Top Chef ™

Arroz Caldo with Roasted Pork Kare-Kare, Fermented Pickles and Bagoǒng XO Sauce

Henry and Shuai carried out their training in BBs, a Filipino restaurant.

The owner of the restaurant said: "I couldn't have you leave a Filipino kitchen without having some bogoóng. Honestly, you can add that to anything, and you've got something. So much flavor that I really love - especially with a dish called kare-kare, like in the winter, that's my go to dish."

Shuai: "I fell in love with all the condiments, the coconut cream, the cilantro oil. Just delicious. It is a powerhouse of funky flavors. Well, the culture, the inviting, you know?" 

Owner: "Yeah, that's definitely what BB's is about. That's a huge part of Filipino food. Welcoming people into your house and coming together for food." 

Henry: "I love that."

Henry and Shuai, shopping together: "We're buying some whole pork butts. We're making a pork kare-kare, which is like a peanut style curry. The specific things I'm taking from BB's and Chef Justin is just the big, bold flavors. We're really focusing on all the condiments that chef Justin has showed us. Oh, God, my legs. Oh, coconut cream. We're gonna take some of that coconut flavor from that coconut cream we had from the tuna dish. You mix it all together, and it becomes this big bowl of just, like, comfort and flavor."

Henry: "Arroz caldo is very similar to our congee that me and Shuai both grew up eating. Congee for me and Shuai is comfort food. We both grew up poor and, like, it was something that could feed the whole family. Arroz caldo is the base of our dish, and then we want to top it with a pork kare kare."