From screen to stomach: Food content creator opens restaurant

MARTIN NARISMA, best known for his work as food editor with The Fat Kid Inside Studio’s Featr channel, opened a restaurant earlier this year. If you find yourself trying to reach in through the screen to taste what he makes on YouTube and Instagram, his Quezon City restaurant — Gacha by High Table — gives you a chance.

- MARTIN NARISMA

The thing is though, the menu, crafted by him, is highly personal: it goes beyond social media fanfare and uses simple dishes to tell a story about someone.

MAMA’S SUKIYAKI — SORT OF

When we sat down to a tasting on Aug. 9, as a fan of soup, the Socorro caught our eye. It is a dashi broth reduction, glass noodles, egg, beef, tofu, mushrooms and vegetables — much like a sukiyaki, with a few modifications. This dish was named after his mother (a newspaper editor). “She's not the best cook in the world, but she can make a good sukiyaki,” said Mr. Narisma (he did say he didn’t add her more radical modifications though). “This is my tribute to my mom,” he said. The movement of katsub-oshi flakes on top made for a tantalizing dish, but we were pleased to find out that the dish itself is a milder, more mellow version of its Japanese version.

Another dish is the Lumen, named after his paternal grandmother. His father really liked nilaga (a soup made of boiled beef), and due to a history of heart disease in the family, a lot of the dishes from his grandmother's kitchen were boiled or stewed.