This is the age of collabs (collaborations) among chefs. No, they do not really partner with each other in launching concept restaurants. Their collabs are more of a special dinner, where they work around an idea or theme, and then each of the collaborators come up with a dish or two to make up a full course, with two or more of the chefs sometimes working on certain dishes together. Such collabs are usually put together for a charitable cause, so they go for a premium price per head. Precisely because they are for a good cause, such collabs get full support from fellow chefs, the F&B world, and food lovers, in general.
Collabs among chefs are also called Four Hands or Six Hands Dinner, depending on how many chefs are involved in the collab.
The latest, most exciting and most anticipated collab among celebrity chefs is called “Range,” and it is happening this weekend, specifically on Friday, 7 July. A collab among chefs Jayjay SyCip of The Fatted Calf, Rhea Castro SyCip of Flour Pot Manila and Waya Araos Wijangco of Gourmet Gypsy, it is like a North-and-South affair since the SyCips are based in Tagaytay and chef Waya’s restaurant is located in Baguio.
The SyCips have long been collaborating on menus and events. It’s always been a perfect match between a chef and a pastry chef. But this is the first time that they are going to work with chef Waya. The idea came to chef Rhea when she was listening to an online conference with Chefs Jayjay and Waya serving as lead resource persons on the relationship of chefs and farmers.
“They were so in sync that, at one point, they sounded like they were from the same restaurant. After the Zoom conference, I threw the idea to Jayjay to invite chef Waya to Tagaytay so we could cook together,” says chef Rhea.
Chef Jayjay adds: “It felt so nice and so right that chef Waya and I had the same love for the farmers and what we do in terms of doing our best to support local small family farms.”
From there, the idea of the three of them doing a collab dinner at The Fatted Calf took flight. The idea is to bring in some produce from North to South to help some of their regular farmer suppliers get to sell their produce without middlemen, make something special out of these produce, and channel a part of their sales back to the farmers. The intention is also to show that local produce can stand on its own, that it should be elevated and celebrated.
Chefs Jayjay and Waya will be working on their own dishes while collaborating on some courses, too, with dessert entrusted completely to Chef Rhea. They shall be focusing on the ingredients on hand to bring out the best in them.
What’s also great about this collab is that the chefs do not only bring their produce to the kitchen on collab day. They also bring some farmers to the venue to experience the event and to meet farmers from the other side of Manila as well.
“Range,” a one-night only special collab dinner, takes place at the new home of The Fatted Calf along Tagaytay-Nasugbu Highway, Barangay Neogan, Tagaytay City. The seven-course dinner is priced at P3,950, inclusive of cocktails, wine and coffee. 1834 Gin by Ginebra San Miguel will be serving pre-dinner craft cocktails from master mixologist Lennon Aguilar, and Moet and Hennessy will be providing wines for the evening. The 80-seater event is also sponsored by Choma Hospitality, who will be housing guest chefs at Quest Hotel Tagaytay. For reservations, call 0917-7892352 or 0977-6437477.