I love to tell stories out of my cooking: Chef Dabo

Immersed in pakikipag-kapwa – the humaneness of the soul – typified by the public servant patriarch combined with the matriarch’s gastronome-cum-business acumen, a millennial from Tanauan in the Southern Luzon Province of Batangas, has put Filipino cuisine in another spectrum. Take the case of Biko, among the numerous boiled-in-coconut milk glutinous rice snacks or dessert, topped with light to heavy latik (caramelised coconut residue and curds), now an ice cream courtesy of David Jezreel “Chef Dabo” Lizardo Pamplona. Pamplona landed in Dubai during the Holy Month of Ramadan of 2012 and upon seeing a small cafeteria somewhere in Jumeirah, he spoke unto himself about owning one too, some day.

“If you can overthink the worst, you can overthink the best,” said the Hotel and Restaurant Management graduate, while explaining how he conceived of the “vegan” Biko Ice Cream, he was already drizzling with coconut crumble – there were other toppings available – from one of the wooden tables of the Naimas Café & Bistro.

No! It is only by chance that the ice cream is already part of the menu “next week.” It was nine months in-the-making” as the coffeeshop was also nine months in-the-making two years back because Chef Dabo, in consultation with his three other Filipino co-founders/co-owners, wanted the place injected with not only the comfort and the ease, but the “WOW vibes!” from the kitchen-bar-lay-out to the over-all interiors that mimic, in-a-way, the Filipino sari-sari store.

“You know, the millennial WOW thing. The WOW factor which is why I chose the reinvention runway for our cuisine. In the first place, because of globalisation, Filipino cuisine has been known for years and years now. My chef friends from other countries know about our food. People are only waiting for what we have to offer. I also reinvent because I also love to tell stories out of my cooking,” said the 36-year-old who took advantage of the Jumeirah Group culinary in-house trainings, a fuel for his restaurant ownership.

It was not unusual for Chef Dabo to dive into culinary arts and business. He and his siblings have seen and lived these with their 50-ish mother who until now, manages and runs their catering and allied businesses in their hometown.

“Food has always brought my family together,” he said, adding that as grateful he is with the domestic environment their parents brought them up in, grateful he is too, with his first job at Jollibee in the Philippines, where his attitude towards “discipline, consistency, and the importance of serving food with heart” were further polished.

Pivoting back to his fondness of telling stories and so the coffeeshop interiors are conversation starters too, Chef Dabo cheerfully talked about his late father being the quintessential public servant. It was through his Dad – a common figure in community gatherings and events aside from the seeing him in situations where he should be as the public servant – that the Pamplona brood experienced what genuine pakiki-pagkapwa is.

“That is why I also reinvent our food. It has to do with others and their preferences,” he said and so in his menu is the Palapa, a Maranao dish from the Muslim Lanao Provinces in Mindanao. With the UAE a place where ingredients from around the world are bountifully available, Chef Dabo eventually asked Winston, one of the eight all-male staff explain how they go about their own Chicken Humba Empanada of prunes, raisins, nuts and chimichurri (vibrant herbaceous garlicky Argentinian sauce). Their version of this Filipino favourite is wrapped in thin dough because it is an appetiser. It is sprinkled with a flour-confectionary sugar-salt for the hugot or emotional throwback of doughnuts that when munched, the powder slithers down.

In May, Chef Dabo, “whose life’s work has brought the depth of Filipino food culture into sharper focus, inspiring a deeper global reverence for our heritage,” received from the Philippines’s Department of Trade and Industry-Centre for International Trade Expositions and Missions “International Food Exhibition-Philippines 2026-Kitchen Culinary Icon” tribute.