Filipino cuisine builds flavour that's comforting and tasty: Andrew Coppolino

Local restaurants have grown more sophisticated, but not in an artistic and fussy fine-dining kind of way.

Rather, comfort foods and home-style cooking techniques from a broad range of cultures are landing on the dinner plates in front of us.

To the numerous southeast Asian, Central American and African flavours to be enjoyed, we can also add Filipino, thanks to Nuestro 88 which recently opened on KingStreet East in the Deer Ridge area of Kitchener.

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Manila-born Paul Masbad, who has been a chef in Waterloo Region for decades, including with the Charcoal Group and New Dundee Emporium, cooks the food of his heritage and that of Evelyn, his Nicaraguan-born wife. They each came to Canada in 1988, hence the signifier in the restaurant's name that roughly translates to "our year 88."

The food is as much a result of colonial influence as anything, combining Filipino, Central American and Spanish ingredients, according to Masbad.

"Filipino cuisine combines different flavours from the Spaniards, the Chinese and Japanese, even the Indonesians. Each region of the country has its own dish, or a variation of it, just as in Mexico there are variations on a taco or a tostada," Masbad said.

Other local options

On Madison Avenue S. at Courtland in Kitchener, J and P Filipino Store, in its own version of fusion, carries Asian and Newfoundland food products and has a small hot-table at the back.

In Guelph, Filipino chef Arvi Gosmo runs a catering companyand she regularly offers Filipino cooking classes.

Nuestro 88 is the only full-service Filipino restaurant in the area. The menu includes tacos al pastor Manila and empanadas with gochujang, for instance, or ropa vieja Jinotega, the Nicaraguan city where Evelyn was born. The pancit Canton noodles with sweet sausage and hoisin sauce are particularly good, blending Filipino and Chinese elements.

The food's foundational flavours are balanced and not too bold, Masbad said.

"There's sweet, salty and sour but not too much on the spiciness. That's considered a condiment for dipping, rather than something integrated in a dish," he said.

When it comes to bitterness, he says, that is not much explored here in Waterloo Region.

"We might use bitter gourds and melons, but it's something that has a different profile that we don't really appreciate here. People ask why would I want to eat something bitter?"

'Comfortable to your palate'

As for techniques, dishes often start with French methods that include a mirepoix of sauted onion, celery and carrots.

"We build that flavour base before integrating other ingredients, whether it's pork or chicken. You start with a base and slowly build flavour. Filipino food is meant to be comfortable to your palate," he says. "It uses a lot of spices, but they don't overpower the taste."

I think the most interesting cuisines are those that share the cultural elements that we grew up with. That's evident in the growing diversity of restaurants that we now find in our communities. Masbad would agree that it's the essence of Filipino cooking.

"Many countries gave us a piece of their cuisine, and we integrated it into ours. But a lot of these dishes are my memories, too."