I love to tell stories out of my cooking: Chef Dabo

Immersed in pakikipag-kapwa - the humaneness of the soul - typified by the public servant patriarch combined with the matriarch’s gastronome-cum-business acumen, a millennial from Tanauan in the Southern Luzon Province of Batangas, has put Filipino cuisine in another spectrum.

- Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

Take the case of Biko, among the numerous boiled-in-coconut milk glutinous rice snacks or dessert, topped with light to heavy latik (caramelised coconut residue and curds), now an ice cream courtesy of David Jezreel ‘‘Chef Dabo’’ Lizardo Pamplona. Pamplona landed in Dubai during the Holy Month of Ramadan of 2012 and upon seeing a small cafeteria somewhere in Jumeirah, he spoke unto himself about owning one too, some day.

‘‘If you can overthink the worst, you can overthink the best,’’ said the Hotel and Restaurant Management graduate, while explaining how he conceived of the ‘‘vegan’’ Biko Ice Cream, he was already drizzling with coconut crumble — there were other toppings available — from one of the wooden tables of the Naimas Café & Bistro.