paneer tartlet with satsuma gel. The standout would have to be the salu-salo course with chicken biryani rice that used a medley of Sri Lankan, Malaysian and Indian spices to cook the local native chicken. It came with a slew of side dishes such as kilawing puso ng saging, cucumber raita, poque-poque and pickled Philippine mangoes done the Nadodi way—with lots of spices!
Fitting farewellThe visiting chefs certainly didn’t hold back in flavor, and the Hapag boys were clever to caress the potency with milder, yet still apparent, notes. As a fitting farewell to their original space, the lauded restaurant is currently offering their greatest hits menu, which showcases the breadth of their capacities and talents as well as proving the evolution and maturity of the brand.
When composing their repertoire (which is beautifully presented in a CD case), they laid out all the menus they did in the past four years, including the most recent Aya menu and the pandemic project—family meal takeaway menu. The boys also involved team members who have been with Hapag for the longest time. “So it was really hearing all voices from guests, staff, partners and deciding how to make all of it a version 2,” he adds.
The process of handpicking what made the cut was a challenge for the chefs.
“It was easy because we instantly knew which ones were our favorites, but also hard because we needed to make sure that we considered the favorites of our guests, while making sure the menu is balanced and not too heavy,” says Navoa.
Among the memorable plates that cut the mustard were the beloved laing stones, taro leaves cooked in coconut milk then dipped in a squid ink batter before being fried like a fritter; the snack box, composed of playful one-biters, including a pares toast with chimichurri, and a cheese and mushroom tart with fermented cashew-miso mousse; and the prawn and buro course, because it’s a dish that immortalizes how the chefs have blossomed over time. There have already been three versions of it.
Hapag is about to transition to something bigger and better. And although there’s so much to look forward to in the coming years, they couldn’t help but feel sentimental and grateful when looking back on the years past.
“We will miss how off the beaten track the restaurant is, yet it holds a charm and energy we cannot explain. We’ll miss the simplicity of the restaurant and all the north regulars we had, especially those who profess how happy they are to have us in QC, as well as all the problems of a restaurant when we were just starting out, figuring out who we were,” says Dolatre.
“We’ll miss our first space because it is what made Hapag what it is today. Tucked behind a very humble bulalugaw joint on Katipunan with no reason to be placed there, yet it still made an impact on those who were able to come and try our restaurant,” adds Navoa. “It’s all the crazy, fun, sad, happy times we’ve had. But we couldn’t be any happier to move on too, to reinvent and rethink Hapag again.” INQHapag’s greatest hits menu will be available only until November. It is along Katipunan Extension, 201 Katipunan Ave., Project 4, Quezon City; tel. 0919-4306144.
Follow the author at @fooddudeph on Instagram.
Angelo Comsti writes the Inquirer Lifestyle column Tall Order. He was editor of F&B Report magazine.
