The Fatted Calf: Feasts & family in a farmhouse
Though it is near the Mendez Junction known for its fresh beef stalls, The Fatted Calf along the Tagaytay-Nasugbu road has the beef—but also fish, chicken, pork, and lots and lots of seed-to-table vegetables.
It derives its name from the biblical fatted calf, a metaphor for a festive celebration and rejoicing, especially for the family.
But the feasts The Fatted Calf serves include feasting not just for the diners, but also for the farmers who produce their food, by giving them equitable prices for their harvests.
“Whenever possible, we source our ingredients from local farms and micro-entrepreneurs,” says chef Jay Jay SyCip, who along with wife Rhea, a pastry chef, owns and runs the restaurant. The sprawling restaurant is a modern farmhouse designed by Sen. Loren Legarda, whose late grandmother Mameng owned the land where it is built.
Typical of Loren’s design aesthetic, the interiors are accented by old wood and antique tiles recycled by Loren from demolished old homes. There are two walls in the restaurant lined with Loren’s own paintings. Yes, the legislator has lyrical brushstrokes!
“I just wanted an airy farmhouse using my old recycled wood and reused red tiles, with an open kitchen amid the old coffee trees my Lola planted a long, long time ago,” says Loren. She rents out the farmhouse to the SyCips because of their shared cause of “helping farmers and small farms.”
Chef Jay Jay says that if a farmer with a harvest of wild raspberries from San Pablo, Laguna calls to offer his produce, he and his wife try to create desserts with raspberries. He recalls being saddened when he learned a lot of farmers only make P10 per kilo for produce they sell to markets through middlemen, so The Fatted Calf makes an effort to be accessible to them.
The SyCips are advocates of “slow cooking.”
“From seed to table,” reiterates chef Jay Jay. “The process takes a lot of time with the farmers and the chefs working hand in hand in order to get the best crop. Everyone is expected to get involved, making each dish a collaboration of hearts and minds.”
We drove up to The Fatted Calf one cool January day and true to its name, a feast awaited us.
Despite the fact that it was a Monday, all tables were taken in the main dining area, families on a relaxing day out. The main dining area opens up to a terrace with a view of a lush garden, with some of Lola Mameng’s coffee trees still blooming.
The salads are edible palettes of green. I had a burrata salad, with local burrata, mind you, surrounded by a crown of greens and orange carrot wedges that look like the crown’s spikes.
For my main dish, I chose the half-roast chicken, free-range chicken brined for eight hours and roasted for another eight hours in fresh herbs. Crisp on the outside and tender and tasty on the inside.
My colleague ordered fish and chips that reminded me of Scotland—fish dipped in pilsner batter and served with potato edges, black vinegar, and tartar sauce. I will have this next time.
Our group also ordered osso buco, which was wiped out; fresh catch of the day, which happened to be gindara; braised pork belly from naturally farmed pork. An eyecatcher—it looked like tomahawk steak—was the thick-cut porkchop from organic pork, with braised red cabbage, Cebu corn grits, apple sauce, and corn ribs.
Their signature dish is the wagyu whole roasted leg of beef, a 10-hour roasted wagyu beef shank with aromatic spices and herbs symbolic of the fatted calf, indeed. (This requires ordering in advance.)
