Take your taste buds to Spain with this new 5-course menu in Ortigas
The Spanish restaurant has recently welcomed Chef Álvaro Romero-abreu Raya as its new Chef de Cuisine. Born and raised in Cádiz, Spain, Chef Raya brings years of experience working in Michelin-starred kitchens, including the world-renowned Mugaritz in Spain.
He now continues the culinary vision of Gonzalez, blending traditional Spanish flavors with a modern touch.
One of the best ways to experience Raya's expertise with Spanish food is through Cantabria's new seasonal five-course set menu.
The menu starts with Tiradito de Atún y Gazpacho, a refreshing mix of tuna, Andalusian gazpacho, pickles, and confit tomato. Then comes the Terrina de Pato y Mermelada de Mango, a rich duck terrine paired with mango chutney, pistachios, and toast.
For the mains, enjoy the comforting Arroz Negro y Mero al Vapor, a creamy black ink seafood risotto with steamed grouper, and the flavorful Solomillo y su Demiglace con Calabaza Asada, a perfect slice of tenderloin steak served with roast pumpkin purée, pickled pears, and fondant potatoes.
To end your meal on a sweet note, the Sobao Pasiego, a specialty cake from the Cantabria region, is served with berry coulis and cheese ice cream.
The five-course menu is available for lunch and dinner at Cantabria by Chef Chele Gonzalez, located at The Westin Manila in Ortigas, Mandaluyong City. It's priced at P2,900++ per person, which comes with tapas amuse bouche and a glass of signature cocktail.
—CDC, GMA Integrated News
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
_2025_08_12_12_00_42.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
GMA Network
6 days ago
- GMA Network
'Into the Woods' creators on the Easter eggs making the musical a Filipino production through and through
The much awaited Theater Group Asia (TGA) production of "Into the Woods" opened last week with an all-star Filipino cast led by Lea Salonga. But as soon as curtains went up, it became evident there is more Filipino culture than the cast. Large capiz windows dominate the stage, with the floor covered by what looks like Spanish tiles. A huge chandelier hangs amid scattered tree trunks and immediately the audience will know this is an unabashedly Filipino production of the famous American musical about various fairytale characters. According to TGA's artistic and creative director Clint Ramos, they really wanted to be overt about it. "We still wanted to honor the intentions of the original creators but we wanted to find a way to make it ours, in a way that feels organic." In making "Into the Woods," TGA decided to lean in and include the many layers of Philippine history. The pre-colonial in the weaves featured in the costumes — Also, check out the pintados tattoos on The Wolf — the colonial in the silhouette of the boot, and perhaps the modern post-colonial in the Filipino diaspora represented by many of the actors. Creators Clint and director Chari Arespacochaga tell GMA News Online more about their creative decisions and their inspiration that led to a distinctly Filipino rendition of "Into the Woods." Below is our interview edited for length and clarity. TGA's Overall Artistic and Creative Director Clint Ramos and Director Chari Arespacochaga Courtesy: TGA Could you tell us more about the decision to use capiz windows and the floor tiles on the stage? Were those nods to our culture? if yes, was it difficult to do with "Into the Woods"? Clint: We never really thought to translate or adapt it. We never changed a single word in the musical, nor did we change anything in the music. But to give you a little bit of background, when the late Bobby Garcia and I were talking about starting TGA here in the Philippines, we really wanted to consider the Filipino condition. We didn't want to be heavy handed about it. For "Into the Woods," we still to honor the intentions of the original creators but we wanted to find a way to make it ours in a way that feels organic. So we kept thinking: How would you do it in Manila? How would you — what would we need to do to make this happen? Clearly we're doing it with an all Filipino cast and we wanted to engage Filipinos in the broader diaspora, but we wanted to build it here in Manila. For "Into the Woods," the mandate was: Without any rules, how we can um consider who we are, our history as a people? This musical is about fairy tales, and we want to lean into this idea of us as a people being storytellers. That's how it all kind of began. Those capiz windows are an interesting choice. Clearly you can see the colonial influence already. And that was a big thing for us. The scale of the capiz windows is big because we wanted to dwarf the actors — like it's bigger than them. But more than anything, we didn't want it to be naturalistic. We didn't want it to be like, 'here's the forest, and now here's the castle.' We didn't want it to be that way. We wanted to create a box, an envelope for the storytelling. It wasn't about convincing audiences that we're going to transport you into the forest. We we wanted to consider all of the layers of of Filipinos and that's also what we inspired our designers to do. To break the rules. There are no rules. You're ready Filipino. So what we wanted to do was create our unique Filipino facade, an envelope for the storytelling. So you have this