Mews restaurant: Chef Demar Regresado and the art of restraint
CHICKEN DELICIOUS. The chicken teriyaki is one of the many offerings by Mews. Photos courtesy of Mews and Iñigo de Paula
Miles Davis once said, "Don't play what's there. Play what's not there."
Those pockets of silence between notes are just as important as the notes themselves, he asserted. If it’s true for jazz, it’s also true for the culinary arts (or any other medium, really).
With the culinary scene producing wunderkind chefs with increasing frequency, an affinity with nuance is often what separates the dilettantes from the pros. Chef Demar Regresado, a veteran who started out in Aubergine under Gordon Ramsay, is definitely the latter.
Chef Demar’s commitment to subtlety is apparent when dining at Mews, his second restaurant venture in the country. Take his braised pork belly, for example. It’s one of the more nuanced dishes on his menu. The pork is silky like butter, and teases the palate with hints of sweetness.
“What we did here is braise the pork for 12 hours,” Chef Demar explained. “That removes every single part that would (overpower the dish).” Only when all the non-essentials are taken out does the dish become fully realized.
Chef Demar has gotten pretty damn good at cooking what’s not there.
SINFUL. The braised pork belly is a must try at Mews.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Our meal started with the grilled caesar salad, which is simple in concept but when tasted, turns out to be quite the revelation.
The grilling process brings out the innate sweetness of the romaine, which plays well with the sharp flavors of the red onions and parmesan. There’s a narrow margin of error when grilling these leaves. Get overzealous, and you end up with a cluster of bitter, barely edible greens.
HEAVEN. Mew's caesar salad has a twist.
We tasted his best-selling panizza next, its name “Rolls Royce” giving off a rare hint of swagger.
“This one is our signature dish,” Chef Demar said. “A lot of people try to do the panizza with overpowering sauces.”
The Rolls Royce panizza, with its mozzarella, salami, shrimp, scallops, and sundried tomatoes, formed a tight medley of flavors. The panizza has a sweetness to it that makes way for a slight kick from the salami and tomatoes.
ROLLS ROYCE. Another must-try is the panizza.
The caesar salad and Rolls Royce panizza are perhaps the two dishes in our meal that best represent Mews’ commitment to healthy, hearty fare.
“I like to play to get the healthier option,” said Chef Demar. Even with 3 decades of experience working in London (Chef Ramsay gave him his early training), Demar remains committed to uplifting local growers and suppliers.
“My goal is to take the taste of Europe to the Philippines, but with our local ingredients,” he explained. “A lot of chefs are trying to get more expensive stuff, but we could help our farms by getting produce from them.”
Up next came the salmon gravlax, another of Chef Demar’s more popular dishes. It features beetroot-cured salmon, with a retenue of micro herbs, beetroot puree, and cream cheese. The fish is smoked in mesquite, and is served in an upturned goblet filled with the smoke.
The serving style isn’t a gimmick; the extra immersion in smoke further infuses the fish with flavor. Our last entrée was the chicken teriyaki truffle. The chicken was marinated in a teriyaki truffle fusion, and came with ube purée and basmati rice. The chicken had the same buttery softness as the pork belly, as well as that signature balance of flavors.
GRAVLAX. The salmon gravlax is something to try at Mews.
The meal was concluded with a one-two dessert punch of lava cake and eton mess. The lava cake is a chocolate cake filled with a molten core of Belgian chocolate, while the eton mess featured meringue pieces with berries and ice cream. The concoctions were delicious and decadent – the perfect end to this exquisite meal.
HEAVENLY. Lava cake is pure heaven.
Mews' address: L'Ermitage Building, L.P. Leviste Street, corner Toledo 1227, Salcedo, Makati, Metro Manila. It's open from 11 am to 10:30 pmhttps://www.rappler.com/life-and-style/best-eats/190956-mews-restaurant-review
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