Hapag's New "Greatest Hits" Menu Is a Fitting Finale to Their QC Chapter

(SPOT.ph) For a small, semi-hidden eatery located along Katipunan Avenue—an area more popular among students than with the stereotypical dining maven—Hapag has made one beautiful mark. The Filipino spot opened in 2019 (though they've been doing private dinners since 2017), crafting tasting menus that reimagined Filipino flavors as contemporary and creative plates—and even gaining global recognition along the way. Notably, they’ve demonstrated how Filipino cuisine go novel without becoming foreign, and experimental without coming across as snooty—both realms where finding the balance between extremes can be tricky.

Amazingly, it’s been a rollercoaster of some four-and-a-half years since. The team is set to move out of their original home later this year to mark their new chapter in a new location in Rockwell—but not before going out with a bang, i.e., a new degustation that honors their journey thus far.

Also read:  
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Hapag's Pop-Up in Rockwell Is a Warm Invite Into the Filipino Home

Take a look at the Greatest Hits menu of Hapag:

Hapag’s new tasting menu is dubbed their Greatest Hits for the reason that it does, well, feature its namesake. That is, the menu is made up of some of the standout dishes they’ve come up with over the years, though Chef Kevin Navoa shares these are tweaked “version two”’s from their original counterparts.

“Initially the [question] was, ‘How are we going to celebrate the past 4 and a half years of the restaurant before we move?’—parang it would be a shame if we didnt do something to commemorate the space that has been so nice and has taken care of us through all the ups and downs,” the chef (who's joined by Chef Thirdy Dolatre and the rest of team at the restaurant) shares in an exchange with SPOT.ph. “The idea was to make it feel like it’ll be the last menu of the space, before Hapag moves. So for us to do that, we decided to go for the best of the best of all the menus we’ve had."

This includes their own personal favorites; favorites from their Family Meal line of delivery meals from the pandemic days; their recent ayá pop-up; and “all the menus we have created in between.” The lineup is materialized in the form of a CD—disc, case, booklet, label (which also has the menu printed at the back!) and all—taking after their love of music and OPM. “[Especially The] Eraserheads and how they have a Greatest Hits album and just like all great bands,” Navoa explains.

The booklets lists everyone who’s “helped the restaurant progress”: “all the staff, interns, stagiaires that has come through our doors are mentioned. We also indicated all our local farmers and suppliers… [even] suppliers, and our guests. We even added a very cheesy montage of videos from all the past and present team members videos’ from their personal phones,” he explains. “This is paying respect to everyone.”

Hapag’s primarily gained traction for their food, which delves into Filipino cuisine, explores it, and remixes it while embracing its roots. While there are a number of restaurants taking on the modern-Filipino genre today—not that this should be seen as a competition in the first place—Hapag in particular maintains a hominess that doesn’t feel out of place. 

Occasionally they’d thrust relatively obscure local ingredients into the spotlight—bihod (fish roe), kadyos (pigeon peas), heirloom black rice, and so on. In the Pan de Kalinga that opens the meal, for example, fermented black rice makes its way onto their sourdough that’s perfectly crackly outside and moist yet substantial inside—superb on its own, or with slathers of their Davao dark honey butter and sweet potato halaya.

The Snackbox presents five “snacks” that take after past hits, gone bite-sized. Pork Warek-Warek fills sturdy yet crisp tart shells, while the Crispy Chicken Inasal Cracker delivers its namesake’s piquancy by way of a creamy chicken-lemongrass-sambal filling. Sweet retreat comes by way of the Soy Caramel Kutsinta—picture the kakanin gone smaller in size but exponentially more complex (thanks to their own kadyos soy sauce) and melt-in-the-mouth (we’re willing to wager there’s a significant amount of butter and/or coconut cream there). The chimichurri-topped Pares Toast brings us back to savory land, and the Keso + Kabute Tart with a fermented cashew-miso mousse (as the “cheese”) and smoked mushroom confit concludes things beautifully.

It was at Hapag that we saw familiar viands reworked in ways that expanded our horizons, yet maintained their core flavors. Kinilaw gets a subtle (and welcome) burst of sweetness with grilled watermelon in the Kinilaw na Tuna sa Pakwan, which also stars pickled cucumbers, onions, and succulent cubes of tuna in a zingy citrus dressing. On the richer end of the spectrum is their Laing Stones—where the stew of taro leaves and gata make for a creamy filling within crisp-exteriored croquettes that resemble small stones, served in a pot with edible “soil” and “leaves.”

Hapag makes use of fermentation like many contemporary Filipino spots do, but go subtle in intensity. Their homemade buro, for example, makes for a hint of depth in the Sugpo at Buro—essentially grilled prawns blanketed by a buro sauce—without taking away from the smokiness of the seafood. Similarly giving great-quality local seafood the main-character role is the Uni Arroz Caldo, which uses adlai and gets its creaminess, hint of brininess, and golden color from fresh sea urchin from Quezon. Kinaskas—kaskas meaning “scratching” or “grating,” referring to the shaved ice in the rose granita in the vessel right in front of us—serves as a palate cleanser before we arrive at our mains.

In true Hapag fashion, the Filipino notion of celebration—with its colors, bold flavors, and abundance—doesn’t get lost in their Hapag-ized translation. The Salu Salo well exemplifies this. This main course isn’t just a course but a mini-fiesta, really, where you can mix and match among three viands: Katipunan Express, or 48-hour slow-cooked pork belly with a glossy tocino glaze; Tanigue sa Miso, featuring a wad of the fish that’s aged five days for a meatier texture plus an umami-rich sauce of their kadyos miso; and Kare Kare, starring slices of smoked beef and a subtly sweet cashew kare-kare sauce. In between these deeply savory spoonfuls, you can revitalize your taste buds with relishes of Poqui Poqui (essentially eggplant salad) and Mango Ensalada. And, yes, there’s rice—arguably no Filipino meal’s complete without it, after all.

Desserts are (happily) aplenty, much to the joy of our (very Filipino) sweet tooth. Yet they allow their playfulness to shine even in the sweet realm: think Strawberry Taho with Auro white chocolate in its soy component as well as red-wine arnibal; Ginanggang, a banana bread-ified take on the Cebuano grilled-banana merienda with banana bread miso and patis salted caramel; warm Kababayan infused with katmon (elephant apple); pumpkin-seed miso buttercream-filled Miso Sylvanas that perfectly juggles creamy and crisp; and the savory-sweet Champorado at Tuyo turned into a truffle.

​​Hapag, Navoa shares, will be in Katipunan until around late October to early November (“if all goes well with construction”) before heading to Rockwell’s Balmori Suites, ideally by “mid November.” “The idea of moving Hapag was to basically rethink everything. We plan to reinvent Hapag as a restaurant. We hope to show our guests the evolution of what Hapag is really supposed to be. Refined service, refined menu, and basically a different approach to what we do but with still the same enthusiasm and fun!”

Busy as the team is in refining upcoming plans, it seems they’ve taken a page from our own Jose Rizal, looking back to their roots and honoring the flavors, dishes, and people that joined them in the journey. That in itself gives us an inkling that they’ve got a bright future coming.

Hapag is at 201 Katipunan Avenue, Project 4, Quezon City. For more information, check out Hapag MNL's Facebook page.

UPDATE (September 28, 11:12 p.m.): The original published blurb mistakenly stated that Hapag opened in 2018. This has been corrected.

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