box and then you put trees in it, and you have the orchestra up there and you're conscious of the thing being made, you know? The storytelling being made. The way Chari [Arespacochaga] staged the whole thing is very presentational. The musical is very presentational. You have characters entering, telling you who they are, telling you about like what's about to happen. There's a narrator. It's about storytelling. "Into the Woods" does feel very self-aware. We thought there were inside jokes in there. It is very self-conscious. It's like, the work of where you have to create a distance between who the audience is and these characters, and that kind of technique maximizes the audiences' identification with those characters. And because we're able to distance ourselves at first, it is able to honor the fairytale roots of the stories. That is a princess, or that is a prince, that is a wolf. But once [they start] spouting those lyrics, it's like, 'she literally my mother.' Or 'that is me.' And then the story flips on itself. You're also made to think more about yourself. Like, 'Would I have done what the Steward did?' And this is the funny thing. It's like going back to this idea of Filipino-ness. We really encourage the actors, because they had the same question: How do we present this in a Filipino context? And Chari and I were really encouraging them to just not even think about it. Was that difficult to do? Chari: It wasn't. A lot of the work was freeing them to say, 'Why do you think this mom is doing that?' To call from personal things. What is your experience of the first moment you had desires that a Catholic school told you was bad or what whatever, right? And so a lot of the process was freeing that thought and encouraging them to really be empowered to put those into their choices. Oh so that's why on opening night, Clint quoted Sodeheim in his opening message! About how being you makes it being true. That's literally what we were saying. There is no right or wrong way to do Filipino. As as Sodeheim had beautifully stated in one of his musicals,'everything you do, let it come from you and it be new.' But how about with the costumes and the textiles. Even the puppetry? Our costume designer [Raven Ong] really wanted to look at sort of the the materiality of Filipino culture, right? And not create our own rules in this fairy tale. There's there's some creatures from the Visayan myths that resemble dogs so that would the dog wolf. So this is from Visayas, so maybe we also infuse a little bit of the pintados in the design. When our costume designer said 'I wanna use habi,' I said, 'go for it.' It's very exciting, in the princes' costumes, there's all of that gold trim. And its ingenious and almost scholarly way to approach it. And the puppetry, we wanted to use puppets but wanted it Filipino, so Teatro Mulat of National Artist Amelia Bonifacio was a no brainer. The technique and the symbols that they used are drawn from Filipino culture. The birds are inspired by local birds. They created shadow puppets so the Filipino vines that go up balete trees, the beanstalk. The boot of the female giant! And the puppeteer is Amihan, the daughter of Amelia, our national artist. She was animating the cow, and was a big part of the production. Were there things that left you struggling, or left you both thinking, what would Bobby do? Clint: In my conversations with Bobby, one of the the first questions we asked each other was like, okay, so who are the giants in the sky, who seem to be omnipotent but also trampling on our land? all of this stuff. So we had really wanted to be intentional about that. We ran across this popular American caricature from the turn of the century — Uncle Sam's boot. So what did we do to make a nod to that, a little wink — not even a wink or a nod, but like can we be overt about that? If we are saying the box alludes to the Spanish, and we have all of this like pre-colonial motifs, you know. Maybe then we do this big thing, the physical representation of that alludes to a colonizing force or a big force like that, it strength on a on a people and creates kind of like havoc, right? And the people actually turning on themselves to blame each other for the things that go wrong. Like people say, yeah, the giant is the greed, you know, why what's happening to these characters is because of Jack, right? Like he went up there to get, you know, to get all of these riches. But where do those riches come from? It's very overt, but we wanted to be cheeky and funny. This is part of this is part of us. We think of being Filipino needs to be indigenous. Like that's not Filipino enough because that's not indigenous enough. But there are layers to us. So we wanted to pose that question to the ounce and whether they like it or not is really up to them. Is that something that you wish the audiences would you know it is it is it like a takeaway that you wish audiences would would have leaving the theater Chari: When we first started talking about this, I have not been home in, what, 12 years since I left to pursue directing in the United States, and I was really just looking back to that period. I had never felt more Filipino than when I had finally left and had to navigate up building a career in another country. So if what is taken away is a discourse about what it means for you