What can a small coastal town offer the world of food and dining? Ask a backpacker of the food scene of Dumaguete, and the response would be limited to a box of silvanas.
Though food spots are mushrooming in the nooks of the City, the scene itself is still percolating. The City’s many new hotspots are still getting a foothold on the palate of Dumagueteños.
Enter one such challenger, Adamo, tucked away in a residential neighborhood of Daro. Adamo nestles inside the remains of an old clapboard house–a sight common in Dumagueteño suburbs overgrown by urbanization. Extending from the wooden slat walls and the staircase is the cement faí§ade of the bistro; brown wooden shelves against the matte black, and the concrete benches, the classic blending into the modern.
Away from the cacophony of downtown, one can enjoy the tranquility, sitting at the banquet amid company or on a stool at the counter, nursing a beer.
Adamo can be enjoyed two ways: either you walk in during lunch or dinner, or you book yourselves a private event for a deluxe tasting menu experience.
Though taught in First Gourmet Academy and trained in restaurants all around Manila–even working in mar’sel in Los Angeles–chef and owner Edison Monte de Ramos Manuel cooks with a passion that screams Dumaguete.
A slight dedication written on the back of our menu: “To our culture, Negros Oriental local farmers and fishermen, and flavors that we love and long for.”
Edison said that, in order for our farmers and fishermen to fare better in their work, we must purchase local produce and maximize their potential. “As cooks, we should be advocates of sustainability,” he said.
As the first course arrived at the table, whispers leached among the guests. “Where did you get the fresh oysters? Gikan ba ni Manjuyod? Sa Bais?” A blue marlin ceviche — kinilaw — on top of a thin disk of pickled radish covered the shellfish. The acids from the kinilaw and the radish pair with the salty oyster; wherever that oyster came from, it appetized with the freshness of the Tañon Strait.
For the sixth course, Edison recalls the weekends his mother would cook munggos ug baboy during his childhood: a mung bean soup, topped with a braised pork belly, and accompanied by savory sticky rice cooked in coconut milk. The rice tempers the earthiness of the succulent pork slices and the soup, blended into a smooth creamy consistency.
“Warm tea is the perfect way to end the meal,” said Edison, as dessert arrived. In two thin tuilles is coconut, sandwiching a matcha panna cotta; on the side, a galette with caramel cream. The biscuits crumble with touch–disappear if taken with the Earl Grey. Black tea and bergamot orange peel perfume the end of the meal.
The Dumaguete food scene is still budding. Although more restaurants are exploring international cuisines — a reflection of the growing ex-pat population — Adamo innovates simply by looking in.
Edison combines worldly culinary skill with typical Filipino ingredients, resulting in an experience worth discovering again and again. “Food shouldn’t represent the chef but represent itself,” he said.
With Filipino cuisine gaining worldwide interest as testament by bringing local cuisine forward, Edison demonstrates that one doesn’t have to look far to find the flavors that fill a mouth with wonder. (Renz Torres)
