Go west, down south, maybe turn east then look north. And do it all over again.
The Hapag team are anything but immobile. Movement is in their blood. Maneuvering might just be one of their best qualities as they’ve spent the last seven years propelling themselves into places and positions that reinforce their feverish point of view.
But they are also immovable in many senses. Such is their focus on their craft of uncovering the depths of Filipino cuisine that they have willingly taken on the daunting task of criss-crossing the archipelago to reveal the deeper workings of a vastly less explored Philippines.
Their Western Visayas menu devoted a “more ambitious vision” as they flocked to the region and “forged the flavors… through the winds and rains of Tropical Storm Kristine.” Lasting seven months, the longest since transplanting themselves in the heart of Rockwell, Kevin Navoa, Thirdy Dolatre, and Erin Ganuelas-Recto delivered a menu that attracted both praise and criticism, and sparked debate surrounding innovation and authenticity in Filipino food culture.
Nevertheless, Hapag has always been natural trailblazers in experimentation all while sticking to their mantra of never being constrained by conventions; when they commit, they do so with considerable weight.
Western Mindanao matters in food
Their latest menu about Western Mindanao launched on May 20 is another fine example of their ambitions.
Back in March, Hapag was once again on the move. Across six days traversing Zamboanga, Basilan, and Tawi-Tawi, Navoa, Dolatre, and Ganuelas-Recto immersed themselves in markets as well as connected with locals to show what’s possible when you follow your gut.
“After working on the Western Visayas menu, we wanted to keep digging deeper into the country’s diverse culinary roots,” says Navoa. “Zamboanga and its neighboring provinces stood out because they felt ‘foreign’ even to us, and we were intrigued by the strong Muslim and Malaysian influences in the region.”
“After working on the Western Visayas menu, we wanted to keep digging deeper into the country’s diverse culinary roots,” says Kevin Navoa. “Zamboanga and its neighboring provinces stood out because they felt ‘foreign’ even to us, and we were intrigued by the strong Muslim and Malaysian influences in the region”
“The markets were deeply localized,” shares Dolatre about their experience. “In Lamitan, Basilan, most goods came directly from the area or nearby Malaysia—no big brands or outside products, aside from maybe candy from Zamboanga. Tawi-Tawi’s markets were especially eye-opening during Ramadan. There were stalls selling unexpected dishes like mi goreng with hotdogs and Murtabak with Milo. Very Malaysian-inspired. It felt like a different world.”
Here, you could argue that Hapag’s culinary exploration is them doing their part in telling food stories about Mindanao that linger in people’s minds but hardly ever scratch the surface. But their high risk, high reward leap into the unknown—away from the self-contained universe of a restaurant—signals that what you do outside your confines matters just as much as what’s happening inside of it.
Geography and gastronomy
Their new 10-course menu may be interpretations of Tausug, Yakan, and Chavacano cuisines but the source material is as close as it can get to grassroots reality. And what it does is pose questions that would make us think of what truly counts as “Filipino food” and force us to break down the limits many of us may have subconsciously assumed.
“This menu is our way of saying: There’s more to Filipino food than what we think we know,” says Navoa.
The 10 courses are built upon similar patterns of Hapag’s previously popular editions. You’ll find an opening salvo of a sprightly tiyula itum (despite its charred coconut taste and blackened appearance) that opens up palates and then there is the signature salu-salo that notoriously gets me with its knockout blow every single time.
This seventh course is fueled by four seemingly irregular elements but in their disparity, Hapag introduces a memorable performance of the “shared meals” they encountered during the trip: a fascinating Basilan rice cake (junay) dusted with kalkag (fried shrimp) then finished off with a squeeze of calamansi is enjoyable on its own; the thick deep-fried shrimps deepened by a curry-like sauce is inspired by Zamboanga’s Alavar Seafood Restaurant; a slow-cooked Maranao-style beef short rib stew (riyandang) expands the presence of toasted spice and coconut flourishes that star on the third seaweed salad course (agal-agal), while the tangles of pomelo-pako salad quietly sits in case you need a break from the richness of the heftier plates.
While the aforementioned courses celebrated the region’s refined complex flavors, others reveled in deceptive simplicity such as in the four-piece satti (grilled Zamboanga breakfast skewers) using beef rump, beef tongue, chicken skin, and chicken isol dipped in a sauce of mixed spices and peanuts reduced in chicken broth.
