A TABLE FOR A FEAST
Hapag in Katipunan takes the lead in bringing Filipino flavors to the modern day
In the ever-growing dining scene of Metro Manila, you can basically find whatever cuisine you’re craving for in an instant. Good Japanese or Italian spots can easily be found with the rise of international restaurants in almost every corner. While it is a comforting idea that we now have access to the world’s many cuisines right at our own turf, it can be easily overlooked that our own fare is losing the attention it so well deserves. Filipino flavors are standard—yes. There is no shortage of restaurants serving the classic dishes such as adobo, sinigang and sisig; but few and far apart are the places that truly take the these familiar flavors we all grew up with and bring them to the modern era. This is the niche that Hapag aims to fill.
Founded by childhood friends: Kevin “Nav” Navda, Kevin Villarica and Thirdy Dolarte, talks about opening a Filipino restaurant has always been a goal for them since their youth and it comes to its fruition with the opening of Hapag to the public earlier this year. I recently sat down with the three chefs to try their eightcourse tasting menu and chat on how their dishes came to be.
As we went through the starting courses, I asked how they got the name for their restaurant. “Hapag means table in Filipino, and we want to highlight that sense of community in our food because in local tradition, everyone eats together. Even if you won’t eat at least be at the table,” Nav explains as we bit into the Oyster Bonete, a small sliderlike sandwich you can eat with one bite made from buttery Bonete bread, raw fresh Aklan oyster and adobo aioli. This was followed by an interesting dish: their Laing Stones, which is served in a clay palayok filled with different local herbs
and leafy vegetables. The “stones” in the dish is laing, deep fried in a rich squid ink batter with pickled mangoes to add sharpness. Eating it with the different herbs bring out a new flavor that makes for an interesting layered taste with every bite.
For their eight-course menu you usually choose among their roster of main dishes, but for our visit they were generous enough to serve all six of their mains for us to try. Standouts include the Kare-Kare ni Lola V with its deeply savory peanut butter sauce and minced ox-tail flakes that just burst with meaty flavor; the Bistek Tagalog that upgrades on the classic recipe using ribeye steak cooked at a juicy pink, served with onion purée and crispy onion strings for a mix in texture; lastly, the Lamang Dagat with its medley of seafood from plump grilled prawns to crisp and flavorful baby crabs.
To finish, dessert came in the form of The Tropics, creamy homemade coconut ice cream topped with roasted pineapples and gluten-free polvoron. The mellow sweetness of the ice cream gets a warming kick from the pineapple bits with the polvoron adding texture to each spoonful.
What’s most striking about Hapag is how unapologetically Filipino it identifies itself. “We didn’t want it to be fusion or anything outside of it being Filipino food,” Kevin shares. While many of the techniques they use they’ve learned from outside the country, the taste of each dish must always go back home.
Even going as far as setting the tone, “If you noticed, the music that we play in the restaurant is all in Filipino or by Filipino artists,” Thirdy laughingly points out as “Fly” by June Marieezy plays in the background. It’s a subtle and playful touch to the experience but a detail that hits hard on Hapag’s core message. The rise of Filipino cusine is now and we don’t have look far to get a taste of it, one just has to simply look for a back lot restaurant along Katipunan.
Hapag Private Dining is located at 201 Katipunan Avenue, Blue Ridge, Quezon City. For reservations, contact (947) 560 1853.
HAPAG MEANS TABLE IN FILIPINO, AND WE WANT TO HIGHLIGHT THAT SENSE OF COMMUNITY IN OUR FOOD BECAUSE IN LOCAL TRADITION, EVERYONE EATS TOGETHER, EVEN IF YOU WON’T EAT AT LEAST
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