Delectable Delight: La-ud’s Chef Nonoy’s Beef Tapa
Mouthwatering and delicious. Taste-buds satisfied as the flavors of the rich food melt inside your mouth.
La-ud Restaurant definitely added and enriched the colors of the HUE Hotels and Resorts with its wide array of flavors offered. ‘La-ud’ originated from the Cuyonon word for far sea, ‘laot’ in Tagalog or ‘lawud’ in Bisaya.
The restaurant offers Filipino-Mexican inspired food dipped with the unforgettable flavors of Palawan including its bountiful seafood with its wide variety including a great number of fishes and other marine creatures. Local and foreign tourists enjoy the food offered by the restaurant not just because of the taste, but the connection of the food deep to the roots of the islandprovince Palawan.
Chef Nonoy’s Beef Tapa
One of the bestsellers of the restaurant is the Chef Nonoy’s Beef Tapa. The dish is composed of beef sirloin coupled with fried egg, garlic rice and the (homade) pinakurat or the spiced vinegar.
The Chef Nonoy’s Beef Tapa isn’t like any normal beef tapa. The dish is special with its unique tang that makes you crave for more. The beef sirloin is well-seasoned with spices that seep deep within the core of the meat. It is not just the taste that is wonderful, but also the aroma of the dish in which you can smell the dainty flavors of the ingredients.
The specialty food is a classic combination of ‘tapsilog’ yet this one has a unique and palatable taste. The dish certainly underwent some development that made the dish to have a unique taste.
“Tinitest talaga ng husto, ang tawag kasi namin doon ay R and D, Research and Development. Talagang nireresearch and develop talaga namin ng husto kung saan pupunta yung quality ng pagkain. Kailangan bago ilabas yan dito sa restaurantg is naka 100% yan, simula doon sa season, sa lasa, sa texture ng mga pagkain, kung ano quality ng pagkain tsaka kung saan ka kukuha ng supply,” said Rodolfo “Nonoy” Rodriguez, executive chef of La-ud Restaurant.
The beef sirloin is complemented with the pinakurat or spiced vinegar, which significantly added the flavor. The vinegar really enhanced the taste as it also contains a lot of spices that leave an unforgettable aftertaste making you crave for more. The combination and the flavor of the dish won’t just fit with the description of tasty or delicious, but it’s more of unique and perfect.
The one who innovatively developed this dish is La-ud Restaurant’s Executive Chef Rodolfo “Nonoy” Rodriguez who is undoubtedly true with his name on the dish, ‘Chef Nonoy’s Beef Tapa’. Chef Nonoy is an award-winning chef hailing from the province of Aklan. Chef Nonoy won (first place in 2015)Chefmanship Cup sponsored by the Unilever Food Solutions despite all odds and being the underdog in the contest. Chef Nonoy won the contest with his innovative beef tapa that bested other (30) executive chefs in island of Boracay.
Chef Nonoy’s journey as a chef is inspirational. Since a kid, he dreamed of working in a professional kitchen. Chef Nonoy is inspired by his mother who cooks during fiestas in their province; he would go and helped his mother by chopping vegetables and alike. Chef Nonoy eventually had a job as a steward or dishwasher in discovery shores boracay.
His chef journey started when he worked in the cold kitchen slicing and preparing the ingredients. During that time, he would finish his chores and then underwent some cross-training to cook. After some time, he accepted the challenge to be a chef in the main kitchen. Despite not having formal education or training in cooking, Chef Nonoy worked and practiced hard to learn new things, “Learn, learn, practice, basa lang ng basa ng kung ano-ano tsaka tanong lang ng tanong,” said Chef Nonoy.
Chef Nonoy serves as an inspiration to other people who want to be a chef despite not having formal education on the field. Perseverance and eagerness to learn, Chef Nonoy proved that you can do anything when you work hard for it.
“Practice talaga makes perfect,” said Chef Nonoy.
With their amazing and divine food choices at La-ud Restaurant, Chef Nonoy invites tourists and the locals to try and experience quality food and great service, and not to miss their bestseller, Chef Nonoy’s Beef Tapa.
“Gusto kong patunayan sa mga tao na kahit steward lang ako, pwede ako maging executive chef,” he said.