On this episode we chat with Chef Budgie Montoya, who envisioned and brought to life Sarap and Apoy - two uniquely Filipino restaurants in the heart of London, UK. I caught up with Budgie on his last few weeks in El Nido, Palawan, where he’s started work on his next project - a visiting guest chef program linking cooks and local food producers with the tourist market in El Nido. We talk lots about other things that overlap in our diasporic worlds, too!
Show notes
03:10 About Budgie
04:30 Getting to El Nido
06:20 Kitchen takeover
08:50 Local realities
11:30 Sourcing duck
14:40 Food tour dreams
15:50 Ebb and flow of the islands
17:10 Online maps
20:10 Diasporic returns
22:00 Food and detachment
23:50 Rediscovering your way
27:00 Gastronomically Filipino
28:30 Cooking through memory and experience
30:20 Current state in the UK
31:30 Fine dining background
36:30 Identity and food journeys
40:40 Mindanao and Indonesian cuisine
44:10 Guest chef program
Links
Follow Budgie on Instagram