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“The sweetness in everything caught us off guard,” explains Dolatre, hinting at the slightly sweet sauce accompanying the skewers.
“Western Mindanao’s flavors are unapologetically bold, so our pairings had to meet that energy,” says Hapag’s head sommelier Erin Ganuelas-Recto
Freely flowing alongside these dishes are glimmers of fizzy, fermentation-focused non-alcoholic selections curated by Ganuelas-Recto. “Western Mindanao’s flavors are unapologetically bold, so our pairings had to meet that energy,” says Hapag’s head sommelier. “We leaned into spice, smoke, and richness, both in the wines and the fermented beverages, to create harmony with the menu.”
Her choice of Non 1 Salted Raspberry and Chamomile alcohol-free wine emphasizes the freshness of the satti, with a little fruitiness, high acids, and a floral finish. And so does the fresh lychee spritz for the briny, bubuk-topped (toasted spiced coconut) agal-agal. Meanwhile, a refreshing glass of calamansi and mango ginger bug soda (fermented for a total of nine days counting the carbonation period), which is a project of front of house Angel Del Mundo, preps the palate for the richer courses in the middle.
At the heart of the tasting menu, Hapag fiddles with the region’s maritime connections with Malaysia and Indonesia (mee goreng) and pounds a pleasing bread course (siyagul with roti martabak) into your psyche but my only disappointment about the two are the portions and proportions
At the heart of the tasting menu, Hapag fiddles with the region’s maritime connections with Malaysia and Indonesia (mee goreng) and pounds a pleasing bread course (siyagul with roti martabak) into your psyche but my only disappointment about the two is their portions and proportions. In the context of the tasting menu, they are standard sizes but they are somewhat petite if, like me, you would hope to eat these as a la carte dishes—perhaps eventually?
The small mee goreng bowl of savory egg noodles mixed with wok-fried Mouldy Blooms mushrooms, housemade oyster sauce and tomato ketchup, sambal, quail egg yolk, and fried egg whites for some crunch is an immediate adventure on its own. Sparkling in its own right is the Yakan specialty, siyagul, which shuns the traditional stingray for a mild, steak-like swordfish embellished with a coconut-turmeric mornay sauce and piled with herb pesto, marigold, pansit-pansitan, caviar, and “borracho” (“drunk” in Spanish) goat cheese from Malagos Farmhouse in Davao, as it’s fermented in Cerveza Negra.
The small mee goreng bowl of savory egg noodles mixed with wok-fried Mouldy Blooms mushrooms, housemade oyster sauce and tomato ketchup, sambal, quail egg yolk, and fried egg whites for some crunch is an immediate adventure on its own
Dessert flaunts an unadulterated sense of fun: The knickerbocker, Zamboanga’s halo-halo, is fun and stacked with layers of tropical fruits, pineapple jelly, lacto-fermented langka jam, amazake-pili nut foam, and strawberry ice cream. But there’s more to love in the beautiful spread of four Tausug rice cakes dubbed Bang-Bang Sug, which Hapag delivers like an ebullient state of hyperpop confectionery.
Between them though, it’s the palitaw-like putli mandi that is borderline flawless—chewy with mochi-like texture, coconut syrup for a top-tier sweet finish, and a grated coconut and white chocolate combo that can never go wrong.
Domestic bliss
In all of the cultural adventures Hapag has gone, the message is clear: That despite their place in the restaurant industry, they remain students of Filipino food’s brightest minds—the locals themselves; the communities that form the foundation of our cuisine; neighborhood coffee shops like Akantai in Tawi-Tawi that, according to Ganuelas-Recto “serves a bilao of pastries and you pay only for what you eat;” guides with names like Wads whose “love for the region made everything click for us,” shares Navoa; young Tausug chefs like Fanfan who help “ground” their understanding; and stakeholders that make connections between regions possible such as Department of Tourism Undersecretary for Muslim Affairs and Mindanao Promotions Myra Abubakar.
In all of the cultural adventures Hapag has gone, the message is clear: That despite their place in the restaurant industry, they remain students of Filipino food’s brightest minds—the locals themselves, the communities that form the foundation of our cuisine
There is no denying Hapag’s power of creation. They are, after all, unafraid to play with food and its possibilities. But stylishly toying with creativity shouldn’t be misconstrued as masking substance. Quite the opposite, really. Their menus are fueled by movement and the motion with which they have displayed here is a full-on substantial conversation with the figures making Western Mindanao an absolute cultural epicenter.
