PH Consulate General in Honolulu Celebrates Filipino Food Week

Philippine Consulate General in Honolulu Vice Consul Andrea Christina Q. Caymo (right) together with Marigold Manufacturing Corporation (Mama Sita’s) president Clara Reyes-Lapus, Mariposa manager Duane Kawamoto, and Mariposa executive chef Lawrence Nakamoto at Neiman Marcus during the Restaurant Crawl organized by the Consulate General. (Honolulu PCG photo)

HONOLULU 27 June 2019 — The Philippine Consulate General in Honolulu held the Filipino Food Week (FFW) on 09-15 June 2019, a week-long celebration of Filipino cuisine, where diners can go to participating restaurants in Oahu and Maui to try the Filipino food specials that are offered by different chefs and food establishments.

In Oahu, the following restaurants had at least one Filipino food offering for FFW using coconut as an ingredient: Cafe Julia at YWCA, Chef Chai, Dana's Restaurant & Catering, Eating House 1849 by Roy Yamaguchi, Elena's Home of Finest Filipino Foods, Haleiwa Beach House, Mariposa at Neiman Marcus Ala Moana, Max's Restaurant, Merriman’s Honolulu, Restaurant XO, Stage Restaurant, Tiano's Restaurants, Tiki's Grill & Bar, Won Kee Restaurant, and UBAE.

For Maui, the following restaurants will be participating: Joey's Kitchen, Lineage, Star Noodle, Tante's Island Cuisine, and Tin Roof.

This year’s week-long event saw a diverse mix of restaurants, which includes Hawaii regional cuisine pioneers, award-winning restaurants, Asian fusion/modern local food outfits, alongside local Filipino favorites.

This diversity allowed diners the opportunity to taste and compare the different renditions of Filipino dishes: from progressive interpretation of the cuisine, such as Stage Restaurant adobo arancini and Restaurant XO’s whipped coconut yogurt calamansi gel palapa brioche ; to the more traditional home-style Filipino cooking, which one saw with the offerings of Elena's Home of Finest Filipino Foods with their dessert platter, Tante’s Island Cuisine’s adobo dish, Max's Restaurant’s binakol, bicol express, chicken adobo, and buko pandan, and Cafe Julia’s chicken adobo and pork belly kawali-style.

Joey's Kitchen, Mariposa at Neiman Marcus Ala Moana, and Tin Roof Maui, meanwhile, is adding a little bit of twist to traditional way of cooking the ginataang isda, searing the fish first before putting it in coconut broth. Lineage, a James Beard Semifinalist and winner of Hale ‘Aina Award for Best New Restaurant – Reader’s Choice, is featuring fine dining Filipino food experience in their award-winning restaurant in Maui.

The FFW also sought to highlight the commonality of Filipino food with other cuisines – Won Kee Restaurant will showcase the Chinese influence in Filipino food with their version of suman (sticky rice), pancit (noodles), lumpia and use of common ingredients such as bagoong in their dishes; Merrimans Honolulu ceviche shows how this Latin American dish is similar to the Filipino kinilaw owing to the shared history being former Spanish colonies; Chef Chai, will be featuring Filipino dishes that use ingredients that are common in Southeast Asian cuisine such as tamarind, patis (fermented fish sauce), and curries.

Restaurants such as Tiki's Grill & Bar, UBAE and Eating House 1849 by Roy Yamaguchi will be highlighting coconut, which is the theme for this year, in their dessert. Haleiwa Beach House concocted special cocktail drinks using coconut syrup and water as base, adding in other flavors from the Philippines such as mango, pineapple, and calamansi.

Star Noodle is sending the message that Filipino food can be healthy, with their kinilaw made from fresh local ingredients and their vegan version of halo-halo. Restaurants such as Tiano's Restaurant Kunia and Chef Chai will have meals for sharing, which is typically how one serves dishes in the Philippines. You can also experience dining with your hands, kamayan-style, at Dana's Restaurant & Catering.

The restaurant which was able to sell the highest amount (gross sales) of their Filipino Food specials shall be awarded a round trip ticket to the Philippines for two courtesy of Philippine Airlines, and a culinary tour around the Philippines to learn more about the rich heritage and diversity of Filipino cuisine. A special prize was also given to the restaurant which uses the most number of Mama Sita’s products. 

 The FFW is being spearheaded by the Consulate General, in partnership with a number of government, corporate, media, and community partners. The Philippines’ Department of Tourism will be organizing the culinary tour of the winning restaurant, while the Department of Trade and Industry assisted in connecting the Consulate with Philippine food manufacturers and distributors such as Asian Food Trading Co., Bleeding Heart Rum, East West Marketing Inc., Mama Sita’s, Philippine Food Trade Co., and Seafood City, which provided samples of Filipino food products to participating restaurants.

Philippine Airlines supplied free tickets while LBC Hawaii helped ship the sample food items to participating restaurants in Maui. L&L Hawaiian Barbecue and the Filipino Junior Chamber hosted events to help promote FFW. Orig Media and Photoluxe Event and Services generated video and photo content while TFC – The Filipino Channel, FilAm Courier, and KNDI Radio handled the tri-media promotions.

A number of Filipino community organizations were also involved in promoting the FFW, which included the Bicol Club of Hawaii, Congress of Visayan Organizations, Cebuano Association of Hawaii, FAMES Hawaii, Filipino Association of University Women, Filipino Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, Filipino Junior Chamber, Filipino Young Leaders Program, Philippine Cultural Foundation, and the University of the Philippines Alumni Association of Hawaii.

By organizing the FFW, the Consulate General hopes to generate more awareness and interest among locals and restaurants to try and feature Filipino food. The Food Week is part of a United States-wide effort of the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC and various Consulates General in the U.S. to promote Filipino cuisine and culture, riding on the strengthening of the Filipino Food Movement across the country. END

Vice Consul Andrea Caymo (standing left) with Chef/Owner Kenneth Lee and Chef de Cuisine Harry Ines of Restaurant XO together with members of the Consular Corps of Hawaii and the Alumni of the Filipino Young Leaders Program (FYLPRO). (Honolulu PCG photo)

Ms. Mellissa Cedillo, owner of Elena’s Home of Finest Filipino Foods together with representatives from the Philippine Consulate, Mama Sita’s, East West Marketing, FYLPRO, and the Filipino community. (Honolulu PCG photo)

For more information, visit  https://www.honolulupcg.dfa.gov.ph, https://www.philippineshonolulu.org or https://www.facebook.com/PHinHonolulu/.