Chefs champion slow food

If you have been looking for The Fatted Calf in Tagaytay and wondering if they have closed business, fear not! They just relocated to a better place!

They are now housed on the ancestral land of Sen. Loren Legarda in Tagaytay. It was an unexpected blessing, Chef JayJay SyCip shares, as they never expected that the good senator would support them in such a generous way.

“In 2022, I discovered slow food chefs Jayjay and Rhea SyCip’s restaurant in Silang, Cavite, The Fatted Calf, where we connected over our shared commitment to sustainability, enjoying local dishes sourced from small farmers and MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), and in the process helping them,” Sen. Loren shared on her Instagram page. “When the pandemic threatened to close their restaurant, they swiftly relocated Fatted Calf to my grandparents’ ancestral land in nearby Tagaytay.”

The couple did not only get to use the space, they got a free interior designer, too! Although Chef Rhea added her touch through the selection of lamps, Sen. Loren was hands-on with the selection of tiles, doors and garden design. You can even find her personal paintings—created in her youth—hanging on the walls!

One important agreement with the chefs, though, is that they had to follow Sen. Loren’s rules on sustainability. For one, they were not allowed to cut down any of the trees indigenous to the land. When you dine there, you will notice that the floors are designed with holes large enough to allow the branches of the trees to be undisturbed by them. They were also required to have a compost facility, which is tastefully located at a corner of the lot, surrounded by plants so it does not look like a dreary dumpsite.

“The new location, surrounded by coffee trees planted by my Lola Mameng, and immersed in nature, emphasizes sustainability with its rainwater collector, materials recovery facility, herb greenhouse, and a farmhouse kitchen built through adaptive reuse of recycled wood and old tiles,” Sen. Loren shares.

But I suspect that over their cheerful and sweet personalities, what won over Sen. Loren was the Fatted Calf’s food. Make sure to order their 10-hour whole roasted leg of beef, which has meat so tender it literally falls off the bone and is so incredibly savory and aromatic. If you think a Porterhouse steak can be outshined—which they also have on their menu—this “wow leg” does it.

If you do not eat beef or pork, they also have a larger-than-life take on fish n’ chips. If you are looking for healthier options, they also offer sustainably caught fish handpicked from the seaport that is offered with either corn puree or seasonal vegetables.

The challenge here is that by the time you are done with your appetizers, you might be stuffed. The only solution is to take a longer time eating at the restaurant. After all, it is Tagaytay, the town for rest and relaxation. Don’t allot just two hours here; make it four!

Chef JayJay has an excellent offering of grilled ox tongue made distinct with gojuchang and radish puree. He also has really delicious crab croquettes.

Of course you cannot leave without a taste of Chef Rhea’s desserts. She is otherwise known as Flourpot @flourpotmanila and famous for her bibingka cake, which is made with rice flour cakes but uniquely using buttercream, with the addition of coconut panna cotta and a crumble using kesong puti. When in season, she also makes the best Mixed Berry Dream with Benguet strawberries and jumbo Moroccan blueberries. And there’s so much more!

Last weekend, they hosted a “Harvest Dinner” (part of Tagaytay Food and Wine Festival), that no less than Senator Loren raved about, “I thoroughly enjoyed the creative dinner prepared by Chef Jayjay, Chef Rhea and Chef Jeramie Go of Pilgrim Davao, which highlighted local and sustainable ingredients.”

“It’s a joy to support the slow food movement and our local farmers!” she added.

Indeed, it is! Especially when it results in such delicious creations as what happens when Chef JayJay and Chef Rhea work their magic in the kitchen!