Two chefs set the perfect table for a culinary exploration with Hapag, a restaurant poised as a favorite dining destination for standout Filipino cuisine.
Come for a meal and leave hungry for more. Few restaurants in the Philippines understand and commit to a full dining experience the way chefs and partners Kevin Navoa and Thirdy Dolatre do. And with Hapag, it’s clear they’ve proved their mastery of the medium. This extends to their approach, the love for fermentation, the space in which Filipino hospitality reigns, the artistry of the plates, the expressivity of an ingredient’s form, the harmony of marrying a particular shape with the right sauce—everything is carefully planned and precise. There’s no better place to experience culture and local food than at Hapag, an establishment with a menu that encapsulates Kevin and Thirdy’s philosophy of the Filipino palate.
RELATED: Welcome to the Dining Version of Quiet Luxury—Taupe
How does one make Filipino food even more appealing to Filipinos? It’s in the intent, the technique, and, more than the culinary, the experience. “Our purpose was very clear: to champion and celebrate Filipino cuisine. All we needed was to introduce Hapag in the right manner,” says Thirdy. “Our dedication to honoring Filipino cuisine and culture will always be at the heart of everything we do.”
Over the past six years, the two chefs and the team have constantly evolved and re-introduced Hapag in the pursuit of the just-right and zany Filipino flavor. Now, Hapag continues to impress diners by infusing touches that enhance and balance the flavors and textures of Filipino dishes—and serving them onto a plate worth celebrating. “The inspiration for Hapag’s cuisine knows no bounds. We find it everywhere,” Kevin shares.
Great things indeed happen when chefs like Kevin and Thirdy are free to interact, explore, and ruminate. In making Hapag, an environment that permits and encourages these freedoms, the chefs engaged with their ideas in various ways—letting them incubate, studying them, evaluating, and sharing them through a remarkable dining experience with an unwavering dedication to honoring the Filipino culinary heritage.
The menu offers insistent, punchy, and unapologetic flavors, but Hapag also knows how and when to pull back and exert pointed restraint. The joyousness, sense of humor, and heart in the food complements the pageantry surrounding it. Every aspect of Hapag’s interior accompanies the emotional warmth of the food from the kitchen. The entrance area pays homage to the Philippine Rice Terraces, the bamboo light fronts traditional craftsmanship, and the committed staff, the soul of Hapag, is the picture of our culture’s innate hospitality. The restaurant’s guest experience consultant, Isabel Lozano, explains that “sincerity, informativeness, grace, and care” encapsulate the attentiveness the restaurant provides to every guest. “It’s more than just good service,” she says. “It embodies the heart of Filipino hospitality.”
Where hospitality is personal, Hapag is there to soothe and fill your stomachs, to offer relief and an exploration of blends and varietals with its evolving tasting menu of wine, and to relive childhood memories with bite-sized snacks—warek warek tart from Abra, chicken inasal crackers inspired from Bacolod, keso at kabute tartlet, soy caramel kutsinta, and more. Their signature dishes Laing Stones, Sugpo at Buro, Kare-Kare, and Pansit Negra make you want to devour everything in one serving, but the tang, liveliness, and piquancy of the dishes force you to slow down, to savor not plate by plate but bite by bite. These are the sort of potent, soul-nourishing, complexly layered dishes that get all the way into your bones and settle into your heart.
Have kakanin and turon. Have nilaga. Have a choc-nut-flavored ice cream and a dalandan sour cocktail. Have the good Filipino moments right onto your tongue.
Photos and Featured Image: HAPAG
