SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Mantle opens its doors at the Days Inn and Suites officially on Saturday but the real show starts later when the restaurant starts offering its signature boodle fights every weekend.
The owners of The Mantle include Rodil Libiano, left, Analie Libiano, Cherrie Leaban-Paras and Dax Paras are bringing a mix of Asian and western food, including dishes from back home in the Philippines to the Days Inn. - Jessica Davey-Quantick/NNSL photo |
"The army in the Philippines, they do a boodle fight. That boodle fight is banana leaves with all kinds of different kinds of food of the Philippines, variety," said Dax Paras, one of the chefs at the restaurant.
Rodil Libiano got his start working at restaurants in Dubai. He started his career not in culinary school but as a sailor and came to Canada in 2012.
"Maybe this is my journey ... coming here (to) Yellowknife. We have lots of provinces in Canada but I (came) here," he said.
The two, along with their wives, Analie Libiano and Cherrie Leaban-Paras, own the restaurant and are planning to bring a taste of the Philippines to Canada. That includes the boodle fight, a kind of culinary combat, where a variety of dishes are served at a communal table, lined with rice and banana leaves.
"The rule is no cutlery," said Leaban-Paras. "The reason why it's boodle 'fight' is because it's military style, right? So basically if you're the one who's hungrier, you really dig in!"
She says it's a delicious, not vicious, sort of fight. "It shows camaraderie because you are all there and you eat with your bare hands: no plates, no cutlery, so also equality, that's what it shows."
It's now popular throughout the Philippines, and the owners are sure it will be a hit in Yellowknife as well, where they plan to offer the boodle fight every Saturday.
"In the Philippines we cannot say it is a tradition but we love to do that, especially when it's a special occasion, a group of friends. It's like a buffet," said Paras.
The menu is a mix of familiar western dishes, and options from across Asia, including the Philippines. Libiano says they'll also be adding more Filipino dishes to the weekday lunch buffet.
"We want to accommodate everyone, and every nationality, especially our regular customer here in the hotel," said Paras, adding that many of their customers are Japanese, Korean or Chinese, which is why they offer items that would be familiar to them, such as burgers with options for rice or mashed potatoes on top. But he said he sees this as an opportunity to include more of the food he grew up eating.
"We have a similar (style) of food. That's why ... we can connect. But of course we promote our food too!"
The regular menu does include some Filipino dishes, although the owners say they're saving more challenging offerings until Yellowknife is ready for them, so don't expect to see balut - a fermented chicken fetus popular in the Philippines - on the menu anytime soon.
But they are already plotting how to introduce other favorites, like halo-halo, which means "mix-mix," a frozen mix of shaved ice, flan, red bean and ice cream this summer.
The daily menu includes chicken and pork barbecue, tapsilog which is marinated beef that's a favourite Filipino breakfast and pork sisig which is a mix of diced pork.
"This is the only restaurant you're going to get Filipino food int he city," said Leaban-Paras.
The Mantle opens at the Days Inn and Suites on Sunday with a special brunch featuring a Filipino-style pig roast.
