The Most Famous Kinilaw in Siargao Philippines (CEV)
- I really wanted to move here, and I wanted to change my current life at the time which was finance, a desk job, a corporate job. And I wanted a slower, more simple life. So that's what I feel like the island gives you, too.
A simple life where everything is much more meaningful. I wasn't really sure if this was the right thing to do. What type of person will sacrifice financial stability for something super unknown? I'm David del Rosario. I am the chef and owner of CEV.
I'm from Manila, but I moved here in 2017 or 2018, so it's my sixth year in Siargao. Island life is fine. It's slower, but that's what I was looking for as well. When I first learned about Siargao, it was a surf island and that's what interested me about Siargao; I wanted to improve my surfing. I slowly realized that it was more than surfing, it was the people here, it was the beauty of the nature around this island.
I really wanted to move here, and I wanted to change my current life at the time which was finance, a desk job, a corporate job. And I wanted a slower, more simple life. Like on a daily basis, everything you do is more meaningful, it's less robotic, I think here on the island. But also the locals here are such an amazing group of people also. The community and the locals here, they're really what drives the magic of Siargao.
This is Pat, our superstar staff. She's been with us for a long time. (laughs) Everyone here knows her. So, Pat, where are we buying from today? - So we're here now. - This one might be okay. This is salindato, but it’s not too fresh.
Where’s the kuyabutan? - None yet. There's no kuyabutan yet? Oh, this might do. So we source everything from the market here, and the fish is just caught just outside of General Luna.
That's why I think the fish is also very fresh when people eat it here, it's because after 30-40 minutes that they catch the big fish, it comes to CEV, we fillet it, we clean it, and then we store it in the chiller right away. So that's how... I think that's as fresh as it can get if you're looking at a restaurant setting. So usually, we go through... How many kilos do we buy per day? We use around 20-30 kilos per day.
This one is 25 kilos. So this could last a day, depending on how busy the restaurant is. Maybe more. Because with tuna, the head is heavy, and so is the tail, so we usually get about 50% of the weight. We look for clear eyes, of course.
If the eyes are cloudy, chances are it’s old or has been out of the water for a while— more than a few hours. Like they said, the trip from the water is just 15-20 minutes. That's why our fish is so good— about 20 minutes from the water going here, it travels to our restaurant which is another 10-15 minutes. So more or less, it's just 30-40 minutes from the water straight to the restaurant.
And then we also check the gills. They should be bright red, not gray. Sometimes when it’s gray... Look, it's very red.
If it's gray, it’s no longer fresh. So we’ll bring this to the restaurant later and fillet it. Kinilaw is something I feel represents the Philippines very much, because it is a raw seafood ingredient which could be fish, shrimp, squid, or anything like that that is marinated with vinegar, and then you have onions, ginger, it's very vibrant, it reminds you of the sea, it reminds you of the islands of the Philippines. And I feel like it should be promoted more.
I think it's underpromoted. I think in restaurants, especially like in Manila, you don't see a lot of kinilaw because it's mainly just an appetizer in a restaurant somewhere but not highlighted as a restaurant. So I wanted to promote it more. When you think about Filipino food, you don't just think about adobo, you don't think about lechon, you think about kinilaw as well as another dimension to Filipino cooking.
Ceviche is very popular around the world. And in my research and in my travels around the world, I've realized that there's only a few countries that really have a raw fish or a raw seafood dish like ceviche. And the Philippines is the only country from my knowledge that has a raw fish dish or raw seafood dish that uses vinegar. All the countries use citrus or lime or lemon, and that to me is very unique and that to me is something worth highlighting and worth promoting. It's so big.
- It's huge. - You're right. Did it just arrive or not? During my finance days when I was working...
