Filipino restaurant in Singapore cooks everything with pugon oven
The pugon is a traditional wood-fired oven or stove found in many Filipino kitchens.
Now, a Philippines-born chef is bringing this traditional Filipino style of cooking to Singapore with the opening of Kubo, a restaurant on Robertson Quay that's centered around a pugon oven.
Kurt Sombero, 35, who grew up in Mindanao, came to Singapore eight years ago "with basically nothing", he told CNA Lifestyle. But since then, he has served as head chef at an outlet of American barbecue restaurant Meatsmith as well as worked at the Michelin-starred Burnt Ends, yet another barbecue restaurant.
At Kubo, which he set up together with his business partner, Tora Widjaja, as well as the Tipsy Collective restaurant group, Sombero's applying his barbecuing experience and knowledge – but this time, he's infusing his food with deep Filipino roots.
Pugon dishes
Kubo serves Pinoy-inspired cuisine in a fine dining style. Dishes on offer include quail adobo, lechon, sisig, inasal chicken, and house-aged duck.
Sombero's love for cooking was inspired by helping his grandmother in the kitchen when he was young. She cooked with a pugon oven – so it's no wonder that he has made the pugon the heart of his own restaurant's kitchen.
Sombero had a custom-made brick pugon built for Kubo. All the dishes at Kubo will be made via the pugon's wood fire – there's a cast iron stovetop, a rotisserie, an elevation grill, and a custom smoker connected to the pugon.
In keeping with being an emblem of Filipino heritage, the restaurant's name itself refers to bahay kubo, the traditional Filipino houses on stilts built with nipa thatching. Sombero himself grew up in a kubo in Mindanao.
A perfect example of Sombero's interpretation of Filipino cuisine is Kubo's quail adobo, he told CNA Lifestyle. "Adobo is usually pork. But, since a much earlier time, we as a culture in the Philippines have had quail also – we asar it, which means barbecue. Here at Kubo, we take that idea and marry it with a contemporary cooking approach. Adobo is usually braised. Here, we marinate the quail, smoke it, finish it on our elevation grill, and then serve it with mashed potato with garlic confit."
Staff from the Philippines Embassy in Singapore supported the Filipino restaurant by visiting and dining at Kubo.
Chef Kurt's wife, Sheine Ebora-Sombero, shared with embassy officials the interior design of the restaurant, which showcases Philippine-made furniture, decor, and textiles. She also said that Kubo's aim is to make their kababayans in Singapore proud and to promote Filipino food, culture and heritage to Filipinos and foreigners alike.
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