INTRODUCING AUDY AND JASON: Filipino Chefs Hone Skills on Western Cuisine

INTRODUCING AUDY AND JASON: Filipino Chefs Hone Skills on Western Cuisine

Two Filipino chefs now cater to the food needs of discriminating residents at Tapestry, the five-star retirement residence in Wesbrook Village, the master planned community within the Point Grey UBC Campus. Opened in 2010, Tapestry now has more than 150 residents from all over Canada living in well-appointed suites. Offering services at the same level as a five-star hotel, the retirement facility boasts of a restaurant that serves a wide variety of healthful Western type foods – Italian, French, Mediterranean  and North American.

Tapestry chefs Audy Oreiro, 36, and Jason Pablo, 26, are the cooks that not only prepare the food for residents but also serve as the star features in an open kitchen where patrons see what and how they are cooking.  Unlike cooks in most restaurants who work unseen in backroom kitchens, they perform like celebrity chefs in a well equipped open kitchen in full view of diners who often come up to them to praise or comment on their creations.  Diners not only get delicious, healthful and artistically presented dishes, they also enjoy Food Network-like cooking entertainment.  Every mealtime at the Tapestry Restaurant is show time.

Whether they are grilling steaks to perfection, flambé-ing sambuca prawns or crisping fish and chips with flair, Audy and Jason  show culinary skills honed through cooking courses they had taken and lessons learned from years of working in other Vancouver restaurants under the tutelage of accomplished chefs.  Together with Tapestry Executive Chef Shaughn Halls and Sous Chef Jay Tinkler,  they do their best to meet the expectations of a select and demanding  clientele at Tapestry where the residents’ daily life is likened to that on a luxury cruise ship.

Audy says that he never thought of becoming a chef when he came to Canada in 2006. He actually graduated with a bachelors’ degree in computer engineering from De la Salle University and he and his wife, also a computer specialist, ran their own small company that provided IT services to local businesses in Batangas.

“I tell my friends that I have  now moved from computer engineering to kawali (frying pan) engineering,” he jokes.

Audy and his wife decided to move to Canada as skilled immigrants motivated by a better future for their two young daughters. In Vancouver, however, they found it difficult to find jobs in their technical fields without going back to school to upgrade their credentials. However, they were readily accepted at Facility Staffing Resources, an organization that provides health, dietary and other services to home-bound people.

At FSR, Audy learned to cook and finding that he enjoyed it, he decided to take culinary courses at Vancouver Community College. With a Food Safe Level I certificate, he was hired as a cook at Java Jazz Cafe and Bistro and The Met in downtown New Westminster. He considered himself fortunate to work with seasoned Western chefs who mentored him and shared their culinary expertise with him. Ever looking for opportunities to expand his cooking experience, he applied and was hired in 2010 at the newly opened Tapestry retirement facility in Vancouver where he now has risen to the position of Chef de Partie (Headline Chef). He cooks for breakfast and lunch at Tapestry.

Jason, who cooks for  dinners at the Tapestry Restaurant, is easily recognized by his tattoo-covered arms, just like some celebrity cooks on TV. He arrived in Vancouver in 2007, aged 17 and a fresh high school graduate from Manila. He was sponsored by his father, Carlito Pablo, a journalist for The Georgia Straight. McDonald’s was hiring students that summer so young Jason easily landed his first job in Canada as part of a Grill Team Crew. Since he enjoyed cooking in the Philippines and learning from his Grandmother who loved preparing Filipino and Chinese dishes, he quickly gravitated to cooking.

Realizing he has a bright future in the culinary arts, Jason took courses at Vancouver Community College. Afterwards, he built up his cooking skills by taking a Food Safe Level 1 Course and a Professional Cook apprenticeship program at the Industry Training Activity (ITA). From there he worked as a cook at Cactus Club Cafe, as lead cook at Aoyama Cafe, and as Sous Chef at Bistrot Bistro. In 2011, he answered a Craig’s List ad for a cook and was hired at Tapestry.

Both Audy and Jason dream of setting up their own restaurant in Canada some day. However, they are keenly aware that this will not be easy. They would love to open a Filipino restaurant although their work experience, so far, has been focused on Western cuisine.

“Filipino cuisine is not that well known in Canada,” says Jason, who notes that Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese dishes are more popular.” He believes that for a Filipino restaurant to succeed, a chef must be creative and serve a fusion of Asian and Western dishes adapted to Filipino tastes.

Audy has studied restaurant ventures by Filipinos in Vancouver. “Many have failed,” he observed. “Most of them have been small turo-turo eateries and they catered mainly to Filipinos.” He also says that a high-end Filipino restaurant would require large capital inputs. “I estimate that if one finances a good Filipino restaurant, it may take two or three years before it becomes financially viable,” he says. Still, he believes that given savvy investors and good cooks, a good Filipino restaurant will succeed in Vancouver if it caters to the  greater population.

Like most of the 900,000 or so Filipinos in Canada, Audy and Jason see a bright future in their new home. They believe that the knowledge and skills they are developing in culinary arts will serve them well in this country. At the same time, they are keenly aware of their cultural roots and look forward to making the rich variety of Philippine cuisine better known to Canadians.