Chef Pat Go’s love letter to Your Local signals the beginning of a new chapter

The Garlic Press
Feb 10, 2023
3 min read

Updated: Feb 11, 2023

This Valentine season, special menus celebrating love and romance are everywhere. But at Your Local, head chef Patrick Go’s line-up of dishes isn’t your typical Valentine’s menu.

Entitled “Love, One Course at a Time”, Your Local’s 7-course Valentine’s tasting menu features Chef Pat’s range and restraint when it comes to his food. Chatting with him after enjoying the dinner, he mentioned that tonight’s menu was his love letter of sorts for the restaurant.

“[This menu has been a] long time coming because I took over almost two years ago,” he explains. “[This is the] culmination of the last two years that I’ve been with Your Local.”

And what a great way to celebrate his love for his craft! The Asian-inspired tasting menu is a melange of bold flavors, interesting textures, and an over-all delightful experience — just like what we’ve come to know from this Makati favorite.

The meal started with house-made Mini Sourdough Pan de Sal, a slice of Pea & Soy Loaf, and Seaweed Butter with Soy-infused Kaya Jam. The pan de sal was super light, while the loaf was dense yet moist. The seaweed-kaya butter has great flavor and a light texture, almost like it was whipped.

The tasting menu comes with your choice of cocktail to enjoy with the rest of the meal. I had the Op-Un, a mixture of tequila, pineapple, tamarind, lapsang souchong tea, lemon, and basil. It was refreshing, sweet, and not too strong so you can still enjoy the flavors of each course.

The first course of the tasting menu was chilled Blue Crab tossed in slightly tangy kaffir-lime dressing with pulps of pomelo before being topped with pieces of crispy seaweed crackers and edible flowers (Tourenia). The crab was a little sweet, working well with the subtle herby flavor of the dressing.

The second course is the Tuna Saku, which features hand-cut tuna loin marinated in house-made ssamjang with spring onions and grapes. It’s served chilled on top of a fried mantou and generously sprinkled with grated Grana Padano to calm the heat of the Korean pepper sauce. On the side is a dollop of flavorful paprika aioli, which gives the dish added umami and creaminess.

Catch of the Day, the third course, changes depending on the kind of fish available for the day. During the menu preview, we had a tender piece of grouper coated with batter infused with saké and Cerveza Negra. It’s served on top of horseradish-mentaiko aioli and crowned with ribbons of pickled radish and a dusting of togarashi.

This is my runaway favorite from the menu for it’s brilliant play on contrasting flavors and textures. The grouper tasted so fresh, almost sweet, with a light and crunchy coating that worked well with the creamy aioli and tangy pickled radish.

The Bak Kut Teh was served in the middle of the meal, perfectly timed to somehow cleanse your palate with its delicately flavored pork-and-shiitake broth with a little kick at the end from the spices and herbed oil made of basil and cilantro.

The tasting menu comes with two mains: the Lamb (burnt pumpkin laksa risotto topped with crispy lamb flakes and wok-fried mushroom krapow) and the Striploin (grilled beef striploin marinated in a house-made concoction of coffee and masala, served with smoked potato puree, black garlic beef sauce, and charred crispy leeks). Both mains have robust flavors and ideal portions, giving the meal a more satisfying feeling.

The last course is inspired by Chef Sonny Mariano’s Avocado Tart, one of the staple desserts at Your Local. Simply called Avocado, Chef Pat’s version is an avocado semifreddo (“half-frozen”) topped with Kaya jam chantilly cream, patis-infused dulce de leche, and sprinkled with crushed barquillos for texture. The dessert was moderately sweet and beautifully creamy without being too heavy — everything about this dessert is just enough for a satisfying end to a meal made out of passion for good food.

According to Chef Pat, this menu is also the transition point from Your Local’s old menu to a new one, reflecting the new direction of the Makati favorite under his leadership. They hope to launch the new menu by the middle of the year.

“This will be the starting point where we transition from the old Your Local flavors to my direction with the help of the team.”

While we’re excited about their upcoming menu, Chef Pat assures us that Your Local’s best-sellers — like the Salmon Donburi, Rendang Buns, and Chili Crab Buns — will remain.