The very human Automat

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When Stephan Duhesme of Metiz fame opened the Automat directly above his Metiz at Karrivin Studios, the professed vision was to find a happy medium between fine dining and a casual eatery. It would still highlight his French twists on Filipino cuisine, but the Automat would be happy to broaden the influences and not be prissy purists when putting together the menu items. Plus, the idea was to constantly evolve the à la carte menu.

Chef Arlo talking to early diners.

Thanks to their very human touch, chefs Stephan and Arlo (Gregorio) have remained true to that vision. Dining there for the first time to jointly celebrate my birthday and that of my youngest, I liked how even the floor layout and the chef’s table all enhanced this breaking of barriers between front of house and back. The well-trained staff also ensured that communicating and explaining the dishes as they arrived was done effectively and efficiently. Uniformly, the Filipino roots of the dishes were emphasized and enhanced, with the use of distinct sawsawan per dish served.

The Automat menu consists of roughly seven choices for starters, just four main courses to choose from, plus sidings, and two choices for dessert. It tries to simplify your life—but happily for me, it fails! There are so many good things to try, and it’s recommended you order as a group so one can share and sample the different dishes.

Roasted lamb

Chef Arlo is acquainted with my middle boy, and he dropped by our table, excited to talk about the new dishes that haven’t yet made it to the regular menu. We did order the special that evening: the Roasted Dry-Aged Lamb, with adobo, anchovy, black garlic, munggo, and spring vegetables. Right here and now, I’ll state that it was one of the highlights of the dinner. So if you see it on the board, order this as one of your mains and share! Everyone will be happy with this choice.

Shrimp Kilaw

For appetizers, we selected three items. The Shrimp Kilaw, with roasted vegetables, avocado, and romaine, was my first inkling of how special the night would be in terms of richness of flavors and the intermingling of ingredients. Highly recommended!

Kesong Puti

We ordered the Kesong Puti, which was sobrasada longganisa with mustasa, and served with the duck fat pandesal. I loved how we’d get a little of each of the three main components and place them all on a little real estate of the pandesal. This pandesal is bewitching in itself, and when you added the three ingredients to each bite, it became kesong puti plus-plus—elevated to the nth degree.

Omelette

The Omelette of tinapa hollandaise, mentaiko, and fried eggplants is breakfast fare dressed up and making the cut as a dinner entrée. If we often associate mentaiko/roe with pasta that has a Japanese influence, this was omelette taken to a new level of umami goodness. My boys loved this, and while I normally shy away from eggs outside of breakfast, I had to surrender all my former bias after the first bite.

Octopus

The Local Octopus with paksiw, mechado jus, and brown butter potatoes was the second main course we had. The lamb was our meat dish, so we purposely looked for seafood for the second main. The octopus was suitably tender, but this was one dish where I felt there could have been more octopus. The brown butter potatoes are admittedly out of this world.

The Tutong Rice comes in a tiny, shallow pan and is literally tutong rice. Wise of Automat to recognize how this is such a favorite of discriminating foodies when dining on Filipino versions of paella.

Automat is about taking Filipino dishes that could qualify as comfort food and finding ways to reinvent them through flavor and by introducing new ingredients. This results in dishes that are recognizable and nostalgic, but simultaneously unique and only to be found in this particular reincarnation at the Automat. A winning formula, and congratulations to chefs Stephan and Arlo. Before I forget to mention it, their cocktails and mocktails are the bomb!

I especially liked how we just reserved on our own, dropped in, and there was no Stephan in sight. It was just the restaurant doing its thing as regular customers would experience it, and I’m now writing this. Too often, we’re invited to a launch or opening, and it’s the establishment on its best toes and behavior, with a contingent of media dining with me. That night at Automat was “business as usual,” and the place impressed me. Had a great dining experience, and I’ll be back.