ANTON AMONCIO isn’t on TV just for his looks. He is on TV at the Asian Food Channel and Food Network because he won the Food Hero contest in 2016, which tested his on-screen appeal and creativity, winning with a Cheesy Lamb Kaldereta (helped by his smile). The kaldereta was part of his menu at Antojos (which has since closed its doors). However, the restaurant in itself is a story: Mr. Amoncio opened that, his first, at the young age of 24.

“I had a pretty good support system, until now. Family has pretty much helped me a lot. They gave me excellent advice, whenever I feel like I’m in trouble or I feel like I have things that I’m quite unsure of, I make sure that I ask them but leading up to the opening up of the restaurant I already had that goal set in mind. Ever since I was 18, I told myself I would eventually open my restaurant.”

Mr. Amoncio has since appeared on Home Cooked Asia: Philippines, and is promoting an upcoming show, Cruise the World, which will see him in four coastal cities (including one in the Philippines). BusinessWorld went on to ask Mr. Amoncio in an e-mail what it means for a chef to see a city (as opposed to a shopper, for example): “When I eat a food at a place, I take in a lot of things: the ingredients, the preparation, and the flavor. Eating food at a foreign place is kind of like me reading a history book but tastier because you get to see what influenced them,” he said. “So, the food, in a weird way whispers to you, all you got to do is just listen and you get to see those small things that talk about the culture of the place.”

In previous interviews, he has mentioned that his own personal food hero is his grandmother. “I used to hate being in the kitchen with my grandmother. I’d rather be outside playing with other kids. But it’s actually a blessing in disguise ’cause in a way, me being in the kitchen showed me a different side of her. Like, even though she is so sick she would find a way to just stand up and be in the kitchen and cook for the family. And that’s love right there. That’s something that money cannot buy, and I think that’s something that kind of got ingrained in my head, in my being.” With this, he also keeps saying that his favorite dish is his grandmother’s tinola (chicken soup). “Although it’s not anything mind-blowing. What I like about her tinola is she puts a lot of chilis, makes use of native chicken, and she adds a ton of ginger, and buko (young coconut) juice. Really delectable.”

Whenever you ask chefs what their favorite dish is, it’s usually something simple, or something quite special made by someone they’re very fond of. For them, the best things in the world aren’t something that money, or even skill, can afford. Addressing this, Mr. Amoncio said, “I’d rather have a homecooked meal that is plated so carelessly by an untrained chef, but you know that they made it with love and they’re not paid to do it and they just want to serve it for you. You know, it’s so much different. It might sound cliché but if you come in the mindset of cooking inside the kitchen and just serve people to earn money, then I think you are in the wrong profession. Because cooking — you know, food tastes better when you put your heart and soul into it. It’s kinda like music, it’s an extension of yourself, in a way that you put in a sheet of music. Here, our sheet of music is our plate. So, something like that.”

Having often wondered how cooking on TV works, Mr. Amoncio gave us a glimpse of how different it is to cook for a distant audience. “I would say it’s a little more difficult to serve customers. One, they are paying. Two, when I’m in front of the television, I have producers, I have make-up artists, I have the director, I have the art department to help me look good but when you’re cooking for a customer, a paying customer, it’s just pretty much you and them. So, you have to make sure — there are no take backs. Once you bring food out of the kitchen, you gotta make sure that it’s really good. Really, really good and you can’t just say, ‘Oh, it’s a little salty. Can I take that back?’ So, that’s a little bit more challenging for me.”

As we’ve mentioned, Mr. Amoncio isn’t quite involved in the restaurant scene anymore since his restaurant closed. He said however, “Contrary to popular belief, I’m still working inside the kitchen but as a restaurant consultant. In a way, it allows me to be able to be a little bit more free to do things such as Cruise the World, be a part of the Asian Food Channel, TLC, be part of a soap opera and stuff like that, but I’m still cooking and I’m learning. I don’t know if I’ve told you guys this already, I am training under a two Michelin star chef right now. I’m still constantly learning. Learning does not stop. I’ve been in the industry for a long time already and I feel like there’s so much room for me to grow so I took the opportunity to be able to do that. Right now, I’m opening five restaurants in November and in December.” — Joseph L. Garcia

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