Business-class passengers to and from North America are in for a welcome treat until the end of the year, as the country’s flag carrier tickles their tastebuds with a new set of stylized Filipino dishes from the kitchen of Chef Tina Legarda of Bamba Bistro.
Text and photos by Alex Y. Vergara
Business-class passengers of the country’s flag carrier flying to and from North America are in for a delightful gastronomic treat until the end of the year. Philippine Airlines has tapped Chef Tina Legarda of Bamba Bistro fame to spice up its menu for business class passengers flying non-stop from Manila to Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Honolulu, Vancouver and Toronto, and vice versa.
Legarda, who worked for a time in Singapore and various restaurants in Manila before putting up her very own Bamba Bistro in Parañaque a decade ago, has created a 10-course in-flight menu exclusive to PAL business-class passengers that not only showcases her talent and experience as a seasoned chef, but also pays homage to the richness and diversity of Filipino cuisine, from its colors down to its textures, ingredients and flavors.
Legarda gave journalists a sample of what PAL business-class passengers to and from North America can expect when airline executives hosted a recent dinner featuring the chef’s dishes at Bamba Bistro. Items on the menu, which were plated as if guests were also flying PAL, included the Filly, Maria’s Toast, Kalabasa Soup and Luzviminda Salad as appetizers.
For the main course, Legarda and her team served several dishes such as Crab Mie Goreng, Breakfast Burrito, Pan-fried Snapper, Nasi ng Bayan and Beouf Shortribs. To cap off the delicious and hearty meal, she prepared individual servings of a dessert she calls Banana Budino Trifle.
“Since I won’t be around to personally plate these dishes during flights, I conducted a series of trainings last week among a select group of flight attendants serving business class passengers,” Legarda shared with PeopleAsia.
Unlike in coach class where meals are already individually pre-packed to be quickly served to a bigger number of passengers, meals in business class, apart from being fancier and more exclusive, are segregated, re-heated and individually plated depending on what the passenger fancies. Since meals are not pre-ordered on the ground, they have to be heated and prepared in flight. Legarda foresaw these likely challenges and acknowledged that she would need the help of PAL’s seasoned cabin crew in serving the dishes properly and in accordance with her vision.
“I know what they do up there is not easy,” the chef said. “But I never knew how challenging it was until I started working with PAL on this menu. I only have the utmost respect for our flight attendants who have so many things to do, including properly plate the food, step by step, to be served to business-class passengers.”
Despite being a seasoned chef, Legarda, prior to her collaboration with PAL, had no previous experience creating dishes for an airline, much more for the country’s flag carrier. Apart from doing extensive research, she found herself plumbing through memories of various in-flight meals past, trying to recall what made certain meals and experiences exceptional and unforgettable.
“I also had to consider certain things I never considered before while working in my own kitchen with my own team right beside me,” she adds. “First, I had to ensure that each dish remains moist enough even when it’s reheated. It was quite challenging, to be honest. Then, I only found out, while working on this project, that cooked food tends to lose a bit of its salt level when it’s up there. That was also something I needed to address.”
In the end, Legarda endeavored making a “balanced plate,”with just the right push and pull of sweetness and saltiness, which in many ways mirrors the gourmet comfort food she regularly serves at Bamba’s.
Although she was partial to doing Italian and Italian-inpsired dishes earlier in her career, that gradually changed in recent years as she found herself being drawn more and more to Asian cooking. This shift has served her well. Although PAL allowed her to freely tap into her creativity, expectations were also high for her to come up with a menu heavily influenced by Filipino kitchen traditions.
“We serve a wide range of food at Bamba’s,” she says. “We serve pasta, risottos, even steak. There was a time kare-kare was part of the menu. I love doing Filipino food. So, if there’s a chance for me to come up with my own take on certain classic Filipino dishes and promote them to the world, I would.”
But at the same time, PAL also has a considerable number of non-Filipino and non-balikbayan passengers who might not be as familiar or as open to trying certain Filipino dishes. Legarda had to take this into consideration as well while working on her offerings. So, did she consider this aspect a challenge, too?
“Absolutely! But since I travel as well, I also felt that there are similarities with what we do, compared with what other countries do. So I also tried to tap on that knowledge, creating dishes that would appeal to a broader base of passengers. At the end of the day though, I know I can’t please everyone as I try to be true to my style.”
The collaboration between PAL and Chef Tina Legarda is part of the many developments and innovations the airline is whipping up for its passengers. Earlier this year, PAL also worked with Chef JP Anglo. Book your flights now via philippineairlines.com.
