At the recent Boodle Filipino Food Festival at Cammeray Golf Club, Purple Yam Group’s Director and Head Chef Iñigo Gallaga Castillo’s repertoire includes a wide range of cuisines.
Having worked in fine-dining restaurants, hotels, and bistros. Iñigo has stellar achievements to boast of and has been featured in Australian and Philippine television, newspapers, and magazines.
In an interview for Philippine Newspaper ‘Manila Bulletin’ in 2007 when he was Chef de Cuisine and in-house caterer to C3 Events Place in Manila, , Iñigo was asked to share what his comfort food was. To this he immediately answered, “my lola’s lechon kawali.”
Successfully offering modern Australian food as exclusive caterer to Cammeray Golf Club in the lower north shore of Sydney, Iñigo’s passion is to serve food closest to his heart.
Boodle Fiesta is all about family and friends gathering together for a feast of Philippine flavours.
For the very first time in Sydney – a Filipino grill menu served family style: kilawin, oysters and prawns in soy butter, daing na barramundi, chicken adobo sa dilaw, lechon kawali, eggplant salad in citrus shrimp paste dressing, and lemongrass rice.
“I think a lot of Filipino restaurants outside the Philippines haven’t really expressed all aspects of our cuisine. We have a lot of fresh and vibrant flavours and produce to offer. We have fresh seafood which is beautifully expressed in grills, kinilaw, and quick cooking methods where not a lot of sauce is needed to adulterate the essence of what the country has to offer locally.
“Also, I spent a lot of my childhood as an Ilonggo in the Visayas where the cuisine was sugba – fresh fish and inasal on the beach matched with the heavy use of aromatics such as lemongrass, tamarind leaves, ginger, and garlic. This is what Australians have yet to discover and that’s how I designed this menu,” says Iñigo. “Then to end the meal, I wanted to challenge myself and give a contemporary twist to a classic dish; so we have a plated dessert of purple yam sponge, coconut popsicle, Filipino sweet meats & crème caramel.”
Andrew Zimmern, food critic and host of Bizarre Foods on the Travel Channel told Today, “I predict, two years from now, Filipino food will be what we will have been talking about for six months… I think that’s going to be the next big thing.”
“I want to do my part in making this happen in Sydney,” says Iñigo. “Our first Boodle Fiesta was booked out with an all-Australian crowd. One guest sums up the evening ‘the food and presentation were terrific and the combination of flavours were fantastic. I must admit to a lack of knowledge about food from the Philippines but with your guidance you have opened up a new cuisine to us all. Everyone I spoke to in the room was very impressed and happy to be there.’”