Yes, mama, this is yummy!

Spice is life. It depends upon what you like. Yes, food is serious, but you should have fun with it.” Take it from Chef Emeril Lagasse, a guy who has to deal with the tedium that comes with having to prepare for, and host, a daily cooking show. Having fun with it, in his case, is the best and simplest way of keeping things fresh. And anyone who has ever seen Lagasse’s cooking program will agree that he knows how to have a good time in the kitchen. Cooking, of course.

The pitfall of any industry is the danger of monotony, where a mind-numbing routine can potentially suck out raw passion and excitement. Food service is not exempt from this, and it’s reassuring to know that some local chefs are taking steps to create a more novel dining experience.

Chef Him Uy de Baron of Nomama Artisanal Ramen, for one, has decided to shake things up by turning select Monday nights at his restaurant into “Open Kitchen Monday Nights,” inviting a guest chef for each installment to create a custom menu and adding some kitchen theater entertainment to offer patrons something different to enjoy.

“Mondays are usually slow for restaurants, so we wanted to make them more interesting,” says chef Him. “We thought about what fun it would be to jam with other fine chefs and have a popup restaurant on Monday nights. The whole point is to showcase the style of the guest chef, and merge it with the Nomama concept. Nomama is a bit playful, not strict traditional Japanese, which allows for some flexibility in the cuisine.”

Fun and tasty: Rice cake azuki roll in coconut black sesame latik

More than just a way to liven up Monday nights, though, all the proceeds from Open Kitchen Monday Nights at Nomama will go to a charity of the guest chef’s choice. Closely working with his brother, Harvard Uy de Baron of U Happy Events, chef Him has made this brotherly collaboration that works towards more charitable goals.

“This is my first collaboration with my brother,” says Harvard. “He’s known that I’ve been doing these kinds of volunteer-based events for a long time, and now we have a concrete venue for doing so, which is great. This is a great opportunity for us to work on something we both believe in and I look forward to seeing how we can continue to work together in the future.”

The first Open Kitchen Monday Night at Nomama recently took place and featured the talents of chefs Roland and Jackie Laudico of Bistro Filipino. Using the ingredients and equipment of Nomama’s kitchen, save for some bagoong and buro that they brought, the Laudicos created a delightful modern Filipino menu with little hints of Japanese cuisine.

They like Mondays: Chefs Him Uy de Baron and Rolando Laudico at the first Open Kitchen Monday Night at Nomama

A refreshing appetizer of Spanish mackerel kilawin with greens provided by Down to Earth was light and zesty, and a good way to stimulate the taste buds for the coming courses. Next was a noodle course of duck confit ramen in batchoy broth. The salty confit balanced out the light broth, but it was the creamy organic boiled egg from More Than Organic that really made the dish. A fish course of mirin soy tuna loin with buro edamame sauce was served next, and I have to admit that when I saw “buro” on the menu, there was some apprehension. Buro will always be that nasty, gruel-y, fermented stuff made out of fish bits, that looks and smells like it’s been buried for a thousand years — a bit too gnarly for my taste. But this sauce was good, like a gravy of the sea. But that other stuff? No, thanks. The meat course that followed was a perfectly cooked Kitayama Wagyu bistek from Umalag Farms, served with six kinds of mushrooms. The earthiness of the mushrooms was a nice contrast in flavor, without overpowering the clean taste of the beef and the rich mash it was served with. Lastly, dessert was a rice cake azuki roll in coconut black sesame latik. Imagine bibingka or another local rice cake rolled up to look like sushi — pretty fun, and tasty to boot.

This is the first time the Laudicos have worked alongside chef Him in the kitchen. They actually prepared the food for Him’s wedding some years ago, and now it seems that things have come full circle with their behind-the-counter collaborative effort.

“When chef Him asked us to do this, we agreed immediately,” says Roland. “Things like this, we’d do in a heartbeat. It’s fun, especially to be able to cook outside of your kitchen, where you work every day. It’s nice to have a change of scenery and work with people who share the same vision. Doing stuff like this is inspiring because you create new dishes. It’s a nice feeling that you did something new and helped people out. It changes up the daily routine, which is good.”

Spanish mackerel kilawin with roasted capsicum ginger mango salsa, organic mesclun and micro greens in yuzu wasabi bagoong dressing topped with grilled squid and prawn

Chef Him is glad that he started Open Kitchen Monday Night at Nomama. He’s able to keep mixing things up, get other people involved, and help others in the process. There can’t be anything more fun than that.

“A lot of the time a restaurant will keep to itself, but for me, I want to open up a little bit and do some work with other chefs. I want to do a dinner that’s fun, where people can enjoy themselves and eat good food, knowing that they are contributing to a good cause.”

* * *

Nomama’s next Open Kitchen Monday Night is scheduled to be on April 16 and will feature The Philippine STAR’s very own chef Stephanie Zubiri.

For scheduling and more information about Nomama, visit nomamaramen.com, check out their Facebook page, facebook.com/nomamaramen, or follow them on Twitter at twitter.com/nomamaramen.  

For more information about the UHappy organization, visit uhappyevents.com

* * *

E-mail me at enricomiguelsubido@gmail.com.