In Focus: Ipar's Restaurante y Bar de Tapas

CEBU, Philippines – My first taste of Ipar Miranda’s exceptional cuisine was during the 2005 visit of then Spanish Ambassador to the Philippines Ignacio Sagaz. A dinner was held in the ambassador’s honor at the Grand Ballroom of the Casino Espanol. Ipar was the head chef that evening, and along with his team, had prepared the tenderest beef

Fast forward to June 2009. I was with good friends in an inviting, elegant restaurant in F. Ramos Street fittingly called Ipar’s Restaurante y Bar de Tapas. The chef owner of course, is none other than Ipar Miranda. Upon recommendation, we sampled the following signature dishes: chicken croquetas, bacalao (cod fish), lengua estofada (braised ox tongue), paella de la casa (mixed meat and seafood rice, preferably call an hour ahead to order), and leche flan (with rich caramelized sauce) for dessert. As soon as the dinner crowd had wound down, I sat down with Ipar to chat about his newly opened restaurant and tapa bar. Here are excerpts of our conversation:

Leahliz Sia (LS): Can you please tell me more about yourself, your culinary background?

Ipar Miranda (IM): I’ve always been inclined towards Spanish cooking. My parents used to run a Spanish restaurant across Lighthouse Restaurant (Mango Avenue) in the early 80’s. As a child, I remember walking into the restaurant and smelling olive oil and garlic and seeing my uncle cooking in the kitchen. There is always something about food or the kitchen that interests me, despite the fact that my family is into the sugarcane business and my dad wanted me to run the family farm. In 2000, I decided to join a culinary school in Los Angeles (USA). It was a small school in Beverly Hills run by chefs from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. I was there for a year where I learned French cooking techniques.

When I graduated, an aunt told me about a culinary school in Spain located in Cuenca, Castilla La Mancha (the setting of Miguel de Cervantes’ celebrated novel Don Quixote). So I trained there for two years in IES San Jose, and after doing my internship in Castillo, I moved to the Basque region in San Sebastian right by the border of France. While there, I trained under master chef Karlos Arguiñano for a year. In 2006, I decided to come home to Cebu to open a restaurant.

LS: What made you decide to put up a Spanish restaurant such as Ipar’s?

IM: I wanted to be the first to introduce authentic Spanish cuisine to Cebu that can be accessible to all. My recipes are simple yet authentic; for example, for seasoning I only use olive oil, saffron, paprika, and rock salt. The concept of Ipar’s is a restaurant/tapas bar where diners enjoy pica-pica by the bar before sitting down in the formal dining area for lunch or dinner.

LS: What are your house specialties?

IM: For paella: paella de la casa, paella marinara (seafood), paella negra (squid), paella de verduras (veggies). For meat – lengua estofada, roasted leg of lamb, U.S. ribeye. For fish – bacalao, pescador salsa verde (this is something new; the parsley sauce is appealing to the eyes and palate). For foul – roasted chicken. For pork – chuletas al ajillo (pork chop in garlic sauce), chuletas empanada (breaded pork chop). For dessert – leche flan.

LS: Where do you source your ingredients?

IM: My ingredients are 80 percent from Spain, such as the olive oil, coffee, rice, asparagus, among others. Twenty percent such as the pork and seafood are from my local suppliers here in Cebu.

LS: The interiors and finishing in your restaurant are just lovely. Did you work with a local interior decorator?

IM: Actually, what you see here would be a typical Mom and Pop type of restaurant in Spain. This would be what a traditional Spanish restaurant would look like, wherein you arrive as a guest and leave as family. The wooden tables we use in the dining area are genuine acacia wood from the railroad tracks in our farm in Medellin. Most of the decorations such as the paintings have been with my family for years. The interiors are one of a kind – the upholstery, washrooms, tiles, and other knick knacks I worked with a consultant, Jim Dosseter. 

LS: What should the tasteful Cebuano palate expect from Ipar’s within the next few months?

IM: For our food and service, we want to keep the quality consistent. I also have plans to go back to Spain to the other regions where I haven’t been before, learn about their cuisine, and bring it back to Cebu.