IT’S EASY to call a tapas bar, a tapas bar. All you really need are a line of hams masquerading as vaguely Spanish, offer a few bottles of cheap wine and fruit juice masquerading as sangria, sit back, and wait for the drunks to come. But not this one.

For a restaurant named after the Spanish word for “Hey!,” ¡Oye! Tapas and Grill — the newest property of the Advent Manila Hospitality Group, Inc., the parent company for restaurants XO 46 Heritage Bistro, Arroz Ecija, Rajah Maynila, Isla Kusina, and Raku — goes beyond the basic and serves tidbits worthy of memory (provided you don’t black out from the cocktails). It’s something you should expect from a restaurant where a former employee of Ferran Adria (think elBulli, one of the best restaurants in the world, mourned in its closure) reigns in the kitchen.

“Delicious, progressive, avant-garde — still Spanish, but very today,” is how ¡Oye!’s owner Andrew Masigan describes his eatery’s taste. He thinks that the Spanish cuisine that has evolved on its own in the Philippines is still stuck in the 1970s, while over in Spain, gastronomy has made leaps and bounds. Through his Spanish-trained chefs as well as multiple trips to Spain, Mr. Masigan has tailored the menu over at ¡Oye! to go above and beyond.

I mean, look at its stuffed baby squid, sampled recently during a lunch visit by BusinessWorld. At first seemingly unremarkable, but then a stuffing of ground beef and truffle (real truffle, mind you, not oil) opens the mouth to a dream. More filling choices include tenderloin with foie gras (definitely luxurious, and it melts in the mouth), to grilled pork ribs and chicken (absolutely tender, but aggressive with an inimitable hint of fire and smoke). Definitely a standout was the beef fillet salpicao, with slices of solomillo (sirloin) swimming in ruby-red olive oil, garlic, and pimenton (a spice blend using smoked paprika as a backbone), proving to be more tender than most steaks you can find in the market, its texture acting as a sponge for all the flavors in its make.

Mr. Masigan has been in the food industry for over 25 years, building up on his own father’s experience in the industry in the 1970s. He started his empire with a chain of quick dimsum joints, and along the side managed a refined tea salon. He gave it all up to join government, only to be prodded by a government official to open XO46 Heritage Bistro. According to him, Filipino restaurants usually run the gamut from grills to buffets, with little room for Filipino fine dining. Mr. Masigan’s XO46 Bistro is now the favorite of officials to entertain guests with Filipino food in style — it boasts of crystal, silver, and fine porcelain.

In the future, Mr. Masigan plans to open a restaurant highlighting the cuisine of Mindanao. Bear in mind that at present, Mr. Masigan already has a restaurant highlighting Central Luzon favorites, Arroz Ecija. The emphasis on Filipino cuisine, served at what should be its best, might seem to some to be a crusade against foreign chains opening left and right, and then some. He’s quick to correct us, however: “I think there’s room for everyone. I’m not making a point [that] Filipino is better.”

“What I do want to emphasize is that Filipino is not pedestrian. Filipino food is not ugly.”

And his forays into Japanese (Raku) and Spanish (¡Oye!) are not aberrations in this focus on the Filipino — after all, we were under one colonizer for four years and the other for 400 and their cuisines have joined our culinary repertoire. — Joseph L. Garcia

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