Yes, Chef! Stephen Bustamante of Pastorelli Serves Elevated Comfort Food
Asia is one food-crazy continent! We take great care to pick restaurants based on culinary vibes, rankings in international gourmand guides, mentions in magazines, Instagramability, and added allure. Yes, Chef! features the region’s chefs' stories of love and labor in kitchens, which has made some of our restaurants the next big thing in Asia.
Chef Stephen George Bustamante has dedicated his entire life to bringing people comfort through food. The Pinoy native, who is best known as one of the founders of One World Deli, and also as the former private chef of George Lucas (of “Star Wars” renown) takes on a new challenge amidst the sprawling estate of Pontefino in Batangas.
Helming the hotel’s headlining restaurant, Pastorelli, Chef Stephen welcomes locals and visitors alike to a table boasting elevated fare. Today, we speak to the man behind innovative dishes such as Binagoongang Lechon Kawali and Lamb Shank Adobo.
What would you say is Pastorelli’s specialty?
Chef Stephen: We made sure our menu is very inclusive and comforting. While we are a restaurant, we are also a hotel, so our guests look for comfort food. That’s why the menu is international with Pinoy flavors – this is to cater to our international patrons.
We do look forward to creating different concepts for the future, but we want to do so when we’ve already garnered the trust of our community. Because we know that people go back to the same restaurant when they trust the cuisine.
To add further context to his words, Chef Stephen also revealed that in Pastorelli, they create in-house recipes, such as bagoong and marmalade. This extra mile, put in by the chef and his team, ensures that every spoonful is guaranteed to be delicious, plus these products become undoubtedly unique to Pontefino Hotel.
We heard you wanted to do a kind of “Filipino tea time” menu at Pastorelli?
Chef Stephen: Yeah, so we were thinking that instead of tea sandwiches or little hors d'oeuvres, what we’d do would is put bibingka on the first tier, then kakanin, then pandesal with fresh kesong puti and marmalade, jams, and chorizo. So a very Pinoy take on classic English tea.
We also want to create a retail area in the hotel where people can take our specialties – like our homemade jam – home.
When did you realize you wanted to become a chef?
Chef Stephen: When I was 13 or 14, my family had people coming to the house, and my tita gave me a recipe for a simple Caesar salad. I followed that to a tee and everyone ate it and loved it. They asked who made it because it was so good. That’s when I kind of had an inkling that I liked to cook. So I started learning to cook with the family because everyone on my dad’s side is great at cooking.
I started eating more and learning more; eating was how I developed my palate. Fast forward to 1998 or 1999, I got laid off in California from the dot com boom (a market crash where many startups failed to become profitable). That’s when I decided to formally pursue cooking.
What cuisine would you say is your specialty?
Chef Stephen: When I graduated from culinary school in Canada, I worked for the Saban family. They were a rich, private family in [Los Angeles], and I started learning different cuisines there. They wanted a lot of different things, including comfort cuisine. I dabbled in Mexican, Spanish, French, etc. It was definitely tiring, I spent long hours in the kitchen. But when you enjoy what you do, you don’t feel it until you get back home. But the next day, you wake up, and you still enjoy going to work.
You’ve trained in the West but are also familiar with Filipino food. How would you differentiate the Batangas palate from other taste profiles you’ve come across?
Chef Stephen: Batangueños have a sweeter palate. They like their sweets, they like a touch of sugar with everything. In Manila, it’s mostly savory, everything has a touch of acid; people love vinegar. Batangueños are also pretty straightforward. They will criticize the food if they don’t like it, so I try to balance everything as much as possible when it comes to flavors.
Did you ever feel like you needed to connect to your Batangueño roots?
Chef Stephen: I think I was always connected to my roots, but subliminally. When I was a kid, my favorite food was my uncle’s Humba (Visayan braised pork dish). I loved how it was both sweet and savory. As I grew up, I kept looking for it, but no one could ever replicate how my uncle made his. When I was in California, I loved cheesecake, but at the end of the day, I always looked for kakanin. I think that’s how I always stayed close to Batangas and Filipino culture cuisine.
What drew you to Pastorelli at Pontefino Hotel?
Chef Stephen: As One World Deli was growing, I felt that I’d already done my job. I wasn’t looking for a job as an executive chef, but I met the owner [of Pontefino], who’s my friend, and he said he wanted to bring up the brand of Pontefino again. And I realized I wanted to take this experience on head-on because it’s a different opportunity to work in a hotel restaurant. Being able to draw a bigger market through food is a big responsibility.
What is your cooking philosophy?
Chef Stephen: I try to bring out the most excellent food. It doesn’t matter if it’s late, as long as it comes out perfect.
I also think that at the end of the day, everyone looks for comfort food. When you go home, you look for your favorite food. If you’re Filipino, that’s probably Sinigang or bread from the panaderya. My favorite food memory is having pandesal with Century Tuna at midnight with my dad. That’s why I enjoy cooking comfort food.
What do you love about your job?
Chef Stephen: Honestly, I love watching people eat. I love seeing how people enjoy food, sometimes without even realizing it. Everyone’s palate is different, and it changes, too. What we enjoy differs and evolves as we age or as we try new things. That’s how we make our palate wiser, or more knowledgeable.
At some point, after eating enough, you might even be able to identify ingredients in the recipe. You might be able to tell what herbs or spices they use or how it was cooked. The science behind cooking is very captivating to me, to think about the depth of food.
What’s an unexpected challenge you’ve encountered during your time at Pastorelli?
Chef Stephen: This space has been here for some 20-odd years. One of the challenges we wanted to tackle was figuring out how to get people to come here again. And how else can we do that but through food and ambiance? Our restaurant is very bright and airy, overlooking the pool, very soothing. During breakfast, you can admire the pool. During merienda, watch the sunset, and at night, there’s a beautiful fountain display. I’m very lucky to be here.
Out of curiosity, what was it like working with George Lucas?
Chef Stephen: It’s funny because his favorite food is Chicken Burrito. He loves Mexican food. I learned how to make fresh tortillas, how to braise pork, how to make pico de gallo, salsa, all that. Through working with him, I met certain people such as Clyde Owen, Seth McFarland. My stint there was a very good experience.
Follow Pastorelli Restaurant on Instagram and check out PonteFino Hotel's website for more updates! For dining reservations, call PonteFino at 0915-964-1026 or 0908-293-9026.
Location: Pastorelli Restaurant, PonteFino Hotel, Gov. Antonio Carpio Road, Batangas
Opening Hours: Breakfast from 6 AM to 10 AM; Lunch from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM; Dinner from 6 PM to 10 PM
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