I first worked in BPI, and then I worked around the asset management industry or the stock broking industry. I was working in finance for nine years. In the beginning, I enjoyed myself a lot because, you know, when you first graduate from college, you learn a lot of things, it is very exciting, but after a while, being in the stock broking industry, it's all about money. Because in stock broking and asset management and investing, you're only looking for companies that...
how much more they will make, how fast they will grow, and just all about profits. And after a while, it became very empty, and it was just all about money. For my definition of financial success, I think I was reaching it at the time already, and that's when I realized, is this it? I feel like I'm already successful in my job, but it feels so empty in this place, and that’s when I started to try and discover more what really made me happy. As a person, I personally just really love cooking. I love eating more than cooking actually, so that's what drove my passion to get out of finance and pursue a dream of mine which was to open a restaurant. I wasn't really sure if this was the right thing to do because, of course, financially I was stable already, so what type of person will sacrifice financial stability for something super unknown? And so, at first I went to Thailand to try to learn how to cook Thai food for one month, and I enjoyed that very much.
And that's what really told me that I should pursue a career in cooking. So that's when I thought of going to cooking school. I was already 30, kind of old by then, and it was a big risk in my career. I sacrificed everything just to pursue this dream of mine.
So CEV actually was my thesis in cooking school and restaurant management school. So I conceptualized a restaurant where I would promote this dish, kinilaw, which is similar to ceviche, to tourists that come to Siargao because during my trips here, I saw that there's a lot of very young, adventurous, and also very food-driven people. And so, I thought it would be the right place to open this type of restaurant. So in New York, of course, there are no kinilaw restaurants, but there are cevicherias. So ceviche is like the South American version of kinilaw, and vice versa. So I interned in a cevicheria called Mission Ceviche, and at the time, it was just a stall in a market wherein they were just serving ceviche and a small stall, maybe 10 square meters.
And coming from cooking school, my classmates would question why I was there. They would think, "Why are you in this little stall where we're all in Michelin restaurants, fancy fine dining restaurants?" And my answer was simple, it's because I knew what I wanted to do, I don't care if it's as simple as it seems, but this is what resonates the most to me in my heart, and that's why I chose just ceviche. So I first opened CEV in October 2018. This was, of course, my first restaurant, and I had no experience in running a restaurant at all. So it was all very new to me, and so I partnered with a bar called Loose Keys. It's like the most popular bar at the time here in Siargao, a very cool surf-oriented bar.
I really wanted also to be part of their team, so we teamed up. And so, when I opened CEV, it was all me, from the finances, the social media, the dining, the kitchen, the operations, everything. I wanted to be involved in every part of the business.
So even with this restaurant now, which is our 4th location, everything here was done by me and my wife. So we tried to use everything in the fish, especially the leftovers, because it would be a waste. So all the trimmings like this and the other parts of the fish we don’t use, we include in spring rolls and fish balls. It’s important here on the island that we are more aware of the amount of waste we generate, so at least we try to use everything. We just eat the tuna head. (laughs) We make the jaw into appetizers, even the belly.
Because I did everything myself in the beginning— I did the reservations, I did the financing, I did the kitchen, I did the dining, so after a while, I got tired, and so I realized that I needed to start to delegate. And actually, right now, I’m transitioning from being super hands-on to delegating more things. So this is Pat. We met during the pandemic when I was guest-cheffing at one of the restaurants, and she was the line cook, and one thing led to another, and now she’s here.
So during the pandemic and also after the storm, the three of us were together. Oh, sorry. They helped me rebuild my house, and I also tried to help them rebuild theirs, so we were just helping each other out. And this is Harold.
This is Don, our head chef here. How long have you been here, bro? - Two years. - Two years.
So he’s been here two years at this new location, because this location has just been two years old. We had three other locations before this because of the challenges on the islands. So Don is from Butuan.
And this is Carlo. Carlo... Are you the newest one? You are, right? How many months have you been here? - Three months. - Carlo’s only been here for three months. He’s from Butuan and knows Don. I prefer to hire people who are already known by my trusted staff here so that at least the rapport is good, we trust each other, and we all love each other.
So, Carlo, are you happy here? - Yes, chef. (laughs) I'm good here. - And this is Jade. How long have you been here, Jade? - Almost two years, sir.
- Almost two. So this is our manager, Tina. How long have you been with CEV? Two years? - Two years. - Yes. So she also started here at the new location.
After Typhoon Odette, we had to reset CEV— reset the team, reset the location. Tina became the manager. She’s actually the first manager of CEV because, before our operations here, we didn’t have a manager— it was just me. But as the restaurant grew, especially now, I really needed a manager.
