WITH A positive deluge of craft beer and all sorts of new spirits in the market, isn’t it nice to come back to a classic?
Chef Junjun de Ocampo, whose last posting was corporate chef for a restaurant group, opened Blackwood at McKinley Hill in 2010, but moved to Mandaluyong’s Greenfield a couple of years later due to changing market demand. In moving, he and his partners decided to shift their focus to draft beer (beer from a keg; out of a tap). One of his partners (who already worked for a beer company) tried to discourage him due to the short shelf life of draft beer (three days tops, according to Mr. De Ocampo), but, “If you can do it right, masarap ang draft beer (draft beer is delicious). It’s not stored in a bottle, in a warehouse, for months. This is fresh… as fresh as it can get,” he told BusinessWorld at a tasting on Aug. 28.
During the tasting, we were served San Miguel Pale Pilsen, San Mig Light, Cerveza Negra, and San Miguel Blanca (San Miguel’s latest release). The familiarity of the names belies the ambition behind serving them on tap, but Mr. De Ocampo finishes his stash well before the third day. Our expectations were lowered, again, by the familiarity of the names on tap, but dare we say the usually mealy (for us) San Mig Light gained some soft floral femininity, the Cerveza Negra’s chocolate notes were heightened, and personal favorite Pale Pilsen gained toasty, crisp gravitas? The San Miguel Blanca (a wheat beer), meanwhile, was served in a glass especially made for them by San Miguel, “Because of how much attention we give to their draft beer,” Mr. De Ocampo said.
It seemed almost as if he was an endorser for the food conglomerate, but they just really like the place. “If you saw this [place] last Friday,” he said, saying that the who’s who of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) packed the restaurant.
“I was convinced by the chairman (who was his former employer) that it’s time for (me) to venture on (my) own,” Mr. De Ocampo said about opening his restaurant.
“We love to eat; of course, we like to drink. Beer is our go-to beverage,” he said. “Why don’t we highlight what we love?”
DRINKING FOOD
The menu, he said, is composed of “what we like to eat when we’re drinking.” That includes the Streetcart Special, with all sorts of things on skewers.
Our boredom with what we thought was familiar made us, again, lower our expectations, but boy oh boy, you haven’t had nice homemade pork longanisa (local sausage) on a stick, and what we thought were pedestrian squid balls were chewy, very tasty cuttlefish balls. They offered us chicharon (pork crackling) too, but we didn’t think much of the offer until it came to the table, still crackling (pun intended) on the plate. The Freshly Popped Chicharon is made to order, and like their beer, is as fresh as it can get.
“It wasn’t very difficult to come up with the menu for Blackwood. Most of it I would actually credit to our guests,” said Mr. De Ocampo.
And then there was the Goat Sisig. We’ve never had goat like this before: the goat’s face is cooked until it’s tender, then chopped up and grilled just like pork sisig. It has the familiar sticky collagen-covered texture of sisig we all love, but it has a complexity from lean bits of gamey goat meat. If just for this dish, we’d vouch for this place, and tell everybody to come.
The dish (and all of their other goat entrees; refried adobo, caldereta, and the like) was inspired by a customer. “We had a guest here, who came from the province. He’s a farmer visiting a relative,” said Mr. De Ocampo. The country lad asked for some goat, but was told they didn’t serve it there.
Mr. De Ocampo learned his lesson. “Ang bar, dapat may kambing. Ang manginginom, hindi tatanggi sa kambing (a bar should always serve goat meat. A drinker will never refuse goat meat),” he said. The next day, he was at the market buying goat meat. “And guess what? Ang lakas ng kambing (the goat is selling very well).”
LESSONS
Blackwood has a sister restaurant, Vintage, right next door. Blackwood itself has lasted more than 10 years, in a tight, restaurant-packed city where they can close as quickly as six months. Not to mention the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020, which culled many restaurants in the metro: “We were three seconds away from throwing in the towel,” he recalled. “The only thing that kept us going — I don’t want to sound melodramatic here — but it’s the people. They’ve been with us 10 years already. They’re family to us.”
For him, the solution for longevity in the restaurant business comes down to presence. “Being here. Being physically present, being in touch with the business. We’ve always been hands-on. If there are things we need to change, we change immediately.”
We haven’t talked about the name. The name “Blackwood” comes from the Australian Blackwood tree, a species of Acacia. The name sounded cool, but Mr. De Ocampo found out that the tree symbolizes hard work, perseverance, and new hope.
“It’s not just the life we choose, it’s the life we love,” he said, and as he said it, the opening strains of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” rose from the speakers. “It’s not for everyone, really. But ang sarap eh.”
Blackwood Bar and Grill is located at The Portal, Greenfield District, Mayflower St., Mandaluyong. — Joseph L. Garcia