At a recent collaboration, chefs and mixologists served up bold flavor and the delicious art of breaking the rules.
It began with a suggestion. The Fat Cat’s Ron Cruz, who runs three bars with his wife Fifi, recommended starting with Pesa. It’s a mix of baijiu, ginger, lemongrass, and miso. The carbonated cocktail delivered on its promise of a refreshing drink that primed the taste buds for what was to come.
However, I chose to go with the strongest-flavored drink on the menu during the collaboration of Fat Cat and El Gato with Offbeat Bistro on Oct. 3 and 4.
I got a drink curiously called Pinangat. It’s a concoction not meant for the fainthearted. Every sip let out a fiery burst of honey ginger that burned the mouth before leaving a trace of coconut milk and spice on the palate. Cruz brought an infusion of Pinangat that Fat Cat’s head bartender Vern Peña had worked on months before the collaboration. What was mind-blowing about the drink was how it captured the essence of the dish in a lowball glass.
But the surprises weren’t limited to the bar. The open kitchen of Offbeat at The Shops Ayala Triangle Gardens was also a stage for playful experimentation. We went on a Friday, fittingly enough, because it felt like a “Freaky Friday”—dishes became drinks, and cocktails transformed into food.
“We checked their menu and tried to find dishes that we could work on. We tried to avoid bringing in all sweet drinks because that’s the easiest to do,” said Cruz, who saw the collaboration with Offbeat as a creative challenge to push out something new.
For Offbeat Bistro owners Angelo Comsti and chef Don Baldosano, it was also a chance for their team to come up with their own dishes that they could take pride in. Chefs Mark Jandusay, Jules Cercenia, and Denise Banga created the Friday menu based on Fat Cat’s Tarot menu. Comsti said the Saturday dishes featured cocktails from El Gato with a different set of chefs.
“We wanted to highlight the team that we have here in Offbeat,” said Baldosano. “We really wanted to empower them. We were just here to help them refine the dishes.”
The menu reflected that confidence.
Our meal began with an appetizer of Chicken Inasal Croquette served with sinamak cream, inspired by the drink The Fool,which features coconut kefir, galangal, and lemongrass. It was ingenious how Jandusay connected the cocktail to the Ilonggo dish through their shared ingredients. He even playfully served the croquette with a slight burn on top, as one would expect from inasal. What was unexpected was the absence of the bitter flavor that usually comes with charring. The dish was made more appealing by the colorful drizzle of chicken oil on top of the cream.
Related story: Chele Gonzalez and Santiago Fernandez map landscapes and memories on their plates
Related story: Manila’s top chefs dish on the best meal they’ve ever had
Related story: The best restaurants in the world, according to Filipino restaurateurs
It was followed by inihaw na baboy served with smoked orange, humba sauce, muscovado gastrique, tausi fried rice, fried banana blossoms, and gochujang oil. The dish was inspired by The Tower, which has orange and gochujang in the mix. Cercenia picked the drink because he wanted the challenge of using gochujang in what he knew was going to be a Filipino dish. What came out was a very tender pork belly, with rice and tausi that could be generously drenched with the sauce. A layer of crunch came from the fried banana blossoms which complete the play of textures.
Banga’s contribution for the night is her crafting the final dish. She served inipit with yogurt whipped cream, caramelized oats, white chocolate, and cranberry sauce. It was inspired by the drink Temperance, which combines ingredients such as cranberry, oats, milk kefir, and white chocolate. The inipit became an indulgent treat needed to end the night on a high note.
“How we started is so different from how we finished. There were a lot of changes between our first dish and the ones we served tonight,” said Banga, who shared that their team had worked on their dishes for two weeks. Part of their process involved visiting Makati Cinema Square to try the drinks from the two sister bars, which stand just a few steps away from each other.
Whether the dishes from this collaboration will make it to Offbeat’s regular menu is unsure. Baldosano hinted that the best ones might just become more than a one-time thing. The cocktails and dishes weren’t designed as pairings. They are choices for diners to mix and match as they please.
In the bar, Cruz also offered Inihawon the menu, a mix of mezcal, tapey, sweet vermouth, and black garlic. Its flavor was disarming. It was smoky, reminiscent of something just off the grill, with the gentle sweetness of Filipino barbecue and a hint of garlic heat.
The Bibingka cocktail—blending bourbon, cream sherry, coconut, egg, and shio koji—was a smooth and creamy indulgence in a glass. But the way Cruz whipped out a tub to scoop out sweet potato purée made Kamotememorable. The drink featured the root crop in two other forms as well—shochu and syrup. It captured what the night was about: reinvention.
The collaboration, born out of the friendship between Comsti and El Gato front of house Pam Pastor, became a night of exploration for food and drinks. And with results this inspired, a second round wouldn’t just be welcome. It feels inevitable.
Related story: Eggs benedict, cocktails, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez—all before noon
Related story: Food trends and innovations that shaped our plates
Related story: A dinner at Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill reveals why the chef has 8 Michelin stars