I really need Tina, or else I’d go crazy. (laughs) And this is Shang. She’s our cashier. She’s early today because she wanted to help out and help clean everything. So Shang is the cashier. How long have you been at CEV? - Almost six months.
- Six months already. So she’s still relatively new. The rest of the dining team will arrive at 11:30 a.m., that’s when we start setting up the dining area, and by 12:00 noon, we’re open. - What are you doing right now? - I'm removing the collar for our appetizer.
We'll marinate this for the orders. This one. The food here is so amazing and unique to this island, so I told myself that CEV is really where you experience something different.
- I’m Don Simonda, I’m 30 years old, and I’m from Butuan. - How far is Butuan from here? - If you travel, it’s about a four-hour trip. It’s pretty close.
- By boat? - Yes. And by bus. I’ve been here for almost three years. Two years here at CEV— almost two years now. - How’s island life? - Slow. It’s slow but nice, and different from the city. In the city, it’s very stressful. Here, it’s like you're just at home.
Home, work, that’s it. - Do you surf? - No. - Do you hang out? - By the sea.
(laughs) On our menu, one of my favorites is the Santa Monica. It’s delicious, very unique. Santa Monica, because our kinilaw is the usual Filipino kinilaw, just vinegar and that’s it. In the Santa Monica, I learned that squash can actually complement the fish in ceviche. Chef David really teaches us what’s right.
He’s there by our side in times of our needs. And yes, he never abandons us. - So it was doing really well, and then all of a sudden the pandemic hit.
And so, we had to switch because people on the island had to leave, and there was no more tourist here. And I had to adapt to the people that were living here, and so we had to change into sandwiches which was something I was also passionate about. I love very creative style sandwiches. So we did that for a few months in the pandemic, but after a while, more people left, and so we had to close CEV for the remainder of the pandemic. But after the pandemic, we had to switch locations because Loose Keys didn't open anymore after the pandemic in that same location.
And so, we moved to a place called Bravo in front of a skate bowl. After that, Odette happened. So Odette was December 2021.
That was the worst experience of my life, I would say, because it was a category 5 typhoon, and literally it was like a bomb was dropped in Siargao. So the next day after the typhoon, no trees, no grass, it was all brown, it looked like a desert, everything was almost flat. So all the buildings were down, everything was just destroyed.
So me, personally, we were building a house, our personal home, and the first day that we were supposed to move into the house was the day of the typhoon. So our house was destroyed, and we were never really able to move into our house when we built it. So before we moved in, it was already destroyed. So we lived with zero electricity, zero water, so our water was from the well for three months and it was very challenging.
We tried to help our community as much as possible, rebuild as much as we could. The rebuilding and the recovery from Odette has been so fast. It's been just over two years, and we are in a place or in a point where it's busier than it was, I think, in 2018-2019.
I think that's a testament to the willpower of the people here and how strong the community is, that we were able to rebuild in that short span of time, and rebuild it to a point where you don't even notice there was a really, really, really bad typhoon that happened here. - Chef, how are you? - All good. - How was the afternoon service? - Very good, very good. Busy, lots of customers. Full house, yes.
- What’s getting the most orders today? - Today, Pacifico, GL (General Luna), but also Guyam because I think there are a lot of Filipinos, so Guyam is kind of similar to sinuglaw— it has grilled belly— so they’re ordering that now. Some dishes have components that need to be cooked, like you have to grill the belly, maybe we have to grill the shrimp as well. So there are other things that have to be cooked.
But for example, if you order the Pacifico, everything is already pre-prepared, so I just mix everything together, like now, here. We have two main bestsellers and two appetizers that are bestsellers. So I'll start with the appetizer. First one is the grilled fish belly. So all our appetizers, the cuts of the fish that we don't use for the ceviche and the kinilaw. That's kind of our way of using the entire fish.
So of course, the belly. So we serve it grilled and we have a roasted bell pepper purée that we make specifically for that belly, and that's mixed in with tuba which is a local vinegar. It's actually coconut nectar that's fermented. The tuba is from Siargao; we get it from various suppliers here.
And then, the other bestseller is the spring rolls. Again, those are the offcuts of the fish that we mince. We add a few ingredients.
