Uncovering the Culinary Journey of Chef Philip Golding

One fine day, we sat with Chef Philip Golding, Culinary Director of CCA Manila and founding chairman of Disciples D’scoffier International Asia Dinner at his culinary lounge and cafe in Makati, called Chef Works to uncover his culinary journey, to delve deeper into his projects, and to acquire a bit of knowledge from his 40 years in hospitality.

As a part-time dishwasher at 14, Chef Philip found himself gradually immersed into the food and beverage scene where he harnessed his skills and gave him the opportunity to work and learn from some of the biggest international chefs, including Gordon Ramsay. 

Yet, it was in learning about the lives of pioneer chefs like Auguste Escoffier and Rick Stein that inspired him to pave his own culinary journey, away from the hectic kitchen culture of London during the early 90’s, down to the family spirit and effortless state of happiness in Asia.

Here is the first out of three parts from our long interview with our esteemed London-born chef:

I'm not a fan of fusion cuisine, but I'm definitely a big fan of taking a cuisine and innovating. I like purist food. If you historically go back, food is medicine, Food Nutrition. I've moved really into food nutrition and wellness. So, I use earthenware and put salads in it, I put in marinated tomatoes. 

I actually serve my dishes in those (volcanic mortar & pestle). I don't like big portions. People eat small, especially as you get past 40. You don't want a big 300g steak, but you like to share it with people. 

Well the first thing that stands out in CCA is that we're Filipino homegrown. Founder Chef Annie Guerrero, who was recognized by the International Association of Culinary Professionals in California with the Antonin Careme Award for her zero-waste practices, had the vision to put up a cooking school with her daughter Badjie, CCA’s CEO, who I work side-by-side with. 

I'm fortunate I don't have to report and run the school on a day-to-day basis. I did before when we're in Katipunan. I was the Program Director. I had to be there to make sure the programs were in place and that they're running, and to really be on top of the school day-to-day. I do spot visits just to check and see. So, as the Culinary Director, it's more about business relationships.

We're good enough to send our faculty and develop them abroad. We're good enough to bring our food and culture to Asian culture, wok cooking, palabok, using flowers, indigenous foraged herbs. We’re a Tamarind Cuisine. We use a lot of Tamarind in our cuisine. It's a souring agent. So we're scratching the surface in Philippine culinary and Regional Philippine cuisines. 

CCA is really expanding. We have that partnership with a finishing-off school in Dubai, so they'll be able to evaluate the students. It's sharing the syllabus and curriculum and then bringing their trainers over to us and our trainers over to them. 

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