Friendly neighbourhood restaurants are what we miss the most, and CHINO MNL has been high on our list. Here's the story behind the friendly fusion cantina that's been serving up some of our favourite foods this quarantine.
CHINO Manila has, without a doubt, been a dream come true for executive chef and restauranteur, Erik Idos. Having spent some of his most formative years as a chef at Nobu 57, Erik has managed to fashion a taste that reflects all the spaces from his life story. He'd grown up along the colourful streets of the West Coast — in LA, where a vibrant gastronomy of Mexican cuisines had melded together. It was a fascination to the budding epicure, who took the Hispanic flair from the City of Angels all the way to the Big Apple, where he had found a place at the kitchen of culinary legend, Nobu Matsuhisa.
As a mentee to the man himself, Erik nurtured his talents to faculties of Japanese cooking techniques. Through his ten years spent at the Nobu group — three at New York, three at San Diego, and four at Hong Kong — Chef Erik had become one to watch out for. In 2014, Erik left his post as Executive Chef at Nobu Intercontinental Hong Kong to open the first branch of CHINO. Located at scenic banks of Kennedy Town, CHINO Hong Kong was a qualified success. The next step? Bringing his triumph to where the Idos family first found home — Manila.
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