Filipino Fiesta Plate at Encore Restaurant and Jazz Lounge

Armi Grano, owner of Encore Restaurant, is a Certified General Accountant. A numbers gal – left brain, but certainly not stuffy. She’s also an accomplished jazz vocalist – right brain, and is definitely creative. In fact, Armi is a mover and a shaker. A real go-getter. And she’s doing it again…she’s moving things around and shaking them up.

Reserve at Encore, Thursday and Friday, May 20 and 21

Born in the Philippines, Armi is an enthusiast for her home country’s cuisine, and wishes everyone had the opportunity to discover its unique flavours. In that light, she’s introducing some traditional dishes of the Philippines at Encore as a special tasting event. “Maybe some lumpia spring rolls, pancit or rice vermicelli, chicken adobo, rice and the ever popular BBQ pork skewers.”

Armi takes pride in creating her dishes, using authentic seasoning combinations. “You really have to grow up into it, like (using) your grandmother’s recipe. I don’t have an exact recipe, I just taste as I cook.”

Asian food is very complex with different layers of flavours and spices. Armi explained why it’s hard to make authentic Asian food when you didn’t grow up with that type of cooking. “Some people don’t understand the combination, or why we use certain spices like bay leaves with vinegar and soy sauce in Filipino adobo? Why do you put fish sauce and some sugar? Most of these spices are used to preserve the dish for days. In the olden days, there was no refrigeration so they would preserve their meat and seafood with salt and spices. They would hang the pot of adobo from the ceiling so the cat or dog can’t get into it. I remember, if you leave it on the table, it’s gone!”

We asked if it is difficult to find special ingredients here. Armi says not, and explained, “We have a proliferation of Asian restaurants (around the Bay). There is an Asian food distributor in the area and they supply most restaurants with their ever growing inventory.”

Armi has an excellent grasp of Asian cuisine due to her travels while touring, and her love of cooking and sharing with family and friends. “The Filipino food is a combination of not just different Asian cuisines but also Spanish and American cuisine. Before the Spaniards came in the 1500s, Philippines was an active trader with its neighbouring countries. Because of its geographical location, most countries like India, China, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia would come to Manila to trade their goods. Philippines was considered neutral, so trade can be done freely among countries with tense relations. All these different countries have contributed to the development of Filipino cuisine which include curries, hot and sour soups, spring rolls, stirfry, noodles in soup, congee and rice as the staple. We were colonized by Spain for over 300 years, thus we have mechado, caldereta, morcon, embutido, paella; and then, the Americans came later.”

Armi described her experience as a young woman while in Japan, 1977. “I never liked sushi in Japan when I was there but I eat them now. The Tokyo train station is so huge and people are always so busy to even sit down and eat. So, they have soba stands and they just stand and eat while waiting for their train. Soba can be eaten hot or cold soba (with two sauces where you dip the noodles). Soba is made from buckwheat noodles and different from ramen noodles. It can be cooked as a stir-fry or with clear broth, with toppings like dried mushrooms, candied radish, nori, fish balls, and some other protein like chicken. Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia offered lots of spicy dishes. Hong Kong’s cuisine is totally different. In the Philippines, there are all kinds of Chinese restaurants with different styles; Hong Kong style, Cantonese, Mandarin, and some are muy picante.”

She feels Filipino dishes are always underrated, and wonders, “How come Filipino food can’t go mainstream? Every year the chefs in New York or L.A. predict that Filipino food will make it big time in the mainstream restaurant scene. They elevate and deconstruct the dishes to be worthy of this claim.” Armi described in detail some recipes and how flavours meld. “Sisig is made of crispy pork belly or the crunchy parts of a pig’s head, boiled and fried crispy then tossed with soya, lemon, chilis, garlic, onions and other spices and in the end you crack a whole egg on top.  It was Anthony Bourdain’s favourite food when he visited Manila. He declared that, bar none, it is the quintessential Filipino dish.

Well, Armi, it just may be that Filipino cuisine finally makes its mainstream explosion in 2021, starting with you, right here in Bucerias!

Those readers that follow us will know we don’t just advertise an event – we like to dig a little deeper to tell a story of our fellow Bucerians. Here’s what we learned:

Armi and John make themselves at home in Vancouver and Bucerias. They met in 1987, when John was vacationing in the Philippines. He saw Armi on stage, singing like an angel, and he felt compelled to follow up with dinner and two dozen red roses. She described, “He wined and dined me in all the nice places and he found out that I love Wendy’s and Pizza Hut Meat Lovers, he thought he found his ideal date! Those were the days when American fast food joints were starting to influence the taste of Filipinos.”

Armi has recorded four albums, the second one in Bucerias in 2001, “Latin Color,” while she was recovering from breast cancer. Remarkably, she speaks and sings in six languages; Spanish, English, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, and Filipino.

I know we’ll see you next week at Armi’s Filipino Fiesta Plate party.

Encore Restaurant and Jazz Lounge is located at No. 51 Lazaro Cardenas, Zona Dorada, Bucerias. Telephone for reservations: 329 298 0140

Summer Hours: 9:00am to 4:00pm – Closed Tuesdays

Find more about Armi here: http://armigrano.com