AUSTRALIAN GOOD FOOD GUIDE - Home of the Chef Hat Awards
Jigs Liwanag
Born:
San Augustine, Isabella, The Philippines.
History:
I started my career as a nurse, but I had always loved being around food. When I was young, I was bullied so I spent a great deal of time in the kitchen with my grandmother.
Her recipes are still very close to my heart. After working as a nurse for a few years, my grandmother’s words rang frequenlty in my ears – "don’t die with regret in your heart!”
Armed with some savings and a great deal of excitement, I enrolled in culinary school in Manila. I had found my craft. After culinary school, I moved to Hong Kong to work with a Japanese Master and then took off on the adventure of a lifetime.
I spent eight years sailing the world on a private yacht, learning from and living with Chefs from across the world. I ate meals in almost 100 countries and my culinary inspiration was formed from these travels.
I am as enthused by modern Nordic cuisine as I am ancient kaiseki from Japan. After moving to Australia, I settled in Melbourne working with Ippudo and Rockpool.
The opportunity came to create something special at Hotel Canberra in Ballarat and 2 1/2 years later, I am celebrating incredible produce and producers, honouring my mixed Filipino, Japanese and Spanish heritage, bringing dishes to the tables of our restaurant Vesta x Jigs and The Stables Café & Bar, informed by my travels and my own history.
I have always been a nurturer and it is often said there is love in my food. I take this as a real compliment because the combination of care from my nursing career and the natural talent I have with food is a mix I am very proud of.
Have you always wanted to be a Chef?
I have always loved the way flavour combinations are created. Watching my grandmother cook, and her intuitive skills in creating amazing food,
I think I was always inspired by her. Cooking was my second career and while I am still young, I know it is where my heart and happiness is and always has been. I care how people feel when they eat my food.
How would you define your style?
It’s difficult as the influences are from far and wide, but I really enjoy the mix of contemporary ideas, melded with classic dishes. There is a reason these dishes are part of our culinary history, but I thoroughly enjoy creating or adapting modern takes of those classics. I also draw a lot of ideas from across the world, things I have experienced in Europe, The Caribbean and elsewhere.
What is your feature flavour these days?
It is hard to choose a flavour as my food is so diverse, however, balance is the feature I go for mostly – a combination of the right amount of sour, spicy, salty and savoury.
Obsessive-compulsive about?
Everything! Cleanliness, calm and organisation, oh and doughnuts.
Your greatest culinary influence:
My grandmother for sure.
What do you love about this business?
I am a part of a family. My partner in business is my husband and along with my brother-in-law, we operate the business together. It is also a place where I can experiment, where I am not constrained by boundaries or ideas or fitting into somebody else’s mould or working to someone else’s ideas.
An ingredient you can’t live without?
Garlic and calamansi (Filipino citrus).
Most ‘eyebrow-raising’ menu item?
Duck neck sausage as it is not something people are used to seeing where the duck neck is used as a casing for a sausage. We try and use everything on an animal. There is also a wallaby dish made with native ingredients like quandong, Davidson plum and river mint. I am not sure people will expect a purely Indigenous Australian dish on our menu.
Signature dish:
I love working with raw seafood – crudo and ceviche are on a lot of our menus and will always be, whether its scallops from Apollo Bay, wild Victorian kingfish or crustaceans. This comes from growing up in the Philippines, where seafood and pork are the most popular of proteins.
What can diners expect when they eat at your restaurant and what makes the experience special?
The crazy mix of influences combined in one menu – there is not one specific cuisine or idea we adhere to. We frequently use the phrase, ‘Expect the Unexpected’. The experience is relaxed and very unpretentious.
We don’t want anyone to walk into our dining room and feel uncomfortable, or overwhelmed so the service is casual yet professional and the food is about love and enjoyment.
My husband is an industry veteran and we talk a lot about inviting people into our home when they come to eat in our restaurant or drink in our bar. Nobody in our home is wearing a jacket or tie. It’s about creating an environment where everybody feels welcome and relaxed, so they can enjoy what we are offering.
What is your go-to meal at home when you don’t feel like cooking?
Sardines, steamed rice and smashed tomatoes with fish sauce and chilli, topped with a fried egg.
Tell us something no one knows about you?
I love chilli but I am allergic to fresh chillies.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?
I hope to be doing the same – in my same Birkenstocks, cooking more delicious food, making people happy and passing on my skills to others who want to learn. Teaching calm and patience in the kitchen, passing the torch to the next generation of culinary adventurers.
Vesta x Jigs
Celebrating local producers and culinary adventurers, Vesta x Jigs on Macarthur Street in Ballarat serves a thoughtfully crafted menu in stylish surrounds. Named after the Roman Goddess of Home and Heart and also the name of the owners’ Mum, this dining destination dishes up artfully presented and simply prepared fare shining a light on the commitment and craftsmanship of producers, growers and farmers. Small plates of kingfish ceviche, pickled strawberry and citrus dressing tempt to start, or duck neck sausage with fennel and apple salad; move onto mains such as duck, elderberry pickle, beetroot pave and blackberry jus, or crab and lobster lasagne, tomato consommé, Parmesan espuma and herb powder. To finish, delve into dark chocolate, salted caramel, pretzel, peanut butter and black salt.
