KATRÉ: One man’s gift to his homeland

What would make a successful Filipino executive chef who has worked in America’s finest hotels come back after 14 years to cook for his kababayans again? No less than the desire to let Filipinos have a taste of the best of international cuisine and a chance to give back to his native land. Much has been written about the Mediterranean restaurant, KATRÉ, reputed to be one of the most refined places to eat in the densely populated restaurant row of Tomas Morato Avenue in Quezon City. Accolades have been generously heaped upon the restaurant’s down-home cuisine which its owner Chef Roxs Cailao describes as a fusion of clean full flavors using fresh Mediterranean ingredients. As you walk into the restaurant, you are greeted by the framed awards and press writeups on the walls, proof positive of KATRÉ’s much-lauded existence since it opened its doors in 2001. Over on the second floor of the restaurant where the main dining is, the restaurant’s clean lines are apparent in its interiors. It is airy and bright, tables adorned with crisp white linens, promising a dining experience that is nothing less than elegant. The menu, though described as fusion, does not lend itself to confusion. The fare is familiar, nothing that would leave you hesitant to order. In fact, with such an abundant list of time-honored favorites, you would find it hard to keep yourself from ordering just one or two dishes. But when the food gets to your table, you find that each dish is packed with flavor and seasoned well. You then begin to know that this is a restaurant that is truly reflective of the owner-chef’s deep and never-ending love affair with food – the definitive mark of a restaurant of exceptional quality and standards.

Chef Rox welcomed us warmly into his restaurant as he did every guest that evening. Most of the guests knew him personally and he exchanged a few words with them at their tables. They ask him what’s good on the menu. He suggests a dish or two and instructs the waiter to tell the kitchen staff to add a little something special to the dish. The first thing that you have to know about the restaurant is that the name is not pronounced as “kát-re" or the Filipino word for bed. The correct way to say it is “kát-ray," derived from Katrina and Adriana, the names of Chef Roxs’ two daughters. The next important fact about KATRÉ is Chef Roxs and his wife, Dr. Ruby Manalastas, set it up as a way of giving back to the country after years of living in the U.S. where the good chef earned his culinary degree and worked in the finest hotels as Executive Chef, and where his wife had a successful practice as a psychiatrist. Chef Roxs’ love of food began back in his days at the University of the Philippines where, as a member of the Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity, he always came home late or early morning and would find himself cooking whatever food there was in their kitchen. From heating up leftovers, he “graduated" into frying eggs and cooking canned goods and then later, whipping up his own dishes. This led him to a discovery of good food and soon he shifted to Hotel and Restaurant Management. His early career as a Food and Beverage manager was honed in several hotels around the country including the Pines Hotel in Baguio and Hotel Mindanao in Cagayan de Oro. He was also the manager of the popular French restaurant owned by the Dazas, Au Bon Vivant, an experience that served him well when he applied for work as a chef in a five-star hotel in the U.S. It was in 1983 when Chef Roxs moved to the U.S. to be with his wife who was there for her training. It was in the land of meat and potatoes where he pursued his passion for food, not just by managing restaurants but through cooking. He enrolled in a culinary course at the Culinary School of Washington DC, passing himself off as a cook back in the Philippines to cut a few credits off his curriculum and save on tuition. He earned his culinary degree while working two jobs and being on his feet 100 hours a week. Soon, he was ready to work in the kitchens of America. His first job was at the Marriott Hotel in Washington DC where he had to best 60 other applicants who all wanted to work in the prestigious hotel. He recalls how he landed the job because of his past work in Au Bon Vivant. “During that time, ang renowned chef si Paul Bocuse. 