Fine dining, family-style

WHEN you go up to Tagaytay and eat in a fancy place, there are certain expectations. Textures by Tamayo’s, the new fine dining restaurant by the catering family, exceeds all of them.

For starters, the service is sublime — but then again, it was a media tasting, held on May 21, but we’ve been taught not to look at a gift horse in the mouth.

Tamayo’s Catering founder Steve Tamayo himself helped us out of parking, and supervised the service and would sometimes assist as we listened to his son, Christopher, talk about his dishes. Mr. Tamayo’s wife attentively and proudly took videos of her son, while another child passed around party favors (room scents that she made herself). More than just a chef, the junior Tamayo brought out his yo-yo and did stunts (he had been part of the Philippine Yo-Yo Team at some point). His parents also told us that he did magic and played the piano — both of which he did at his parents’ gentle nudging. The dinner, which was supposed to be work, turned out to be more like a family’s private party in which one is always welcome (it helped that the house the restaurant is in used to be their vacation home).

The menu would have distilled Christopher Tamayo’s five-year sojourn in the US (see the related story: https://tinyurl.com/9e8r6aw8), but when it came down to it, he dug deeper into his roots. “These are childhood memories of food,” he said during a group interview.

For example, he brought out a Chicken Havarti (breaded chicken forcemeat with Havarti cheese inside) flavored with confit tomatoes, capers, and truffle jus. Fancy indeed, but this is really based on his family’s recipe for Chicken Cordon Bleu — just gussied up and grown up. Our notes described it as delicious with a qualifying swear word, and “the fanciest chicken nugget I’ve had in my life.”

This was followed by a Roasted Chicken (our notes had crying emojis on it), followed by the slogan of a storied chicken place: “Sarap to the bones.” Prepared sous-vide for three hours, it was very moist, almost like it was injected with chicken broth. This was paired with a Mushroom Rice (not quite yet risotto, but too moist to be plain white), which I’m still trying to recreate at home.

We had starters too: a rich umami-packed mushroom soup (thanks to the several kinds of mushrooms that he used), and a whole quarter-cabbage roasted, glazed, and strewn with almonds. There was an Arugula and Watermelon Salad that surprisingly worked: the super bitter and fresh arugula worked hand-in-hand with the plump and juicy watermelon.

Mr. Tamayo also brought out agnolotti stuffed with apples and chestnuts, with an almost meaty heft, and one could really taste the homemade quality in the pasta. He also served a porkchop — very tender — served with polenta that had a very apparent herby flavor.

For his piece de resistance, he served a 21-day dry-aged Beef Tomahawk, cooked in a pizza oven for seven minutes on each side. This dish is off the menu but can be ordered in advance. “We wanted to really respect the ingredient,” he said. “We don’t want to sacrifice the quality,” adding that the meat has to be prepared hours in advance, including the thawing process, which would be put to waste should somebody cancel.

If one goes by our notes, one can see why he named the restaurant Textures by Tamayo’s.

One, “I want to play with the texture of each ingredient. It’s more like respecting the taste of each ingredient,” he said.

“I’m just trying to make them work together,” he said.

And, two, it’s a tribute to his family. “To have the restaurant here is really to give homage to my parents.”

Future plans for the restaurant include building a glasshouse outside for events and outdoor dining and creating a little hamlet for selling artisanal goods from around the area.

Open from Wednesday to Sunday (11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.), Textures by Tamayo’s is located at 1975 Maglabe Drive, Barangay Asisan, Tagaytay City. The restaurant is now open. Walk-ins are welcome but reservations through their booking platform (bit.ly/texturestagaytay) are advised. For more information, visit the restaurant’s official Facebook (facebook.com/p/Textures-by-Tamayos-61582417211175/) and Instagram (instagram.com/textures.tagaytay/). — Joseph L. Garcia