to be Filipino today, great. If what you take away is a restored belief in our innate need for community, also, great. But also like come come and have fun at the show, coming and enjoy the show and allow for it to make you think about new ways of living today. It's a fairy tale after all. Clint: For me if they come if people come out of this show having a discourse, not only about and the brilliance of this musical, but what it means to consider the Filipino condition, then we've already done our job. Chari: But ultimately, what was really important to us was the question of what happens if a community is broken apart by big oppressive forces? The way through is for the community to come back together. Yes, exactly. It may not resemble the old community that was torn apart but it's almost like the only way out of hell is through it. So we acknowledge the damage and the rebuilding. Like if there's anything more Filipino with that resiliency, I mean, there's a reason why our you know our original architecture was really meant to be temporary. Clint: Ricky Lee was there on opening night, and he had seen the original Broadway production which was very ornate. We had a conversation after the show and he said, 'it seemed like you all pared it down and made this both presentational, with a real focus on the relationships. The way these characters reacted to each other and to the things that were happening around them. And he said how that was so incredibly Filipino. And it was really amazing to hear that from Ricky because in many ways, it was a reflection of what we were trying to do. — GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
10-08-2025
- GMA Network
Rhian Ramos marks 4th anniversary with Sam Verzosa
Rhian Ramos is full of love as she and Sam Verzosa celebrate their fourth anniversary! On Instagram, the Kapuso actress shared a series of photos from their recent trip, including a stop at the hospital. "Happy four years booboo. This year wasn't about Michelin starred restaurants, designer clothes, or remote locations," Rhian wrote. "On our anniversary, we took a flight and did all the rounds to make sure our health is on point! Basically, nag-hospital kami, nagsimba, nag-fasting, and spent time with family," she added. Rhian wrapped up her post by saying she can go anywhere and eat anything, as long as she's with Sam. "I just want you to know that you can take me to any hawker center or market and it's a five star experience to me, basta kasama ka." Rhian and Sam confirmed their relationship at the GMA Gala 2022 when they arrived hand in hand. The two were subjects of breakup rumors in 2023, but Sam revealed that although they had a rough patch, "We are in love." In a March interview in "Fast Talk With Boy Abunda," Rhian said her belief in marriage changed because of Sam. Rhian currently stars in "Encantadia Chronicles: Sang'gre" as Mitena, the Ice Queen and main antagonist. —Jade Veronique Yap/MGP, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
01-08-2025
- GMA Network
A place for retired partygoers: This supper club in BGC wraps up at 2 a.m.
This one's for the ageing millennials who want a peaceful dinner and drinks session while embracing a high-energy atmosphere. Medusa, the first supper club in Bonifacio Global City, has officially opened its doors at The Palace Manila in Uptown Bonifacio in Taguig. The concept offers a fresh take on nightlife: blending elevated dining, curated drinks, and vibrant music all in one space that opens at 6 p.m. and shuts down at 2 a.m., perfect for those who love to go out but no longer want to stay out until sunrise. Medusa's premise is simple: come in for dinner, stay for cocktails, and end the night without overextending yourself. "We can eat and drink at the same place and have a full night out in one particular location," Erwan Heussaff, one of Medusa's industry partners, said during the media preview. Inside, Medusa features Art Deco interiors with layered tropical accents. The menu, on the other hand, is led by internationally trained chefs Lisa Revilla and David Thien Chow Kang, who bring their experience from Michelin-starred kitchens and top restaurants across Asia and Europe. The menu, according to Erwan, has "everything you look for when you want to have dinner" with friends and loved ones. Starting with small plates and salads: Crispy Salmon Sushi (P550), Smoked Eggplant and Tomato Salad (P650), and Lobster Roll (P1,100), among others. For the mains, there's Norwegian Salmon (P1,200), Miso Black Cod (P1,350), Fennel Pork Chop (P1,950), Angus Ribeye (P3,500), Cauliflower and Parmesan (P650), and a wide selection of pasta plates. If you're dining with a big group, there are also dishes meant for sharing, including the Chicken Wellington (P2,400) and Roasted Lamb Rack (P6,000), which you can pair with side dishes of Angus Steak Rice (P600), Truffle Fries (P450), or Truffle Mac & Cheese (P790), to name a few. For those who don't skip desserts, you may choose from Basque Brulee Cheesecake (P390), Chocolate Lava Cake (P590), and Eton Mess Sundae (P590). As for the supper club's signature cocktails, it offers Medusa Gin & Tonic (P780), Gorgonette Gin (P550), and The Priestess Vodka (P590), among others. Medusa is located at 38th St. Uptown, BGC, Taguig City. It's open from Tuesdays to Saturdays. —CDC, GMA Integrated News