'Yung Au Bon Vivant, may relationship sila noon kay Bocuse dahil 'yung mga chefs na nagpupunta dito from France, handpicked niya. Na-impress 'yung executive chef ng Marriott sa akin, nag-one on one interview kami. Natanggap ako sa Marriott." (“During that time, the renowned chef was Paul Bocuse. And Au Bon Vivant had a relationship with Bocuse at that time because all the chefs who came to the Philippines then were handpicked by him. This impressed the executive chef and he asked to do a one-on-one interview with me. I got the job in Marriott.") Although his experience as a working chef was limited at the time, he was armed with the knowledge of managing a restaurant and a good work ethic. He says, “Mabagal ako mag-slice and dice pero pagdating sa knowledge and taste, puwede akong mag-compete sa kanila. Masipag ako, naging paborito ako ng chef." (“I was slow in slicing and dicing but when it came to knowledge and taste, I could compete with the others. I was hard-working and I became the chef’s favorite.") He became a supervisor and was later promoted to managerial level, handling individual development. But his wife relocated to Upstate New York and he soon had to pack his bags. He got a job at the Marriott in Buffalo, New York as an Executive Chef, handling management of the restaurant and doing hands-on cooking himself. He stayed there for three years. His last stint before finally deciding to come home was as Executive Chef at the Sheraton in Washington DC. His skills honed to perfection, he moved back in 1997 when he saw that the country was more stable than when they left after Ninoy Aquino’s assassination in 1983. Before setting up his own place, he studied the market first as 14 years of being out of the country left him in a state of culture shock when he arrived. Chef Roxs used his catering business and a stint at managing the canteen in the International School of Manila as a gauge for finding out what Filipinos were looking for in food. He studied their likes and dislikes, the market profile, preferences and pricing. He then set up a restaurant with a few corporate partners but soon opted out as he found the decision-making process in a corporate setting too cumbersome. In a few months, he was ready to set up a restaurant that reflected all that he learned in the kitchens abroad coupled with his own vision of a quality restaurant where he could serve food he could proudly call his own. Hence, KATRÉ came to fruition in 2001 with a bevy of international cuisine that included top favorites like the very satisfying and flavorful Cream of Wild Mushroom (Php 170), Field Green Salad (Php 190) with grapes, capers and kalamata olives, and the Heart of Romaine (Php 195) with slices of lettuce that are not tossed but dipped in a rich and cheesy Caesar dressing. Chef Roxs says that serving it this way keeps the lettuce crispy and you get to have as much of the dressing as you want on the crunchy greens. Guests of KATRÉ also make sure to order the Bay Shrimps Gambas (Php 285), a heavily-sauced rendition of the Spanish shrimp appetizers, sauteed in olive oil, garlic, capers, peppers, cilantro and served with bread called Bolgi Toast Points. The bread is used to wipe off the gambas’ boldly-seasoned sauce. Another dish that he is most proud of is the Roasted Chicken with Pasta (Php 295). The cumin and basil herb seasoning used to flavor the chicken under the skin come through in the juicy roast chicken slices that sat on top of the tall mound of pasta infused with mushroom cream and pesto. Chef Roxs has also added a few Filipino touches on the menu. One can order the Adobo Flakes (Php 275) served with bagoong rice, eggs, and green mango and tomato salsa or the Barbecued Spareribs (Php 275) seasoned with fennel, cinnamon, star anise essence and served with garlic fried rice. His Pandan Green Tea is wonderfully refreshing and comes with bits of aloe vera. The menu holds a variety of bruschettas, pizza appetizers, pastas, fish and seafood dishes, lamb, U.S. beef and pork along with choices of grilled sandwiches. It is however, one particular dish that Chef Roxs considers close to his heart and reflects his true character: the Braised Lamb Shank. He says it is his kind of comfort food, braised ever so slowly, brimming with flavor and a genuine labor of love. He likens the dish to what our lolas in the provinces would cook for hours over live charcoal, similar to caldereta with beef so tender that it simply falls off the bone once you pierce it with a fork. He still is a Filipino at heart who loves to eat dishes paired well with hot steamed rice. But these days, he goes more for vegetable dishes. His current favorite? Pinakbet na may bagnet, which he says is healthy but with a kicker. What’s in the future for KATRÉ apart from continuing to be a quality restaurant in the Morato area? Chef Roxs says he is inspired by the notion of simply being an institution for good food in the country. Later on, it is likely that the good chef will hand over the reins of KATRÉ to his daughter, Katrina, who has followed her father’s footsteps and is finishing her own culinary degree at the Culinary Institute of America. For now, it remains to be a premiere destination for cuisine that is reflective of its owner’s genuine love of food and a gift to the only place he calls home. - GMANews.TV