Child-friendly meals with Niño Logarta

MANILA, Philippines - Chefs are on top of the world. They get sky-high salaries, have one foot inside the corridors of power (think the White House’s Cristeta Comerford) and put up posh restaurants and cafes.

To that, Niño Logarta reacts with a vigorous head shake.

“Not all chefs are as lucky as I am,” the host of Q-11’s Daddylicious and owner of 3 Bears restaurant in Provident Village, Marikina says. “My job is no all glamor and glitz. In fact, I’d rather be called a kusinero than a chef.”

For Niño, the word chef raises expectations needlessly. You picture smiling people with toques as they usher you inside gleaming hallways with ceilings dripping with giant chandeliers. You imagine a well-coifed gentleman or lady discussing the finer points of haute cuisine before CEOs and COOs.

Little do they know that many graduates of costly culinary schools slave it out in steaming hot kitchens. They labor for years in the swanky restaurant or hotel before they even land a job as assistant chef. Then, they can’t rise to the top of the heap because the expat-boss has such a firm hold on the job.

Another myth Niño wants to debunk centers on a chef as a lover of fancy cuisine.

“My colleagues and I prefer a simple meal in a humble eatery whenever we eat out,” explains Niño.

They’re no longer looking for kitchen masterpieces to critique whenever they eat out. All they’re after is the friendship. And food is the bonus, the icing on the cake.

All that careful measuring, mixing and blending of ingredients in the kitchen can actually spell pressure with a capital P.

Niño, for instance, doesn’t look at cooking as just part of his daily routine.

“It’s a sensual experience. You engage your sense of sight, smell (remember the aroma of freshly-baked bread wafting from your grandmother’s kitchen?), hearing (ahh, the familiar sound of the whistling kettle!), touch and taste,” says Niño.

Read: You have to put your heart and soul to the task. You have to chop the vegetables just right; pour the milk at just the right time; sprinkle just the right amount of pepper. There’s no room for half-baked dishes.

Most of the things you must know are not found in books or on the Internet. So Niño advises culinary students to search for chefs with the hands-on experience to teach them. Niño warns that schools charging astronomical tuition fees do not necessarily have good faculty members.

This piece of advice will come in handy for Miggy Jimenez, 10 and Yumi Loseo, 11, Niño’s junior assistants in Q-11’s Daddylicious, which premiered its second season last Saturday, 10:55 a.m. Miggy and Yumi plan to take up culinary arts in college.

Miggy, who has appeared in many commercials, turns to cooking to relax after a hectic day in school. Yumi, on the other hand, busied herself in the kitchen to help her then pregnant mom. Both went through the eye of the proverbial needle to land the job. They bested 100 boys and girls who wanted to co-host the show.

Niño will simplify the recipes — down to the most detailed instruction — for his new co-hosts to follow. Hosting the show, after all, has sharpened his communication skills. Thanks to television, his network has expanded and jobs are easier to come by.

Not bad for someone who dropped his Philosophy course in college to go where his heart directed him to.