Allen Buhay

WILDFLOUR

What would your last three-course meal on earth be?

Uni, foie gras, and a fatty steak.

What do you want to be known for?

I want to be known as one of the chefs that believed that we can cook with the produce from farms in the Philippines. Six years ago, they all thought we were crazy to source locally. But look at where we are now! Our advantage is that we have 11 restaurants so we can support certain farmers in more ways than others can. The goal is not to be the most unique or super different but to inspire other chefs to work like how we work so that we can uplift our local farming industry. My goal is to keep promoting going local and pushing the local agriculture industry forward.

Where do you gain inspiration from?

My mentor Walter [Manzke], who is also a partner at Wildflour, our staff, and the farmers who supply our food. I learn a lot from the staff and love to gain inspiration from them. We have built a business where we can change peoples’ lives, provide a livelihood to more than 600 people. I love giving people a chance at something more, and hoping that we can help to improve lives.

What is the most challenging meal you have had to prepare?

A few years ago, Walter and I had to prepare a meal. It was the Pebble Beach Food and Wine event in Monterey Bay. We had to cook dinner for the founders of the event with Thomas Keller and Angela Pinkerton, the ex-chef of 11 Madison Park. It was two courses by us, two by Keller, and two by Pinkerton. The dinner had to be prepared in this house by the beach that didn’t have a professional kitchen (there was a makeshift kitchen in the garage in a tent that we had to deal with). It was so stressful because while we were cooking and plating, Keller and other chefs were standing right beside me, watching!

Who would you most want to cook for?

Anthony Bourdain and Barack Obama.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

An astronaut because I’ve always been interested in outer space. Or a lawyer because I like to argue.