With over 70 sausages and various grilled meat dishes on its menu, One World Butchers, one of the newest places to open in Poblacion, is not yet finished. Its “meat addict” of a chef envisions to create more, highlighting various types of sausages offered in almost every country, including the Philippines with its many versions of the longganisa.
By Alex Y. Vergara
Chef Miguel Gianan, the man behind One World Butchers, makes no apologies about it. Written on his business card, just below his name and side by side with the restaurant’s red logo of a pig’s snout, are the words “Professional Carnivore.”
As such, the 37-year-old chef has been mincing, dicing, grinding, chopping and grilling all sorts of meat way before turning professional. And everything he learned within and outside the four walls of the restaurants and delis he used to work for are now on full display at One World Butchers, one of the newest restaurants-slash-delis to open in the hip restaurant and bar district in Makati called Poblacion (Kalayaan Avenue corner Matilde Street).
“If Erwan Heusaff describes himself as a fat kid inside, I was just a fat kid who, to this day, remains addicted to meat,” he says laughing. “I’m a meat addict and a carnivore at heart.”
And the erstwhile fat kid now runs the reins of One World Butchers, whose “claim to fame,” he adds, “is to give almost all its ingredients the kiss of fire.” In other words, Miguel and his team grill almost every item on the menu, including the lettuce used for its Caesar salad. To facilitate this, the restaurant, which has an outdoor area, has its own butchery, commissary, grilling area and, of course, kitchen.
The place even boasts of a chamber and smoke box where anything, from certain types of meat to the lettuce that make up the Caesar’s salad, and pineapples and chillies used for the hot sauces, is processed to achieve that smokey flavor.
But what’s really amazing about One World Butchers is its range of offerings—at least 70, seven-zero, types of sausages made fresh daily almost from scratch. We may not pay enough attention to the quality of cooked sausages we eat, but Miguel insists that there’s a big difference in term of quality between frozen sausages and its freshly made counterpart.
“The bind between fat and meat is different when a sausage is fresh,” he explains. “If you freeze a sausage, it can ruin the bind, diminishing its taste and juiciness. We put a premium on freshness because there’s nothing better than being served fresh sausages.”
Apart from Tarlac, One World sources its pork from all over the world. Australia and the United States are also prime sources of beef.
During a recent by-invitation-only dinner, the chef and his team showcased to guests a range of grilled items that are part, he says, of the restaurant’s new menu, including artisan bacon steak, cross-cut short ribs and, at least, almost half a dozen types of sausages.
“If you want me to create for you your own sausage, I’m open to it,” says Miguel, referring to other restaurants who want to broaden or put some zing into their meat offerings. “Right now, everybody wants to be unique. If you want to be unique with the types of sausages you serve in your establishment, we can do that for you.”
Diners who can’t have enough of the items found in the restaurant’s menu can extend their dining pleasure at home, as the deli offers some of One World’s best-selling meat products.
As for the restaurant’s name itself, it echoes Miguel’s vision of creating for diners one world made up of sausages found or inspired by those available in the US, Germany, Poland, Italy, Japan and Spain, among others. Even Philippine sausages have a place in One World Butchers, as the chef tells us about the restaurant’s Pinoy longganisa.
With 70 sausages, and counting, to offer, One World Butchers certainly gives its diners plenty of reasons to come back and give the other items on its menu a try.