And some customers actually think it's meat, they think it's either ground pork or ground beef but it's actually 100% fish. And so, we serve that with a blue cheese and kind of like a spicy chili garlic oil on top. Gordon Ramsey once said that you cannot mix fish with blue cheese, but we tried it and it was good, so we put it in the menu. So Gordon Ramsey has to try it, I guess. (laughs) And then, for the mains, we have, first is the Pacifico, this is the ceviche.
There's boiled kamote or sweet potato. There's grilled corn. There's cornick or fried corn. There's also fried kamote, they're like Pik-Nik. You know the Pik-Nik snack? We make that in-house.
Raw onions, spring onions, and then we do the leche de tigre. So the leche de tigre is a sauce of ceviche, but for us, we add coconut milk and we use calamansi juice rather than lime juice because calamansi juice is, of course, local to the Philippines, and to us, the sourness of it is a lot more pungent, it's stronger. The next is the General Luna. And the General Luna is a kinilaw. So what we do with the kinilaw is, first, it's tuba, and then we have some ginger, onions, a little bit of chili, some sugar, salt, and all that just to balance the marinade of it. And then, we put the fish in there, but then we also put tausi or salted black beans.
And then, we put a little bit of diced red bell pepper and that's your kinilaw. And then, we serve that on a plate with spiced mango and ensaladang talong which is grilled eggplant with a little bit of tuba, again, some garlic, some salt. And then, we garnish it with the fried kamote to add a bit of crunch to it.
On the side of the General Luna, or all our kinilaws, we always have garlic rice. Hi, guys! (laughs) - Hello! - How are you? How was your meal in CEV? - So good. - Good? Is this your first time? - For us, it's our second time.
- Oh, second already? So it's the second time for all of you? - They frequent here. - Oh, you've visited many times already? Thank you so much. What's your favorite so far? - I think mine is still the Pacifico.
- That's also my favorite actually. Pacifico is the one that's really delicious. Where are you from? - England. - England and? - England. - Oh, both from England. - You are not English.
He's half-English, half-Dutch, and lives in Barcelona. - Oh, there we go. Man of the world. (laughs) You had the kinilaw, right? - Is that the General Luna? - That's the General Luna. - That's what I had. It was gorgeous. - And what did you think about the kinilaw, the General Luna? - Amazing. - You like it? - I have the same thing every time.
- Oh, really? - So good. - Ah, okay. And you, the Santa Monica, I guess, right? Looks like you liked it as well. - Yeah. I just mixed everything in. Very good. - Awesome. - With extra rice.
- Right. Welcome back to CEV. So these are our friends from Siargao. Anne. Martha. - I'm the biggest fan of your CEV. - Oh, thank you.
Thank you. - Pleasure. - Everything is good? Service was great or any feedback or anything? 'Cause I can't really eat in mine, you know what I'm saying? - So daily operation has changed over the years because we've gotten so much busier.
To me, my priority is the happiness of my staff and their well-being, and so we had to close in the middle of the day and we also have to close at 9:00 p.m. strictly because I don't want them to stay too long. Of course, they have families. So they go home, they still get to see their families, they come back to CEV. Maybe they take a nap at home.
So it's a good work-life balance, I think, and that's what I still want to promote. I don’t like overworking people, because we play the long game, and if they’re exhausted every day and have been working here for five years, four years, two years, then they’ll be exhausted. I want them to still be fresh and happy to go to work. We’re just human, right? And we get tired.
And we need rest, and we need to do things that make us happy to be happy. We can't work everyday. And I've been through long hours also in the corporate life, and so I know what's it's like to be very, very tired. And when I worked in New York for a bit, you know, people in New York work long, long, long hours, and I see how people get burnt out. And so, I didn't want that to happen to my staff.
So even if I'm doing something I love, of course, you get tired and you get burnt out, and that's why it needs to be something you love, because if you don't love what you're doing and you don't believe in what you're doing and you don't see an end goal, you don't have this dream of yours, then most likely you will give up or transition to something else. I love food and I love kinilaw, and I love my staff, and I love this restaurant, and I love our customers. And so, that makes me keep going, and that dedication to my dream helps me keep going, because, honestly, right now, I'm extremely burnt out. (laughs) But that's how life is, of course, right? It's a process, and I would like to get better and improve and be stronger as a person as, you know, the months and the years go by. Let's go.
