Asia is one food-crazy continent! We take great care to pick restaurants based on culinary vibes, rankings on international gourmand guides, mentions in magazines, Instagrammability, and added hunger. Yes, Chef! features the region’s chefs' stories of love and labour in kitchens that have made some of our restaurants the next big thing in Asia.

It all started with a craving. After a long day of prepping, cooking, and tasting French dishes at Chateau 1771, Chef Vicky-Rose Pacheco found herself longing for something closer to home — the comforting taste of Filipino food.

“At that time, my only desire was to eat non-French food because every day I was cooking it, and I said, 'Oh, what do I eat after work?' Whenever I went home, I just ate fried bangus (Milkfish) with vinegar, and I realized this is the kind of food that I want to eat,” she shared with The Beat Asia.

This lingering craving would eventually become the spark behind Sentro 1771, a Filipino restaurant she founded in 2002, deemed one of the pioneers in ushering modern Filipino cuisine into the mainstream dining scene.

In our conversation, Chef Vicky looked back on the restaurant’s beginnings, recalling how it emerged from the realization that Filipinos will always end up looking for Pinoy flavor somewhere, no matter what cuisine they consume. Her desire to “come home” to the flavors she grew up eating had led her to create dishes that honor local traditions while using techniques and disciplines she had learned in fine dining.

One of the prime examples of this is her signature Corned Beef Sinigang, which she shared was inspired by her mother’s English-style corned beef and cabbage recipe.

She had initially put the Corned Beef and Cabbage on Chateau 1771’s menu, but it didn’t sell as much as she’d hoped. And then, a serendipitous experiment involving a pot of beef in her kitchen happened.

“We had just made a batch of corned beef at Chateau 1771 in 1997, and I saw a big stock pot of corned beef broth (the liquid where the beef was simmered for 4 hours). I tasted the broth, but it was too salty! So I said, 'What if I put a souring ingredient?' Then it tasted like Sinigang!”

It turns out that Chef Vicky’s journey to the kitchen was just as serendipitous. Sentro 1771’s Executive Chef shared that her love for food wasn’t influenced by a particular recipe but rather fostered in family-style dining and inspired by the variety of dishes she had witnessed being prepared.

“Growing up,we always ate together as a family,” she said. “And every time there was a fiesta, the kitchen was always bustling with people. Many people came and cooked all at the same time in one small space. I was always watching them. Every time there’s a special occasion, there’s always a big spread. So maybe it was the variety — in the abundance that was there, which now I realize was a blessing.”

Chef Vicky took up a Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Administration at the University of the Philippines Diliman and trained in prestigious institutions in Switzerland, such as the Roches Hotel and Tourism School and École Hôtelière de Lausanne. She then took her career to the US, where she helped launch a restaurant in Daly City, San Francisco. However, fate had other plans when it brought her back to the Philippines — right at the doorstep of a newly-opened French restaurant, which eventually became known as Chateau 1771.

“It was opened by one of my batchmates in Switzerland, and she asked me to join her because she was going on leave. So I came in as her assistant manager, and she was the restaurant manager, and the chef became her husband. When the couple left the restaurant, I took over all of their roles, even the chef's part. So that's when I started cooking. The owner thought I knew how to cook *laughs*! He thought he hired a chef, so I just had to prove myself and was learning as I went along.”

More than two decades later, Chef Vicky has made her mark in Filipino cuisine with Sentro 1771’s signatures, which easily became local favorites.

“It did not set out to be a Filipino restaurant,” she said matter-of-factly, explaining that they had initially planned to put up a Western-style restaurant. “I just said I wanted food that was likable or amiable to the Filipino palate. What do Filipinos like to eat? So that went around in my head, and it turned out that it was Filipino food.”

Some of the restaurant’s specialties include the Corned Beef Sinigang, which remains to be their top bestseller; the Rated GG which is Galunggong fillets (prepared using French preparation techniques) fried in garlic olive oil and topped with browned garlic; the Sizzling Tofu, which she described as “parang sisig pero hindi (just like sisig but not really)” as she wanted a sisig dish that vegetarians could consume; the pan-fried Blissful Bangus Belly deboned and seasoned with a mix of soy sauce, oyster sauce, and vinegar; and the Tomato Kesong Puti Salad, which is chef’s Pinoy version of the Italian Insalata Caprese.

When asked about how she curated the menu, Chef Vicky mentioned that the restaurant’s offerings are a blend of her creativity and what her customer wants.

“There’s always a creative part, and there’s always a statistics part. The statistics part is like observing what people like to eat and what sells. So that's what you put in the favorites, dishes like Kare-Kare and Crispy Pata. All restaurants have those, and everyone will mostly order them because they're hard to prepare and it’s lasangPinoy (tastes Pinoy). But then, after putting in certain classics and favorites, I always make sure there are original dishes on the menu, and that's the risk because that's also the creative part. When I introduce a dish, it just means you’re making a statement that this is what tastes good for me and for everybody. Sometimes it's a selfish endeavor, but most of the time it should not be because every restaurant is for the customer, not for the chefs.”

As both Executive Chef and COO of Sentro 1771, Chef Vicky has done a commendable job in balancing management of the kitchen as well as the front of the house. She shared how management would usually take over, as it takes a lot of time, and she has a good team in the kitchen, and everything is standardized. However, if there are issues in the kitchen, with a guest, or they’re training someone new in the kitchen, then she would always make sure to be back there to supervise.

“I do inspections every day. I pass through the back door and open all freezers, all refrigerators, all storage, and then I check the stations. Even if I can't be in all the restaurants in a single day, when I’m there, I talk to the people. I don't do paperwork because it's a waste of time to be physically in the place, but not talking to people, not relating to them, and seeing how they are. I always believe that a happy cook cooks good food, so I always make sure that they’re okay.”

With Sentro 1771 being around for more than two decades, Chef Vicky had a much to share about how Filipino cuisine has evolved through the years. She told us that before, Filipino food was just traditional “lutong bahay (home-cooked)," but after Sentro opened, they started introducing original dishes or recipes with a twist — plating them differently or serving them in an upscale ambience.

“It elevated Filipino cuisine,” she explained. “And after around eight years in 2010, that's when other restaurants followed suit, doing the same thing: upgrading the food, the ambiance, the graphics, everything! So then that’s when the competition became tougher. But it’s good because it keeps us on our toes.”

When asked about how the restaurant plays its part in preserving Filipino heritage, she replied that it lies in their hospitality, or how they welcome their guests like family, the way a true Filipino household would. She shared how they accede to some of their diners' requests to tweak the flavors in some of their dishes. Chef even called it the “1771 brand of service,” which is all about making sure each dish suits their tastes, and each guest leaves happy and satisfied.

As for what’s next for Sentro 1771, Chef Vicky expressed her desire to find a new location, preferably a house that they can fashion into a place that will make their customers feel more at home.

“Something more welcoming. In a house, the ambiance is different. So that's in the pipeline — that's in our master plan in my brain.”

Sentro 1771 currently has three branches around Metro Manila: Greenbelt 5, One Bonifacio High Street Mall in BGC, and Capitol Commons, which doubles as an event venue where you can celebrate with your loved ones. You can make your reservation here or contact the branch directly.

For more delicious updates, follow Sentro 1771 on Facebook and Instagram.

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