At Offbeat Bistro, Filipino Food's Delicious Past Meets Its Playful, Imaginative Future

Offbeat Bistro
Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati Avenue, Makati City
Contact: 0995-639-3672
Instagram: www.instagram.com/offbeatbistroph 
Open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m., Monday to Saturday

(SPOT.ph) A name like Offbeat makes for a striking impression. It’s an especially unexpected, unorthodox choice for a Filipino restaurant. But owners Angelo Comsti and Don Baldosano seem intent on setting clear expectations: this isn’t going to be like your typical Filipino restaurant. Or like any other Filipino restaurant for that matter.

“We wanted, firstly, a non-Filipino word... We wanted something different," Baldosano tells SPOT.ph. "Then we chose Offbeat because as people we're not your usual kind," he jokes with a shy laugh. "And it represents us and the food that we want to make."

When it comes to Filipino cuisine, these two men know their game, and have demonstrated their vast knowledge of it in different fields. Baldosano is the young chef heading the food side of things at natural wine bar Bombvinos Bodega, and his very own private-dining venture Linamnam is the reason serious diners go all the way to Parañaque just to eat. In both establishments, he goes for playful interpretations of Filipino food. Comsti, meanwhile, has authored cookbooks on Filipino culinary traditions—most recently Also Filipino: 75 Regional Dishes I Never Had Growing Up (published 2019), which is all about lesser-known regional fare around the Philippines. He also writes for Esquire Philippines, Tatler, and Inquirer Lifestyle, and was former editor of F&B Report.

The two like taking out-of-town trips, individually and together, to study traditional cooking processes, techniques, and ingredients—which allows them to learn more about the cultures and ways of eating in different parts of the Philippines.

They have been friends for many years, and the idea of opening Offbeat is a product of one of their many Sunday drinking sessions. “The idea was basically to put up a new kind of Filipino restaurant… one that you couldn't really see anywhere in the Metro,” says Baldosano. It was all just talk at first, this idea of coming up with "a modern retro Filipino" dining spot. "Then slowly and surely it just became something more, which is this now." 

Also read: Sleeping Beauty Awakes: Filipino Cuisine, Bourdain, Ramsay, and Us

Offbeat Bistro at Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati

"Modern retro" might sound like a contradiction but we see it work very clearly in the restaurant’s interiors. A bright cherry red dominates the walls as well as the unique coffered ceiling, with the overall look evoking a futuristic disco-meets-American diner situation. Then you see the occasional Filipino elements: on the shelves behind the bar are papier mache figures from Paete; and on one wall, a pair of upsized cerulean spoon and fork—a cool wink to the iconic dining room decors in the Philippines, and a nod to the Filipino way of eating.

As for the food, Comsti and Baldosano sought to take a cue from history—that is, by spotlighting nostalgic Filipino favorites that are relatively obscure, forgotten, or otherwise hard to come by in Manila. “We wanted to offer dishes that are old-school, in a way, like dishes from the '60s to the '90s,” says Baldosano. Comsti adds: “It's nostalgic; it's regional. It's dishes we grew up with.” This way, Offbeat clearly functions as an outlet for the extensive research they’ve both done on Filipino cuisine over the years.

Rather than replicate the regional dishes and throwback treats to a T, the two chefs make the food at Offbeat their very own by incorporating more experimental and current twists. Do they find it easy finding the balance between old and new? “I think because I research a lot—Angelo researches a lot as well—there's always this check and balance of creativity and serving something that’s truly Filipino,” Baldosano tells us. “If you have the knowledge and you research a lot, the balance comes with it already. You don't even have to think about it too much.”

Needless to say, Baldosano collaborated closely with Comsti in coming up with the dishes for Offbeat, first drafting their ideas individually at home, then presenting it to each other and the other in-house chefs, exchanging thoughts and suggestions as needed, and refining things from there. 

