WHEN FAT CAT & EL GATO TRADED PLACES WITH OFFBEAT

Most collaborations in Manila’s dining scene stick to safe territory.

- BEA TRINIDAD

Two bars team up, two restaurants share a menu, and everyone posts about it. Rinse and repeat.

Last Oct. 3 and 4, Fat Cat, El Gato, and Offbeat asked a different question: What happens when you stop thinking inside the box of what a collaboration should be? I was able to visit the first night.

The answer: The kitchen team turned cocktails into courses. The bar team turned dinner into drinks. For two nights at Offbeat restaurant in The Shops Ayala Triangle Gardens, nothing was what it was supposed to be.

“It’s a bit like Freaky Friday,” said Angelo Comsti, chef and owner of Offbeat. He’s been working in the food and beverage industry long enough to spot the difference between a stunt and an actual creative challenge. This was the latter, a complete swap that required both teams to work in a language they don’t usually speak.

The first plate that arrives is The Fool. It’s a croquette, but not any croquette you’ve had. Inside is shredded chicken inasal mixed with mashed potato with sinamak sauce, spring onion oil, anatto oil and powder, and onion powder. It’s named after a Fat Cat cocktail, but it tastes like a memory of every Ilonggo meal you've loved.

Chefs Jules Cercenia, Denise Banga, and Anthony Jandusay weren’t just copying flavors from a drink recipe. They were asking: What does this cocktail want to be if it had to feed someone?

The Tower comes next. The original cocktail has smoky notes and is made of orange and gochujang. The dish is inihaw na baboy with smoked orange humba sauce (usually made with pineapple, here swapped for citrus), muscovado gastrique, tausi fried rice, fried banana blossoms, and gochujang oil.