The concept of using the whole animal is not new to the Philippines, with dishes like sisig, dinuguan and isaw that are not seen as mere novelty dishes (though we do amuse ourselves by observing visitors react to us casually slurping up some delicious pig’s blood) and are well-loved by locals. With one of our favorite words being sayang, it is ingrained in our culture to be innovative with making the most of, well, anything, but in this case (and any case with us here at Pepper): food. Chefs from last Friday’s Regional Lunch took part in this age-old Filipino tradition of innovation and preservation for a showcase nose-to-tail lunch.

Curated by food writers Nina Daza-Puyat, Sasha Lim Uy Mariposa, and Idge Mendiola, Friday’s Regional Lunch focused on the Visayas region with nose-to-tail dishes thoughtfully thrown together by some of Manila’s most celebrated chefs. From playful twists on classic favorites like Betamax by chef Niño Laus to entirely new and surprising takes on the theme like Sunshine Puey-Pengson’s nose-to-tail buko pie (which is nose-to-tail in that it uses all of the parts of the coconut), Friday’s Regional Lunch at Madrid Fusion had us in a tail-spin reeling from all the inspiring ways we can, as Chef Robby Goco puts it, honor the animal by using all the parts and preparing it well.

SISIG Fideos by Manam of moment group with 7 different kinds of pancit noodles (canton, bihon, miki, munggo, vermicelli, rice noodles and glass noodles)

Dinakdakan by Jay Angeles with chopped beef tongue, smoked liver, braised Ox-Tail topped with Pig’s Brain mousseKilawin Kambing Terrine of goat loin, leg, rib, shoulder and skin by Francis Lim (served with charcoal-based black hot sauce by Justin Yengko of Badboy Tikboy)

Pig’s Head Skewer with Brown Rice Porridge by Patrick Go of Black Sheep (pickled pork tongue, batwan-braised pork ears, and coconut-smoked pork cheek with a smoked pork hock congee)

BETAMAX by Chef Niño Laus (Grilled chicken blood with 70% davao dark chocolate cacao, crispy chicken craw and pili, inengkanto rice crisps, cashew crust, Davao chocolate nibs, ube purée with uni kalamata, and kamias emulsion)Dinuguan taho by Kalel Chan of Raintree Group of Restaurants (blood pudding with sampaguita-kafir sauce)fermented cacao wine (made from the pulp of the cacao following the nose to tail theme) with risa chocolate truffle inside and topped with a white chocolate disc that we ate (sorry) — the chocolate used carabao butter from calabuko pie by Sunshine puey-pengson with coconut cream, brown butter latik and cashew crumble