Finding Thai flavors in Filipino favorite dishes

Chef Aniwat Vadhanachai discusses how he blends familiar Filipino dishes with Thai ingredients and cooking techniques

Whenever Chef Aniwat Vadhanachai visits Manila, he makes time to eat where locals do. Those meals eventually showed the Thai chef that beef pares, torta, tapsilog, and other Filipino staples were not far different from the flavors he grew up with.

Better known as Chef Chay, the cook turned those similarities into Thai restaurant Greyhound Café’s new menu, which reworks familiar Filipino dishes using Thai ingredients, seasonings, and cooking techniques.

The Thai restaurant reimagines the Filipino favorite beef pares with Thai spices, coconut palm sugar, tofu, chili garlic oil, and bagoong fried rice as part of its new menu 

Launching across Greyhound Café branches this July, the collection features eight dishes inspired by Filipino favorites, from lumpiang shanghai and ginisang kangkong sa bagoong to crispy pata and ginataang bilo-bilo.

“Every trip that I come to Manila, I would love to go eat at the local spot. Then I start learning, ‘Oh, this dish is similar to Thai.’ So that’s how we came up with all the dishes,” he shared.

Chef Chay said developing the menu took about one to two months, beginning with research and ingredient sourcing before moving into recipe testing with the Philippine team. He added that he also sought out local herbs and ingredients to better understand the flavors behind the dishes before training the restaurant’s chefs.

Classic favorite crispy pata is served in slow-cooked and deep-fried pork leg with sticky rice, tamarind chili paste, jaew sauce, and pickled vegetables 

Among the new offerings is the GHC Seafood Spring Rolls, Greyhound Café’s take on lumpiang shanghai. Instead of the traditional pork filling, the rolls are packed with shrimp, squid, scallops, and asparagus before being served with a spicy sweet chili sauce.

The Ground Pork Omelette with Salted Egg draws from the Filipino torta, combining minced pork with salted egg and a side of Thai sriracha. Chef Chay said the idea came from noticing how Filipinos often pair salted eggs with everyday meals.

Meanwhile, the Thai-Style Beef Pares keeps the slow-cooked character of the local favorite but leans into Thai flavors through spices, coconut palm sugar, tofu, and chili garlic oil. It is paired with bagoong fried rice.

“Normally, pares has a bit of a sweet side. This one has more balance in the saltiness, and the sugar is from coconut palm sugar, so it’s not too sweet,” he explained.

Other additions include Morning Glory with Shrimp Paste, inspired by ginisang kangkong sa bagoong; Sautéed Eggplant with Ground Pork, based on ginisang talong; and Fried Rice with Dried Beef, Greyhound Café’s interpretation of tapsilog.

For its version of crispy pata, the restaurant marinates pork leg with Thai herbs before boiling it for six hours, drying it for about 24 hours, and deep-frying it. The dish is served with tamarind chili paste, jaew sauce, pickled vegetables, and sticky rice.

Dessert comes in the form of Bua Loy, Greyhound Café’s take on ginataang bilo-bilo. The coconut milk dessert features glutinous rice balls filled with ube and a sweet potato-and-carrot mixture.

“Thai and Filipino cuisine share many similarities, from our love for bold flavors to dishes that bring people together. With this menu, we wanted to celebrate those connections while staying true to the authenticity of Thai cooking,” he stated.

Greyhound Café is also developing more Filipino-inspired dishes with Thai influences, along with value lunch sets and other concepts that Chef Chay said are already in the works. — Angelica Villanueva