“I’m not exaggerating. My mom makes the meanest sandwiches.”
Chef Byron Ebron, Bonitos Restaurant
All around the country, Filipino chefs are delighting their customers every day with delicious, inventive dishes. It doesn’t matter what region they’re from or what’s their cooking style, because it seems that a great many of them all credit the same mentor: Mom.
1. Chef Pao, Kapihan
“When I came home from school, I’d join my mom in the kitchen and watch her cook our meals until I learned from her.”
Chef Pao, Kapihan
Chef Pao is a modern Filipino chef who incorporates what he learned from his mom into his day-to-day cooking at Kapihan, a restaurant located in Batangas City. A love of Lady’s Choice Real Mayonnaise is a key ingredient here, too. At Kapihan, it stars in everything from the dips to the paninis. The thinking behind Chef Pao’s preference is clear: “Lady’s Choice is different compared to other brands. All kinds of flavours blend well with it and make a perfect balance.”
2. Chef Byron Ebron, Bonitos Restaurant
“Mom would take all that she can find in the refrigerator, including the leftovers. She would mince them, add Lady’s Choice Real Mayonnaise and turn them into a savoury spread for sandwiches.”
Chef Byron Ebron, Bonitos Restaurant
For chefs like Chef Byron, it’s not just their mothers that were an inspiration, but also their choice of ingredients. That’s probably why Chef Byron still uses Lady’s Choice to help create his traditional dishes with an international twist. Not only does he remember these flavours fondly, they are greatly appreciated by his customers too.
“The food is delicious, they’ve got awesome chefs. Two thumbs up!”
Bonitos restaurant customer
3. Chef Shina Hannah, Sarsa Group
“Lady’s Choice is really famous for family gatherings, like when we have macaroni salad.”
Chef Shina Hannah, Sarsa Group
Chef Shina Hannah, Corporate Chef of the Sarsa group has also made Lady’s Choice a key element in many of her dishes, and she, too, has fond memories of the Philippines’ favourite mayonnaise being a key ingredient in childhood dishes.
But more than just a family favourite, Lady’s Choice has also become the inspiration for some of her most inventive dishes such as Tofu Three Ways, one of which is a pork broth-marinated tofu, served on a sizzling plate infused with mayonnaise and crab fat. As she says, “I’ve always loved experimenting with mayonnaise because it adds a lot of texture to our food.”
Many chefs in the Philippines have a similar story: a love of Lady’s Choice Real Mayonnaise imparted by their moms and refined in their own restaurant kitchens. Little wonder, then, that so many of them are producing local dishes with brilliantly inventive international twists, and creating new Lady’s Choice fans of their own along the way.
