Dinner and a show(room)

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IT’S NOT every day that one gets to eat at Antonio’s in Tagaytay, nor is it an everyday occasion to be surrounded by the fridges and ovens of Sub-Zero and Wolf. The three come together in a pop-up at Sub-Zero and Wolf’s Greenbelt showroom called The Table, running from May 26 to June 10.

On May 27, ����ý and a host of media and VIP guests got a taste of the experience. The venue was reassuring Antonio’s founder, Antonio “Tony Boy” Escalante, and his team chopped, seared, and flambéed surrounded by some of the world’s most trusted kitchen appliance brands.

THE MEAL
The meal began with a lacy shrimp cracker, like a tuile, with a strong flavor of Parmigiano Reggiano, sprinkled with crunchy shrimp bits — the salty flavor jolted the tongue awake, but Marie de Moy NV Brut Champagne massaged the tongue again to calm it down. This was served next to a Pão de queijo, a Brazilian cheese roll that was crispy on the outside, and flaky and pillow soft on the inside — we’d have asked for more, but several other guests wanted some too. The next course was a series of amuse-bouches: Smoked Herring on a Smoked Herring Mousse topped with ikura, a Foie Gras Cornet with Raspberry Pearls, and Emulsified Oysters with seaweed and caviar from Nomad Caviar. The herring mousse creates an illusion of being solid and due to its very forward taste, an illusion broken by the pops of the salmon roe. The foie gras cornet, unfortunately, paled next to the seafood offerings — the herring’s effect was replicated in the oysters (with a texture like mayonnaise). We might pronounce the effect of the oysters to be too rich — however, we did have two servings, and that’s probably our fault for having more than a taste.

The next course was a Tartar of Maya Maya with a veil of Benguet Passionfruit-Tamarillo; then coconut, sweet peppers, and coriander oil. Visually stunning in yellow and green, we did pick off the fruity veil to enjoy what amounted to a very fancy kilawin (fish “cooked” in acid) — it is a mark of its excellence that we finished the whole plate despite our aversion to coconut, the sharp onion and chili in the fish defeating what we think was the cloying and too-rich flavor of coconut milk. The wine pairing, a Jurtschitsch Löss Grüner Veltliner 2023 from Austria, made the fish shimmer with notes of peach and pear.

Flame-torched Toro (fatty tuna) followed this, with a relish of Kalamata olives, sun-dried tomato, fregola, tuna roe, and Parmesan foam. The toro, usually a delicate delicacy, gained muscle with its garnish, taking on the flavors of the Mediterranean. The wine pairing, a Chateau De Chamirey, Mercurey, en Pierrelet, 2022, proved to be the best in the series, with a smell like frankincense and a mild flavor akin to sweetcorn — unfortunately, the strong tastes and the rich textures in the fish rendered it invisible.

A palate cleanser introduced us to a new treat: a Berry Granita made with Taogtog from Benguet. The berry grows wild there, and curse the day somebody successfully cultivates it: the berries taste exactly like cola, and we’re afraid we’ll waste away popping one after the other.

We may have expressed some reservations about the other courses, but there’s one thing Mr. Escalante will always get right: beef. The final savory course was a Tajima Striploin with a pumpkin and potato gratin, peas and beans, and a tasteful amount of pepper sauce. The beef was a hybrid of Kobe and Australian Wagyu cows: this resulted in the perfect balance of meat and fat marbling, not to mention a stronger flavor. This was paired with a Chateau La Nerthe, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge, 2020, with a refined, woody scent and a slightly savory taste. With the perfectly seared striploin, a drop was just the perfect garnish.

We didn’t think that Mr. Escalante could top this, but he gave us a choice from four ice creams: whisky with dates and pecans, dark chocolate, roasted strawberries, and panna. We took all of them. We made the mistake of eating the whisky ice cream first — in all its rich indulgence with a sharp aftertaste from the liquor — so the rest of the flavors paled in comparison. Not that they didn’t try: the panna ice cream was topped with olive oil and salt; and we didn’t think strawberry ice cream could still be improved with a good roasting.

BIRTHDAYS
At the end of the dinner, the Sy family which distributes Sub-Zero and Wolf in the Philippines sang a “Happy Birthday” to the chef, who turned 59 on Wednesday.

Mr. Escalante’s Antonio’s in Tagaytay, which he started in 2002, became the first restaurant in the Philippines to make it to the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2015. Since then, the Philippines has been a regular on the list. The Tagaytay fine dining scene he pioneered has seen multiple restaurants of increasingly high caliber open in the resort town. He says, quite humbly however, “I never told my people that ‘every year we have to win.’ We just have to work harder and harder and maintain. But if it comes, it comes.”

The chef started out studying dentistry, then shifting to a career as a flight attendant, then opening the restaurant in the 2000s, to much acclaim. In recent years, the chef, once reluctant to leave Tagaytay, has opened multiple outlets down in the big city. His café, Breakfast at Antonio’s, has a branch in Robinsons Magnolia; while Azela by Balay Dako has a city pied-à-terre in Robinsons in Ermita. Meanwhile, Antonio’s main city home is in the car showroom of PGA Cars along EDSA. He’s planning another Balay Dako up another hill, in Antipolo.

“I don’t know why I love Manila now,” he says, with a tone that suggested he surprised even himself. “My happiest place now is Manila. Before, I told myself, I’ll never, never. But I don’t know what happened,” he said.

“If I go to Tagaytay, after I work, even if it’s 12 o’clock, I’ll go down (to Manila). I don’t even sleep in my house — my beautiful house there. I’m here 90% (of the time),” he said in a group interview.

He has also since opened Pedro the Grocer, a retail food outlet. He recalls that when he first started, his mentors would ask him why he made his own bacon and other meat products. “What will I do? Buy? And now, it’s another business.”

Asked about Sub-Zero and Wolf equipment, he says he likes his oven with a steamer function. However, he speaks more fondly about his fridge and wine cabinet: how the fridge prolongs the life of his girlfriend’s bouquets, for example. Or how the wine cabinet holds his favorite red wines, or the fridge, again, storing his favorite guilty pleasure: butter. “I love butter. I have different butters,” he said. “I don’t spread my butter. I just cut, and eat it like cheese.”

A year closer to 60, he does reflect on an eventual retirement: “I just want more time to myself.” Someone pointed out that despite this, he has been opening new restaurants left and right. To that, he said, “It’s more of developing people, and the way you develop people is to trust them.”

Reservations for Antonio’s pop-up can be made through Antonio’s by contacting 0939-752-3291. For full booking details, you may visit thetable.subzero-wolf.com.ph. — Joseph L. Garcia