A posh ‘inuman’ session awaits you at Ayá by Hapag

Hapag, one of the reasons people from all over the metro would brave the Quezon City traffic, is currently working on their new home. And as they go through the grueling process of renovating their new joint to be ready for October 2023, foodies (me included) are celebrating Hapag’s return to The Balmori Suites for Ayá, a pop-up lounge featuring an all-new menu.

The Lobby of The Balmori

Ayá, An Invitation

In Tagalog, ayá (with a short a) means ‘to invite’ someone, which made the Hapag team choose it for their new bar/lounge concept. But upon doing their research, they found out “aya” also means “colorful” in Hebrew and “beautiful” in Japanese. And that’s exactly what they plan to do to happy hour and beyond.

For Ayá, the Hapag team turned The Balmori Suites lobby into a comfy lounge. By day, The Balmori’s crazy high ceiling lets a flood of natural light into the room, while the giant plush couches give diners (especially titas and titos ehem) a cozy spot to relax. The gorgeous tableware — all handmade by Zambales-based potter Mia Casal — gives Ayá a rustic charm in the middle of a modern business district. And though it may seem intimidating at first (it is still Rockwell after all), Hapag’s signature warm and professional service will make anyone instantly feel at home.

As for the food, chefs Thirdy Dolatre and Kevin Navoa together with their team created a completely new menu that offers few but excellent starters (Panimula), mains (Pangalawa), and desserts (Panapos). While the starters are meant to stay for good when the new Hapag comes to Makati on October, the mains are only here until the pop-up ends on August 13th.

“We have a few main courses here, this is only for the sake of the pop-up,” Chef Kavin Navoa, who’s fondly called Chef Nav, pointed out. “We'll pick out the main courses and just leave the appetizers.”

Meanwhile, Hapag’s sommelier Erin Ganuelas and world-renowned mixologist Arkadiusz Rybak worked together for a unique array of drinks (perhaps they can call it ‘Panulak’?). I loved the play on homegrown flavors; every cocktail at Ayá has a local fruit: Guyabano Bellini with Prosecco, Guava Spritz with Aperol, Kamias Margarita with Mezcal, Dalandan Gimlet with Gin, and Banana Pandan Old Fashioned with Bourbon and a rare sighting of Olea Saccharum.

Though Erin’s specialty is wines, she (and Rybak) did an amazing job creating cocktails and pairings that work so well with the equally inventive dishes.

On my first of surely many visits to Ayá, I got to try all the starters (save for one) and all the cocktails, giving me the rare privilege of finding out how these play on flavors work so well together.

My favorites from the Panimula menu include Warek-Warek (Ilocos’ tangier answer to Pampanga’s Sisig, served tostada-style on top of house-made crispy lumpia wrapper with Dinakdakan aoili);

Adobo Liver Mousse served with the best bread I’ve ever had: Kamote Brioche by Brie & Rye’s Richie Manapat. Much to my dismay, this bread is exclusively made for the pop-up and not for sale to the public; but also this gives me more reason to go back to Ayá.

The Pares Toast is another must-try with a generous slice of Pan de Kalinga toasted and topped with ridiculously tender pieces of beef and tendon pares, pickled onions, garlic aioli, and Lasuna chimichurri.

Lastly, Ayá’s Sinuglaw is art in a bowl. Every bite is so fresh, I actually ended up eating it one small bite at a time throughout the meal, almost like a palate cleanser. The ceviche was light, the smoked pork belly gave the dish a greasy satisfaction, and the Coconut Tuba Leche de Tigre sauce had the perfect acidity to reset your (or at least my) tastebuds.

The mains are equally satisfying in flavor and portion.

The Mushroom Dinakdakan Silog has vibrant garlic-atsuete rice topped with mushrooms made two ways: savory-tangy dinakdakan and crunchy chicharon. The perfect 65° egg at the center of the bowl, when broken, yields a river of golden yolk that becomes a creamy sauce that binds the dish together.

Ayá’s Binondo Steak Fried Rice is their take on Kiampung made with house-cured lap cheong (yes, they made their own Chinese sausage!) and a crispy fried egg. But the pièce de résistance of this dish is the smoked beef short rib —  beautifully seared on the outside and a perfect medium in the center.

