Pat Go: The story of an heir as a spare
I like Pat Go. There is something endearing about this boy-next-door chef. I joined him one rainy afternoon at the Grid at Rockwell, where he was checking on his very popular Korean spot Gochugang for a catch-up. I became reacquainted with Pat when he did his residency at Balmori, Rockwell’s bastion for visiting culinary talents. His menu then was home-styled Asian, nothing complicated, wholesome in fact without the fuss. Go is unfettered when I tell him he’s unappreciated.
That sums up the demeanor of this business major-turned-culinary consultant for the Tasteless Group—Charles Paw’s empire for food concepts, just like Gochugang, and the Grid itself. At 36, he has had his own journey amongst Manila’s kitchens. Go trained under Norbert Gandler, who runs ISCAHM, The International School for Culinary Arts and Hotel Management. Gandler is best known for his days as executive chef of the old Manila Mandarin, where he introduced Manila to sublime dining at the Tivoli, an institution sorely missed. (Tivoli made a mean martini too, that for another story.)
As early as 2008, Go worked at Florabel Co’s eponymous Florabels, Jessie Sinsiocos’ shuttered Enchante and Colin Mackay’s Sala. All three being responsible for shaping a Manila with a voracious appetite. Go settled down when he worked with Jordy Navarro, Manila’s celebrated Michelin-recognized chef meister at Black Sheep, and there he was noticed. He took over from Navarro as he opened his now almost-mythical spot Toyo. For Go, the stint at Black Sheep cemented his desire to conjure new concepts—modern, he would say, and familiar. That didn’t pan out as well, as the restaurant’s new iteration, post-Navarro, wasn’t bringing in diners.
In every stage, Go played like the spare in the kitchen, which didn’t really concern him as he was looking for his own spot in a blossoming culinary landscape. His break would have been as he was meant to join Nicco Santos (Your Local, then) and JP Anglo (Sarsa) to represent the Philippines at Madrid Fusion 2018. That would have placed him with the likes of Margarita Fores, Myrna Segismundo and Robby Goco. But government and its bureaucracy thwarted the emergence of this young chef.
Now we come to Go, close to a decade later, as he took the reins of Your Local, a decades-opened Asian favorite in the hip Legazpi Village. Again, he took over a menu that was done by Nicco Santos, another culinary figure, and like that, he was the heir as the spare. When I asked him about it, he sheepishly answered, “Ang kulit, hahaha, I didn’t think of it that way, I just want to cook… I like Asian food, I love Korea.”
I was privileged to sit for an eight-course meal he prepared at Your Local in cooperation with Cold Storage, the pioneer purveyor of fresh/frozen seafood. Cold Storage introduced Manila new seafood choices. The Qua family, whose roots were in shrimp export, decided early on that there was a market hankering for new entrees and ingredients. Opening their first shop in the late ’90s on Wilson Street in Greenhills, they caught the beginning of a wave where Manila palates were becoming more educated, access to cable cooking shows and travel rounded off the desire for all things new. Cold Storage introduced Manila to accessible fresh salmon, the “new craze” sea bass and halibut. They pioneered the sushi chef à la minute at the newly opened Market Place in Rockwell. The rest is one for the recipe books.
At Your Local, now ably helmed by Pat Go for the last five years, a departure came to being. Seafood took center stage in this Pan Asian spot, whose diners at a fundraising dinner “The Locals Catch” raised donations to Save Philippine Seas—an organization devoted to sustainability awareness. Cold Storage has been supporting the SPS program for ongoing education on climate change, conservation and marine litter.
About the experience: “I usually prepare about half a kilo of food per guest in a multi-course meal, about 80 percent being protein,” noted Go. I thought to myself that shouldn’t be too filling for fish. I was wrong.
Starters of snow crab, aligue and toast got the meal going. It was a dizzying repast of besugo in cacao vinegar, suahe in sambal, apahap in a kaffir lime, my favorite—three cups congee with scallops and furikake. Midway a carrot curry halibut made its presence with tuyo rice.
An Angus ribeye made its appearance (I didn’t know Cold Storage had meat, too) done with a garlic asado. I had no space for the deserts—a chrysanthemum cream and a bread ice cream. All together the meal was all about desired simplicity, where fish made its presence all too well.
As we wound down our chat at the Grid about his career and his recent dinner, it came to the question: when will you join the chef celebrity firmament and open a Pat Go? Again I hear, “Ang kulit… I need to give it some time, but I feel what I did at Balmori will be my choice for a restaurant that I can work the kitchen, for now… I will keep to what I enjoy doing, Asian flavors.” To which he adds as he began, “I just want to cook.”
Look no further, Pat Go is a spare no more.
