Chef Robby Goco, the man known for giving Filipinos a serious craving for Greek cuisine, points to his restaurant’s crumbling corpse. “Termites are eating up the insides,” he says, peeking into the shuttered outpost of Cyma in El Nido, Palawan. Just a minute’s stroll from the crystalline waters of Vanilla Beach, this would have been the 10th branch of his Greek restaurant empire — perhaps the truest to the spirit of a taverna — had the pandemic not eclipsed plans.
More than half the tenants along Vanilla Beach’s new commercial promenade would close during the lockdown, says Goco. But on a bright Thursday morning a year since masks were made optional in public, El Nido dining looks promising from his vantage point. It’s especially enlivening at his new restaurant Tanaw — literally, “view” — which Goco just opened.
‘ ‘3’: ‘image’: ‘jcr:61227db9-1fe4-4f04-80ca-73449f00def4’ ‘imageCaption’: ‘Perched right where lawn grass meets sand, Tanaw is the first establishment that greets the bare torso’d and bikini’d trudging out of Vanilla
\tPerched right where lawn grass meets sand, Tanaw is the first establishment that greets the bare torso’d and bikini’d trudging out of Vanilla Beach. Goco describes the cuisine as “global flavors and locally sourced ingredients,” its menu offering not just a little something for everyone but a UN delegation of comforts: from aburi sushi, to Spanish tapas, to US Southern-style fried chicken and biscuits. “You have to understand what the foreigners want,” he says, sorting El Nido’s market to 85% foreigners, 10% Manila folk, and 5% island locals. “Foreigners kasi, you have to bring in something that they know — so tacos, burgers, salad, pasta…”
” ’19’: ‘image’: ‘jcr:67c58ced-9072-4e21-936b-f8c6e4cfbda6’ ‘imageCaption’: ‘The menu offers not just a little something for everyone but
A glance at the ‘round-the-world offerings can signal apprehension. Restaurant rule of thumb is that when a kitchen tries to fly everywhere all at once, it’s bound to take a nosedive in quality. But over numerous lunches and dinners at Tanaw, not one dish from the diverse selection fell short of satisfaction. Many, I’ll say, even soared.
‘ ‘1’: ‘image’: ‘jcr:3420df1d-9a90-4f21-ab93-eacec6220669’ ‘imageCaption’: ‘After numerous lunches and dinners at Tanaw, not one dish from the diverse selection fell short of satisfaction. Photo courtesy of TANAW
As much of a no-brainer as any porky fried thing is here (the crispy pig ears are crack in cartilage form), the best bites at Tanaw are from the sea that’s staring you in the face. Start with the mussels (mejillones) and anchovies (boquerones), ironically in the “snacks” section considering their tremendous size and flavor. Follow it up with tataki, carpaccio, or the house ceviche, as festive as halo-halo, where rounds of corn and the crunch of camote chips compliment luscious chunks of the day’s catch. With the deftest squeeze of citrus buoyed by hints of truffle, seaweed, or spice, Goco shows such mastery of the raw bar, you wonder why he hasn’t opened a Peruvian-Japanese restaurant yet.
‘ ’23’: ‘image’: ‘jcr:00bfbd31-d0f4-400d-9ef7-48eca86f3130’ ‘imageCaption’: ‘Tanaw’s Dry Aged Local Fish Sashimi is served with truffle
On a morning trip to the town’s palengke, Goco’s source of inspiration is clear. “The catch is better here because it came straight from the ocean,” he assures, pointing at a symphony of seafood like a conductor, from tubs of stingray to “hard-to-find” white squid the size of a bike pump. “I have access to the best seafood, but see, [foreigners] are all eating fried fish — and frozen cream dory at that,” he says, bewildered.
‘ ‘9’: ‘image’: ‘jcr:eb34f760-3dd3-4dfb-8f4e-8227a0dddb75’ ‘imageCaption’: ‘Tanaw El Nido’s Unicorn Fish Taco embodies the chef’s utopian ideal for El Nido eating: finger food to fill up sandy-footed foreigners.
If Tanaw’s diners aren’t already obsessing over the local catch, the fish tacos should guarantee it. Comprising an immense platter is a stack of cassava tortillas and an entire unicornfish (sinungay) deconstructed into deep-fried wedges. Native to the area, sinungay’s almost mythic quality isn’t its horned head, Goco attests, but that it tastes “like bangus belly” all throughout. The dish embodies the chef’s utopian ideal for El Nido eating: finger food to fill up sandy-footed foreigners, but also a handshake between familiar flavors and underrated local ingredients.
‘ ’24’: ‘image’: ‘jcr:5f615d7c-8901-4cd0-acb7-8c7edb84049e’ ‘imageCaption’: ‘Chef Robby Goco with partners Cong. Kristine Singson Meehan and Lord Allan Velasco cutting the ribbon to officially launch Tanaw. Photo
“Filipino food, it’s gonna be hard to sell, so we try to introduce a little bit to them,” he says, describing the palengke produce he’s maneuvered into the taco platter. “I know you can’t use corn,” he says of tortillas that make a worthy canvas for the fatty, flavorful sinungay, “but be more creative, so I did cassava.” In lieu of ripe, red Romas, Goco utilizes the island’s bounty of yellow native tomato, grilling it to “come up with a very unique El Nido-flavored salsa.”
\tA couple of days before Tanaw’s official opening, there already seems to be an appetite for what Goco’s serving. At lunchtime, Aperol Spritzes fly off the bamboo bar as revenge-traveling Filipinos and foreigners swarm the sand-toned, sun-brightened interior; a scene as lively as its hand-painted wall mural depicting idyllic island life. Outside, clusters of European 30-somethings have taken refuge under the canvas awning, dazed and hunkered over bowls of pasta and frosty San Migs. Some will even linger close to sunset, draped over the beanbags on the palm-dotted patio.
” ’14’: ‘image’: ‘jcr:5cb580ac-1e65-4434-b6eb-f69969051c8a’ ‘imageCaption’: ‘El Nido is especially enlivening at restaurant Tanaw. Photo
Clearly, El Nido’s tourism is as vibrant today as the sunburn on diners’ backs, yet Goco shrugs, unimpressed. A neighboring restaurant is Maremegmeg, a 14-room resort with a beach bar he once saw throbbing with patrons. “It was raining hard and there were about 100 girls in bikinis all waving their credit card [at the bar],” he says, recalling a 2018 trip where he’d first witnessed a crowd so desperate to be catered to, the resort’s owner Melanie Alvarez pleaded he capitalize on it. “You need to put up restaurants here because I can’t accommodate them anymore,” she’d told him.
Once daily flights to El Nido are in full swing (“14 flights, okay na yan, diba?”), Goco may be convinced that business is truly back. When that time comes, he might even consider reviving Cyma.