On my second visit to Ayá, I got to try the Katipunan Express, an homage to Hapag's home in QC. The dish features thick yet tender slices of grilled pork belly covered with spicy tocino glaze, coconut-sweet potato purèe with a hint of spice, and garlic-atsuete rice on the side. The dish is greasy in the best possible way and (I imagine) goes well with any alcohol — just like how the chef duo envisioned it.

Hopefully on my next visit (yes, I intend to go back for the third time), the Short Rib Kare-Kare will be available because I am a sucker for kare-kare!

And if you’re looking for wines to go with the mains, trust Erin to recommend the best.

“Not a lot of people associate Filipino food with wines. So what's really nice is that there's no textbook Filipino food and wine variants just yet, not like with French food. So it's really by flavor and instinct, especially with Chef Nav and Thirdy and their flavors, you never know what you're going to get,” Erin shared.

She adds, “That's also something that we really want to put out there: that Filipino food is really good with beverages, particularly with wines. And then I guess ever since starting in Hapag, what I noticed is now with the more international guests, they're able to use wine as their basis, something that they know, because Filipino food is not really familiar to their palette yet. So they kind of use wines to really understand what they're eating. So it goes hand in hand.”

For dessert, do not miss their Banana Bread Pudding. I thought I was sick of banana bread because everyone and their mother was making banana bread during the longest lockdown in the world, but somehow the Hapag team made me love banana bread again. Theirs was moist and soft even after it was grilled. They topped the grilled banana bread with a scoop of their house-made cashew-miso ice cream (which reminded me of their Miso Sylvanas from the pandemic-borne Hapag Family Meal era) and some patis-caramel fudge, giving the dessert a subtle saltiness to balance all the sweet components of the dish.

The Ayá experience, at least for me, makes Hapag more accessible. At this day and age when tasting menus and degustacion meals are long, tedious, and (sometimes obscenely) expensive, Ayá empowers the diner by giving them a gourmet experience at their own pace.

Chef Thirdy Dolatre, Erin Ganuelas, & Chef Kevin Navoa

A Bigger, Bolder Chapter

Chefs Nav and Thirdy have known each other since they were in the 7th grade and have been through the best and worst of times as young chefs.

“I think it's more of we grew up together and understand each other more now. When we started then, were still figuring out our weaknesses and strengths. And I don't know — for some reason, his strength is my weakness and my strength is his weakness. Thirdy pulls me down when I go a little bit crazy with the things in my head,” shared Chef Nav, adding that he has a tendency to go really intense at times.

These 32-year-old head chefs and the fresh grad sommelier have earned the trust and respect of industry people, some of whom are almost twice their age. It’s easy to forget Hapag has only been around for about four years because of all they’ve achieved at such a short period of time. And in all those years, they’ve made Katipunan their home. But as Chef Nav shared, it’s part of their five-year-plan to a bigger location.

“I do feel like they're cooking or their dishes have more finesse now and technique-wise there's also a lot more there that I feel maybe a bigger space with more tools will enable them to create even better recipes,” Erin said of chefs Thirdy and Nav.

I’m personally more than glad that Hapag will be moving to Rockwell for good by October 2023 (fingers crossed). At the 7th floor of The Balmori Suites, Hapag will have Ayá as a loft bar facing Pasig River behind Makati City, while the dining area will showcase a panoramic view of the city skyline. And there will be more space for these culinary geniuses to play mad scientist with their fermentation and experimentation (like how they made vegan katsuboushi out of sweet potatoes) — more room to “be more fearless”, as they said. With chefs here and abroad shining the light on Pinoy food, the Hapag team believes “now is the perfect time to just push Filipino food.”

The new Hapag will be (at least) three times bigger than the original QC location, which also means more space for hungry and curious foodies waiting to try the very best these young pros have to offer. And despite their young age, they’re also committed to helping the next generation of chefs to be better. Chef Nav said, “Now, of course, teaching is very important. Being patient. Make sure that I'll say you're leaving them with a lot of knowledge.“

With their plan to move from the university area of Katipunan in Quezon City to the more posh side of Makati at Rockwell, the team doesn’t expect a drastic change in terms of the market and community.

Chef Nav caps it perfectly when he said, “I don't think it's a different market. I think it's the same market, but a different reason to go out.”

Ayá is serving at The Balmori Suits until August 13th. For reservations and inquiries, contact Hapag MNL at +63 919 430 6144 or send a DM to @aya.manila on Instagram.