MANILLE AT BRUTAL BY WADOUGHS: A FINE FUSION OF FILIPINO AND FRENCH FLAVORS

For dedicated foodies, you can't pick a better place to live in (or visit) than Quezon City with its treasure trove of gastronomic gems.

- VICKY VELOSO-BARRERA

The sheer size of this city, compared to others in the metro, already gives it an edge—and so does the appetite of its denizens for setting up and seeking out all kinds of foodie destinations.

In sprawling Quezon City, fine restaurants can pop up where you least expect them. It was typical to receive an invite from a restaurant called Brutal by Wadoughs near the Welcome Rotonda, just a 20-minute drive from my place but not near any of the streets that harbor clusters of great eateries. Brutal refers to the brutalist architecture of the structure and interiors. Wadoughs is a play on chef owner Wado Tan Siman's name. He is a QC kid who grew up with a mom who ran a food business in this very spot.

We were invited to experience Manille (that's French for Manila), a four-hands dinner combining the culinary skills of chef Wado and chef Jeffrey Le Bon. They represent two completely different cuisines, namely, Filipino and French. Considering that Filipino food is already a literal halo-halo of varied influences, from Chinese to Spanish to American, this was a concept to consider more thoughtfully.