Let's go, let's go, let's go. Hi! - Hi! - Come here. Aye yai yai. Aye yai yai. (laughs) This is my wife’s workshop here. So this is my wife Charlotte. - Hello! - She is currently working on the next graphic design for CEV's t-shirt.
So next t-shirt. Cheers! - Cheers to the next t-shirt. (laughs) - So we are drinking vermouth with lemon. - Yes. - A little bit of influence from my wife because she's French and she likes drinking this aperitivo.
- It's like a symbolic drink for us. - So the day he opened CEV, I was landing in Siargao on that same day. - So we saw each other, she walked in with her friend Camille, who is also based on Siargao. - Which is the reason why I first visited Siargao. - That's why she came to Siargao because she's really close to Camille.
And they went to CEV, and then one thing led to another, it felt very like really real— the connection, just through Instagram. - And we were just talking every single day, so at some point after three months, I think we said, "Okay. We've been talking everyday, maybe we should just meet and see if it's going to lead to anywhere. - For the first time ever, after that first encounter, and then the rest is history. - How many years have you been married? - We have been married for a year. - Congrats! How's the married life? - Same.
(laughs) - Same as how it was before, so nothing really changed except we are are married. (laughs) - I was going to say, except we have rings, but he took it off, so... (laughs) - I'm getting fatter. It doesn't fit anymore.
- So yeah, same. Well, mostly from the, I would say branding and illustration 'cause the concept is more him. But together, like we brainstorm on how to change the branding of how it was before. Before, it was more like a surf shack, and now it's more of a mid-century modern which is our favorite word and style. So for the t-shirt, I thought it was important to actually put the restaurant itself on the t-shirt because, again, it was a new space and it was the first time that it's really CEV space and it's not CEV and someone else's place.
So it was quite nice to put it up-front on the t-shirt. - Yeah. And then, this one is my personal art. It looks like a five-year-old drew it.
- But it looks great. It's framed in CEV. - It's framed in CEV. So this was the first version, and then I did a cleaner one and it's there in CEV now. Yeah. My masterpiece of ugly fish. (laughs) She already knows it. Okay, brother.
Okay, okay. The end goal of CEV, to be honest, is just to keep doing what we're doing, to keep promoting kinilaw, to keep promoting our restaurant, leveling up and leveling up. So the food that we have in CEV now, to be honest, is the most basic, or I would say the level one of what I could achieve down the line.
At some point, maybe we open CEV somewhere else, but that is a question of do I just want to stay here, live a simple life and promote kinilaw only in Siargao. And so, right now it's, of course, sounding more like I'm just going to stay in Siargao because I'm happy here. Me and my wife and my dog live here. We have a nice happy family here. We're still here, still going strong. Hopefully, another six or seven years, we're still here and still going strong.
- Come on, Bubby. - Where are you going, Bubby? Where are you going? - Okay, Bubby. - Brother! Let's go.
- I feel like... It's great because I feel supported as well. Like we both kind of are going towards the same direction, and it's also very easy to navigate.
It's not like we have super different mindset or aim for each other, so we're happy where we are and looking towards the same direction. I would hope that CEV keeps doing as good as it's doing now. And that in some way, David can still find a bit of more free time for himself so he can, yeah, feel a bit more— how can I say this— less stressed from it. But I still hope that CEV goes as well as it's going now. And I think we have more projects of like merch and stuff like this for CEV, so that's pretty exciting.
And I also hope that he can find pockets of maybe tweaking the menu a little bit so that he can also find his creativity within CEV again. - If CEV didn't happen, I wouldn't have my wife, I wouldn't have my dog, I wouldn't have this beach in front of me, I wouldn't have the house we live in, I wouldn't have the staff, I wouldn't have the friends that I have here now, I wouldn't have the surf that I used to do before, (laughs) and I just wouldn't have this amazing experience that I have every day of waking up in this beautiful island with a lot of beautiful people, and interacting with many different people every day that appreciate the hard work and passion that I put into CEV. And it's definitely an eye-opener, to reflect on it now in this video. (laughs) It has made me appreciate it a bit more. But, yes.
2024-11-05 03:33
