Culinary Visions: How Tagaytay Chefs Make Australian Lamb Their Own

Vogue Philippines speaks with four chefs on the creative vision and cultural significance behind their lamb-centric dishes.

This February, culinary practitioners and enthusiasts traveled to Tagaytay for a three-day food crawl that placed one ingredient front and center: Australian lamb. 

Brought together by the “I Love Aussie Lamb” campaign, twelve of the city’s kitchens debuted dishes that feature specific cuts of the meat, showcasing its range across various methods and cuisines. Held on February 16, 18, and 19, each day saw four partner restaurants present their distinct interpretations of the protein, creating a flavorful experience that introduced lamb to the Filipino palette.

This initiative, organized by Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) together with the Australian government, also aims to strengthen connections among chefs through cultural exchange. Three weeks prior, the participating chefs gathered for an intensive course with Master Butcher Kelly Payne, who shared his expertise on the versatile ways to prepare Australian lamb to its full potential. The collaboration highlights how education and creation go hand in hand, which diners can see and taste for themselves until March 16.

“The event is really for the Filipino to discover the exciting ways to use lamb,” says MLA business development manager Byron Sison. “Each stop will have a different story, a different technique.”

To learn more about these original dishes, Vogue Philippines attended the event’s final day and spoke with the renowned chefs behind Farmer’s Table, Textures by Tamayo’s, Asador dos Mestizos, and Anya Resort. Below, each one shares the vision behind their latest contributions to the local food scene.

Lamb Shank Bicol Express by Kalel Chan

Amid cool weather at Farmer’s Table, an al-fresco restaurant that centers fresh and locally grown produce, executive chef Kalel Chan presented a lamb-infused version of the popular Bicolano stew, plated instead with wild rice, cherry tomatoes, grilled pineapple, and ginataang sigarilyas or winged beans simmered in coconut milk. 

The softness of the meat and its intense bone flavor makes shank one of Chan’s favorite cuts. Eager to incorporate the portion in a Filipino dish, he drew from his experience of cooking with coconuts in southeastern Luzon, where he recently opened a hotel and worked with Bicolano chefs. “When I received that part of the lamb, I thought of bringing it back to Bicol,” he says.

Chan adds that Bicol Express aligns with the atmosphere of Farmer’s Table, where beloved forms of Filipino comfort food join family tables, large and small. The creaminess of the dish also pairs with a number of the restaurant’s staples, such as the house-made labneh with fresh herbs for its subtle acidity, and the hothouse cauliflower and broccoli for its sharp ranch flavor.

Confit Lamb Leg with Parmesan Polenta by Christopher Tamayo

Inside the winding grounds of Textures by Tamayo’s, a restaurant that was once the family home of chef Christopher Tamayo, a five-course menu led to a thoughtfully-plated boneless lamb leg. This was served with a creamy mix of parmesan, butter, and cornmeal, and dressed in gremolata, lamb oil, and perilla and tarragon, herbs which are both grown onsite.

This entrée was created with Tamayo’s emphasis on using humble ingredients through a ‘less is more’ approach. “Here at Textures, we always talk about respecting the natural taste of ingredients,” he remarks. To highlight the quality of the meat, the leg was seared with salt and pepper, cooked in its own fat, hard seared again, and paired with lamb jus reduction.

To wake the palette, the dish was preceded by a shot of corn and fennel soup (a pre-game snack that Tamayo used to make as a chef for the NBA), prosciutto pommes dauphine or crispy potato puffs, and a smoked cabbage sprinkled with brown butter, cheese, and strips of fried cabbage, a creative solution to reduce food waste. From rich, firm lamb to slices of fluffy ube cake, Textures invites diners to see how pared-down dishes can still be flavor-forward.

Slow-Braised Lamb Shank and Lamb Paella by Monique Escalona

As the sun came out above Asador dos Mestizos, a Spanish-Filipino restaurant now headed by chef Monique Escalona, guests were welcomed with sangria and a Caviteño summer salad, which was made with watermelon, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, red onions, and parsley atop a base of whipped feta and sautéed Australian lamb. 

The fresh yet smoky appetizer provided a teaser for the main course: a slow-braised lamb shank with mushroom spinach rice, joined by a lamb mushroom paella made with the same cut deboned. Escalona shares that the dishes’ earthy notes, complimented by extra virgin olive oil and pimentón, formed her technique for bringing out “the real flavor of the lamb.” 

“Lamb is really my favorite meat. I have a history with lamb,” she shares, recalling a cream-based lamb and rice meal she tasted as a child. Since her travels have brought her from Spain to Palawan and now Tagaytay, she expresses that love through spins on Spanish classics, in which she aims to evoke a “rustic flavor” reminiscent of the Philippine countryside.

Lamb Top-round Fabada, Lamb Riblets, and More by Mikel Arriet and Chris Leaning

Within the fine-dining establishment Samira at Anya Resort, general manager and chef Mikel Arriet introduced a five-course meal of which four dishes incorporated Australian lamb. 

As a starter, Arriet’s thin slices of charcoal grilled lamb eye were served on tapioca and cheese crackers topped with baba ganoush and a lemongrass onion chili dressing. Also utilizing a cut from the leg, Leaning’s Spanish fabada featured a slow-cooked lamb top-round enriched with red wine; this came with spinach, white beans, carrots, onion leeks, and garlic.

The entrées took inspiration from their backgrounds with Mediterranean and Levantine cuisines: Arriet’s oven-roasted lamb shank braised with wine and paired with local vegetables and olive confit potatoes, and Leaning’s slow-cooked lamb riblets marinated with cumin and Arabic spices, plated with cous cous and a blue cheese pistachio and apricot dip.

To create this menu, the two chefs focused on balance and a sense of belonging. They sought to explore ways to relieve the heaviness of lamb while keeping its profile intact, and ways to deepen its relationship to the meal, the diners, and the chefs themselves. 

As the day ended with homemade latik ice cream, the event served as a reminder of both the featured ingredient’s versatility and that of the Filipino gastronomic scene, where even unfamiliar dishes have a place at the table.