At Balmori Suites, inside a quiet and unassuming dining room, chefs from Manila and Seoul have come together for Mat Nam, a pop-up series that is part cultural exchange and part tasting menu.
The event is the latest evolution of the chef’s table residency by Your Local, a Manila restaurant known for its inventive takes on Asian comfort food. Under the direction of Chef Patrick Go, the restaurant has gained recognition for dishes such as laksa pasta, torched salmon donburi and rendang sandwiches. Mat Nam pairs Go’s culinary style with a rotating lineup of Korean chefs featured in Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars.
The first installment featured Chef Young Sook Lee, owner of Nakyung in Seoul, and Chef Jihyung Choi of Leebukbang, a restaurant recognized by the Michelin Guide. Their approaches to Korean cuisine differ sharply, but both chefs presented menus that highlighted tradition, technique and regional depth.
Chef Lee specializes in traditional Korean flavors, preparing them with restraint and precision. She opened the evening with japchae — glass noodles lightly coated in soy sauce and sesame oil, tossed with carrots, mushrooms and spinach. The dish set a gentle tone for the meal, which progressed to chicken mushroom gangjeong, featuring crisp fried chicken glazed in soy-sweet sauce and garnished with fried mushrooms and puffed rice.
Chef Choi took a more experimental approach, reinterpreting North Korean dishes with bold flavors and techniques. His gochujang chicken was grilled until the skin blistered, creating a layer of fermented chili heat balanced by a subtle sweetness and smoke. He also served makjokgui: pork marinated in makjang, a pungent fermented soybean paste, grilled and served with a tofu purée and vegetables. The dish was robust yet refined, demonstrating a careful balance of flavors.
Chef Go contributed dishes that connected the Manila-Seoul collaboration. His palabok rice layered warm sushi rice with shrimp sauce, crispy garlic, scallions, calamansi and smoked Korean fish. The halibut rendang featured white fish infused with a coconut-heavy spice blend, while grilled river prawns arrived butter-glazed and topped with ebiko, delivering briny and smoky notes.
Mat Nam is the third installment of Your Local’s pop-up residency at Balmori Suites. Unlike pop-ups that aim for social media attention, the event focuses on intimate, thoughtful dining. There is no overarching theme, no theatrical presentation. The chefs rely instead on the depth and honesty of their cooking to carry the evening.
The series is expected to continue with different guest chefs from Korea, offering Manila diners an evolving exploration of Asian flavors. — Tatung Sarthou