The result is a thoughtfully curated menu that will please diners always ready for a bit of surprise. For starters, Offbeat pays tribute to a dish from Rizal in the Monghe (P460), which is interpreted here as a breaded, deep-fried cube of minced pork and cheese, plus egg jam on top and tangy toyomansi cream underneath. The Lumpiang Kulawo (P320) is kulawong talong (usually an ensalada of charred eggplant in a coconut-cream dressing) reimagined with a filling of burnt eggplant, beansprouts, and sayote inside crispy fried spring rolls, plus a dip of emulsified coconut vinegar. Their take on good ol’ cheese pimiento, the Pimiento Dip (P370), comes in a lighter dip of roasted red bell peppers, sour cream, and cream cheese, then served with double fried potatoes that are essentially your favorite pizzeria mojos but tinier.

In the Bibingka (P530), we see Offbeat being offbeat because, first, it's not listed under the the dessert or merienda sections of the menu, but among the appetizers. This fresh interpretation of the Simbang Gabi favorite goes for a more savory-centric flavor profile with toppings of shrimp, smoked queso de bola, puffed rice, cured yolk, and salted egg. The Ginataang Pansit (P370) is another fun entry that brings to mind a vongole pasta dish but given a rustic Filipino spin—in it is a mix of fresh, house-made burnt coconut noodles and pancit bato cooked in coconut milk. It has clams, too, and a chili-garlic coco sauce that brings a touch of heat and pungency to the party.

As Offbeat is also a place for drinks, the cocktails are just as well-thought-of—as imaginative as the food and nothing short of whimsical. The Icy Gems (P420) is a blushing beverage with a mix of gin, Marie Biscuit in syrup form (!), soda water, and beetroot foam topped with Iced Gems; the Marang Spritz (P420) highlights the tropical taste of Mindanao's marang fruit but spiked with gin, lemon, and soda water.

There are unexpected mashups that make for fun results: Pesang Baboy (P650) applies the pesa cooking method typically used for fish to pork belly. The meat here is cooked in a light ginger broth, given a spread of caramelized miso on top, and topped with pork fat seared pechay and kamote leaves. Fried Chicken Inasal (P650) is much more than the sum of its parts; past its crackly-crisp, tanglad chili-oil tinged skin is a juicy interior of chicken marinated in vinegar and lemongrass. (Do give it a swipe into the toyomansi cream it’s served with). 

Offbeat also shows us how subtle upgrades can make for sublime results. The use of hoja santa leaves from Bacolod to wrap the fish in the Pompano Pinangat (P900) makes for a subtly minty, anise-y bite—an elegant, vegetal enhancement to the clean-tasting pompano and its sidekick sauce of tapioca, clam juice, and creamy coconut milk. Tutong na Bringhe (P230) adds textural interest to the “Kapampangan paella” known as bringhe, seemingly taking a page from Persian tahdig with its whole outer crust of tutong i.e. the crisp, toasty rice bits that usually form at the bottom of the pan.

The addition of savory enhancements to all-time favorite bakes make for especially memorable desserts at Offbeat. There’s the Lemon Square (P350) that comes with an icy scoop of lemongrass granita, and a squiggle of patis caramel that brings out the citrusy tang on the pastry. And in the Mamon Tres Leches (P380), a buttery round of sponge cake is given a coconut-corn-kaffir soak before being zuzhed up with said patis caramel and a cereal crumble.

There is, in this day and age, what looks to be a growing interest in Filipino cuisine beyond its popular iterations—happy news, if we may say so. This involves going two seemingly opposite directions: going back, as in learning more about the history and rich heritage of our Filipino forefathers; and going forward, as in exploring all that is possible within and beyond the cuisine. Offbeat navigates going both directions with its embrace of nostalgia, creative display of unconventional flavors, and willingness to venture beyond the familiar. In so doing, Comsti and Baldosano show how the past, present, and future can be woven together to create a winner.

Photos by Majoy Siason