No rest for the wicked, no habrá paz para los malvados, especially if you are an artist chef like Bruce Ricketts and like his wife, Jae de Veyra Pickrell, pure creative and intellectual, whom we call the principal nerd, along with Stephanie Zubiri, at our book club The Very Extra Book Club.
So many things going on, hay tantas cosas pasando justo ahora! This year promises to be a landmark year for Bruce and Jae, with La Chinesca at The Grid Food Market at Powerplant Mall at Rockwell under renovation, due to reopen soon, and a new La Chinesca location at BGC in Taguig City under construction, not to mention— ¡Guau! The foodies can’t wait—lai, a new fine dining Japanese omakase soon to rise that is promising to be many lev¬els up from Bruce’s well done 10-year stint at Mecha Uma’s open kitchen.
In the meantime, huff and puff, stress levels up, ¡pero nada es imposible! Bruce and Jae did not hesitate a moment when they were invited to do the month-long La Chinesca popup at the Balmori Chef’s Table ongoing until July 21 at Rockwell Center in Makati.
La creatividad es una fuerza ponderosa, creativity is a powerful force. You cannot contain it, especially if you are Bruce, whose playful passion in the kitchen is unmatched, especially when it comes to his favorite cuisines—Japanese and Mexican.
We should be no strangers to many things Mexican, particularly its cuisine. Although half a world apart, Mexico and the Philippines have a historical cord between them, a shared experience that goes all the way back to the 16th century, when explorers from Spain arrived in their shores—Hernando Cortés in Tabasco in southeastern Mexico in 1519 and Ferdinand Magellan on Homonhon Island in Samar in Central Philippines in 1521. What followed after those historic arrivals was the same for both countries: 300 years of colo¬nial rule marked by an orgy of political, economic, and cultural exchange.
But there were even closer ties between Mexico and the Philippines: the Manila-Acapulco trade, por ejemplo, operational between 1565 to 1815, generally considered the very first instance of globalization, which brought goods, such as gold and silver, spices and porcelain, between Asia and the Americas. Aún más, Mexico, as Nueva España, particularly the Viceroyalty of New Spain’s capital, Mexico City, was made to administer the Philippines as a Spanish colony.
Nada es más mexicano que un taco, nothing is more Mexican than a taco, a culinary invention that dates back to the Mexican ancients, made of corn tortillas filled with fish and cooked animal organs. It wasn’t called taco until much later, maybe in the 1800s, the name given by the silver miners in the small barrios on the outskirts of Mexico City who would make little dyna¬mites by wrapping gunpower in silver paper to use in the excavation of silver ore. The mini-explosives resembled their lunches of potatoes and meats stuffed in tortillas—and so the name stuck, as the theory goes.
Now it’s taco, to think it took quite a while to shed its reputation as a poor man’s meal, specifically tacos de minero.
It’s taco at El Califa de León in Mexico City, the very first Michelin-starred taqueria in the world and it’s taco everywhere else it’s made an impression, whether at Empellón Taqueria & Bar in New York or at Homies on Donkeys in London or at Santo Taco in Milan or at Taqueria Super Macho in Hong Kong or The Bombay Canteen in Mumbai.
In Manila, it’s also taco, but given our many connections with Mexico, you can get it in such few places, if you want it as good as you can have it at La Chinesca, where Bruce’s creativity, always with the full support of Jae, is at play, offering such crowd favorites as the Chivo or barbacoa-style goat a la plancha with dai¬kon, Mexican turnip, feta cheese, and salsa verde; carnitas or achiote pork confit, roasted pineapple, bean purée, pickled onion, and chicharrón; and, off menu, the tripitas or corn tor¬tilla stuffed with beef intestines, chile de arbol, watermelon, and cilantro.
Through the Balmori takeover, Bruce is introducing a whole new menu to his Rockwell regulars to show that La Chinesca has so much more than tacos to offer. “Mexican food goes so deep and this is our way of exploring the cuisine a little more, while paying tribute to traditional techniques and the bold flavors we enjoy so much,” he says. “It’s always been a source of pride for us to cook everything with the right methods and good ingredients. Since we started as a pop-up concept in 2013, we have made ev¬ery single corn tortilla by hand and cooked it to order.”
On the popup menu are beloved La Chinesca classics, including the tuna tostada with chūtoro mayo, salsa fresca, lime, Maggi, orange, onion, and peanuts, but new dishes have been whipped up, exclusive to Balmori, such as the new tostadas—jaiba, consisting of soft-shell crab and local mud crab with mango aligue-sofrito mayo, lime, and togarashi; and the toro tostada with chūtoro, toro zuke, ōtoro aburi, akami, and tomato pico de gallo, chipotle, and aioli.
The cabeza en escabeche I like very much. ¡Me gusta mucho! It’s pig’s head with tomatillo and ginger, jalapeño red radish, and cilantro. There’s also pato tetelas or beet tortillas stuffed with duck carnitas, truffle cream, sampinit jam, pickled red onion, and chicharron, as well as the Wagyu suadero taco featuring Wagyu cheek, La Chinesca tare, and onion.
Try the botana or small plate choripán y requesón or cho¬rizo, shishito ricotta, guava, and cilantro, or, on the platos fuertes or sharing plates menu, the hamachi asada with salsa macha, tomato confit, guacachile, and cilantro; the lamb rib barbacoa with adobo rub, plantain chochoyotes, dulce de leche, and salsa borracha; and the prawn zarandeado with cucumber and lime agua-chile, tapatío mayo, and latik.
Los postres son excelentes, the desserts are superb, and there are only two at the popup, both of which went well with my Americano— the flan de coco or coconut flan with toasted coconut, lime zest ginger, and black sesame shortbread and the pineapple and corn tamal with guava compote and goat cheese.
Even the bebidas are a treat, though I regret not trying the Michelada made of cerveza, clamato, Maggi, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, lime, and celery salt, which would have been perfect for brunch. The Japanese cucumber is muy refrescante, so refreshing with aloe vera, sesame leaf, and soda! Try also Ancho Tamarindo Chesco, a drink of sampaloc, ancho, and raisin soda, or the La China Chesco made of raspberry and green cardamom soda with muddled fresh herbs.
Ay ay ay, I am drooling as I write this. We only have until July 21 to go on this Mexican gastronomic adventure.
Pero no temas, fret not. The menu at La Chinesca at Balmori is “a preview of the third La Chinesca branch we’re constructing in BGC right now, which will open later this year,” as Bruce puts it. “…a sneak peek of what we’ll be up to in the kitchen, from the classic tacos that our regulars have come to love to new dishes we hope our guests would love just as much.”
¡Oye tú! La Chinesca at Balmori is open daily for all-day dining, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. (0905) 205 9151.
You can follow La Chinesca online on Instagram (@lachinesca) or visit their website.