Young Pinoy chef conquers Latin America’s best restaurants

This week, the World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards gave the verdict on the 50 “best restaurants” in Latin America. For the third year in a row, Central in Peru was awarded the title of No. 1.

Central has proven to be a formidable force in the culinary world, with Chef Virgilio Martinez earning a reputation as a genuine creative persistently digging deeper into Peru’s produce and exposing his finds in the most palatable ways possible. His book, Lima, has also shed light on the cuisine of Peru, an unquestionably solid contribution to culinary heritage and literature, a worthy project deserving of respect.

But the real legend in Peru is Gaston Acurio who, in the words of the World’s 50 Best, has been “leading Peru’s gastronomic surge since its opening 20 years ago.” Astrid Y Gaston, founded by Acurio, is at No. 7 on this year’s list.

It would be the dream of any aspiring chef to work with these two culinary geniuses and I was happy to find a Filipino who has achieved this dream.

Mark Alan Cagampang, a young culinary graduate and hails from Bohol, dreamed of working in Spain with the likes of Arzak and Mugaritz. Unfortunately, he was twice denied a visa.

Turns out this was a blessing in disguise.

Not to be dissuaded from pursuing his dream of learning from culinary masters abroad, Cagampang looked to Latin American countries that do not require a visa.

“I was tired of going back and forth to Manila for visa applications so I looked at the list and basically stalked—from Facebook to Instagram—every restaurant in Latin America on the 50 best list,” he recalls.

His stars must have been deliberately leading him to Latin America because no less than the head chef of Astrid Y Gaston responded to his application to stage.

“I got an e-mail from Astrid Y Gaston that they have space,” he says.

Excited to work for the legandary Gaston, although given only a three-week notice, Cagampang flew to Peru and literally hit the ground running. “As soon as I got to Peru, I started working the following morning. It was straightaway to the kitchen.”

Cagampang spent a month doing mise en place (preparation of dishes and ingredients) for the protein section of what the restaurant calls its Gastronomic Kitchen before moving to the kitchen next door where he focused solely on ceviches.

That it was hard work is an understatement.

“The hours were brutal,” Cagampang recalls. “We were working 18 hours a day. We came in at 10 a.m. and would work until the restaurant would close, plus clean up because we would do deep cleaning every night. I would go home at 1:30 a.m. Then when a new menu was introduced, we would sometimes come in at 8:30 in the morning and go home at 2 a.m.”

Even if he did not speak Spanish, Cagampang made his mark in the Acurio kitchen. When it was time for him to “graduate,” no less than Chef Gaston Acurio asked him to cook a staff meal of Filipino dishes.

Cagampang remembers, “Chef Cesar Bellido (head chef who took over Diego Muñoz at Astrid Y Gaston) pulled me aside and told me, ‘Gaston wants you to cook. He wants you to do it on the patio and serve typical Filipino food.”

The first thing that came to his mind, the young chef says, was to do a boodle fight. Allowed a reasonable budget and given a month to prepare, Cagampang went all out and served—boodle fight-style on two 20-foot long tables—pork adobo, pancit, ginataang calabasa, chicken wings inasal, balun-balunan, among others; and for dessert, cassava. Chef Gaston Acurio loved it so much, as seen in his own Instagram video post.

After Astrid Y Gaston, Cagampang moved to Central to work with Chef Virgilio Martinez. “By far it’s the most creative kitchen I’ve been in,” he says.

At the restaurant now hailed as Latin America’s No. 1, Cagampang says you learn by sheer virtue of witnessing how Martinez’ ideas come to life.

“They don’t have much equipment, unlike Gaston’s, which has almost everything,” Cagampang says. “In Central, they just make use of what they have and (pound on) creativity.”

He also notes Central does not use expensive ingredients. Instead, the restaurant is product-driven.

When Cagampang was there, he saw Martinez focus on exploring the altitudes of Peru, so the menu had a starter that showcases something from a few hundred meters below sea level then progresses to products that are found on the Andes and Amazon.

“You’ll see how they make one thing look different. For example, fish from the Amazon, they dye it with achuete,” he says. “But you still get the flavors. Virgilio says this is something we can do in the Philippines.”

Why is Central number one?

“They are on top of the list because of the concepts,” Cagampang theorizes. “It’s the Noma (four-time world’s best restaurant) of South America. The cuisine is technical but not as technical as you would think. Also, a certain dish would change from one day to another. There is a continuous development of dishes.”

Interestingly enough, Cagampang reveals Martinez himself is not in the kitchen. “He lives next door and is continuously developing dishes. He is there doing service and he talks to guests (but) it’s the head chef and sous chef who are in the kitchen.”

Cagampang remembers taking a bank loan to find this dream of working with the world’s “best chefs.” But he fulfilled his dream and is now back in the Philippines to pursue an even bigger dream of showing what he has learned to Filipinos.

There is no stopping someone with this much determination. I look forward to the day when this young chef from Bohol makes it to the list of the world’s best.