The Alavar sauce you taste today is sourced straight from Zamboanga City, as developed in the 1970's by Maria Teresa Camins Alavar for curacha crab dishes, which are abundant in coastal Mindanao. 

A unique product of Zamboangueño-Chavacano creole culture -the language of which is a marriage of Mexican, Spanish, Tagalog, and adjacent Sulu languages- Alavar sauce is made from coconut milk, crab fat, and spices. 

The word Chavacano was used by Spaniards to describe the developing language as a vulgarity, being spoken in mestizo kitchens by locals who had not had the privilege of a formal Spanish education. This is not colonial cooking, but rather resilient regional creativity.

Arroz á la Valenciana, or Arroz Valenciana for short, means 'rice in the style of Valencia' as it was called in the Spanish colonies as it traveled. One popular version of this dish is paella, the name it is called by in its native Valencia.

Tracing its roots in Arab cuisine with saffron-tinged rice and South Asia with biryani, and even further to China where rice was first domesticated, rice dishes in Valencia were beneficiaries of the Silk Road. Concurrently in Pampanga, trade with the Indian subcontinent had resulted in bringhe, also descended from biryani, a turmeric-stained rice dish using coconut cream and chicken.

When Arroz Valenciana arrived in the Philippines, it was a sort of homecoming when the two sister dishes met and combined.

We chose to honor its Arab roots and the paella variation by re-introducing the spice Saffron, reputed as the most expensive spice in the world, of which Spain is famed to produce. It is, after all, the namesake of tonight's venue.

Kinilaw refers to the indigenous cooking technique of cooking in vinegar. This method predates colonization, dating back a thousand years to the northern Philippines. Like many Filipino dishes, this is highly regional. There are versions that use octopus, seaweed, goat, and even green mango, in place of the traditional mackerel or tuna. 

As Filipino food historian Doreen Gamboa Fernandez notes, cooking in vinegar is a contrast to cooking with fire because it allows to keep the dish fresh. Tuna kinilaw balances sweet, tart, and tangy flavor

Long before it became a beloved Filipino dessert at every fiesta and family gathering, Leche Flan first arrived in the Philippines through the hands of Spanish colonizers in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Rooted in Spanish and Latin culinary traditions, the original flan was a light, silky custard made with fresh milk, sugar, and eggs. Unlike its Spanish ancestor, the Filipino version uses more egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk, giving it that signature dense, creamy texture. This evolution also tells a story of time and innovation: condensed milk didn't even exist until the mid-1800s, and it wasn't until Nestlé introduced it to the Philippines in the early 1900s that Leche Flan as we know it was born.

Brazo de mercedes, translated from Spanish means “The arm of Mercedes”, this dish finds its roots deep in Spanish culinary tradition, inspired by the European love for meringue and custard-based desserts. It is believed that it evolved from the Spanish confection known as Brazo de Gitan,  a rolled sponge cake with a sweet filling. But Brazo de Mercedes took a unique turn, replacing the cake with cloudlike meringue, making it softer, lighter, and Filipino.

Its origin is tied to the history of the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. Egg whites and egg shells were often used as a binding agent in construction, particularly for churches and buildings. This left locals with an abundance of egg yolks, and to not let them go to waste, Filipinos transformed them into a sweet custard called yema, a creamy blend of egg yolks and sugar that would later become the heart of Brazo de Mercedes.

Today, this dessert is enjoyed in good company, usually served during merienda with coffee or tea.