There's more to Filipino food than balut, chef Jordy Navarra says

"I was always interested in food but it was usually family-style meals and Filipino celebration food. Later I found out about places like [Heston Blumenthal's] The Fat Duck and I thought, 'Wow, I never knew food could be like that.' I was lucky. I got to spend some time there and saw it first hand but I didn't connect to the food. The flavours were different to what I was used to. Then I ate at Bo Innovation. It used all the modern techniques and Alvin Leung was doing it with Chinese products, many of which I was familiar with because there are many Chinese influences in Filipino food. That's how I ended up working there."

"I like how he can look at the potential of products. We don't necessarily have to create a finished dish but he can taste and recognise the potential of something. He is really good at that. You'll see him use something from the wet market mixed with overseas premium goods. From there, he pushes things with real personality and flair - his extremeness. That was cool. And the working culture at Bo was nice - working in a fine-dining setting and still having fun - that is, when Alvin wasn't yelling. He likes to yell but he means well."

… "Black Sheep was a chance for me to play with Filipino flavours and ingredients, and think about Filipino culture. It evolved slowly. People knew I worked at Bo so initially they were expecting more extreme dishes, with smoke and drama. When we do a dish, we come at it from three angles - the flavour profile, produce and Filipino food culture. We did a dish called Bahay Kubo. Basically, it's a nursery folk song that everyone knows. It's about a house with a garden, with vegetables. There are 18 vegetables in the song so we squeezed it all into one dish. This is a dish that is uniquely ours."

"It's funny. Filipinos are all over the world, but you can't find Filipino restaurants. One thing about Filipino cuisine is it's very diverse. There're so many outside influences, from Spanish and Chinese to American, plus Filipinos coming and going from different countries. I've eaten siu mei [roast meats] and steamed baos all my life. For me, it's very Chinese but it's familiar food in the Philippines, too. Sometimes it's Philippine-ised."