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00:29 Hi, I'm Keith Curitana and I'm the head honcho of Los Tacos, Manila.
00:33 When I was elementary, I wanted to take Fine Arts actually.
00:37 In the high school, me, wanted to do music. I was in a band.
00:40 Into my early 20s, your typical Los 20, early 20 guy, didn't know what to do.
00:48 My grandparents enrolled me in a culinary school and then the plan was to be a seaman.
00:55 But when I had my internship with Black Sheep under Chef Patrick Goh,
01:00 I discovered this whole new world of high-level cooking.
01:05 So that's where the seaman plan ended. I fell in love with it. The rest is history.
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01:20 After working for Hapag, the pandemic hit and then everyone was trying to make ends meet.
01:27 I found this video online of Teddy's Red Tacos and I had zero clue.
01:33 I had no knowledge about Mexican cuisine. The final product was okay.
01:38 And I knew that this is something that the Filipino market would be into.
01:47 That's how Los Tacos started.
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02:00 Actually, we started as Los Tacos Birria Manila.
02:03 And then from there, three months in, I realized that I had to be more than just a place that serves birria.
02:13 So we expanded our menu. We researched about doing tortillas right, right formula for salsa.
02:20 And so we have other stuff now.
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02:31 As a chef, you need to find the balance.
02:36 There's salty, sour, sweetness, and there's bitterness. But if you notice, the dishes of Los Tacos is mostly my component of smoky.
02:46 Because this is what we do with Los Tacos. We love grilling stuff like charred cabbage, the grilled adomame with the ceviche.
02:57 We also smoke our sour cream to infuse smokiness when we don't have ingredients to grill.
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03:09 The dream for Los Tacos would be pioneering third world masa, which is working with our local farmers.
03:21 Having them grow our own breed of corn that's more flavorful, more corn-y compared to the ones that currently we have.
03:32 Because Philippines is abundant in land and corn.
03:37 It just so happens that dried corn is mostly not for human consumption. It's used for feed.
03:47 There's no demand for it. But hopefully in the future, it becomes something that we do here in the Philippines.
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04:07 Now we're going to try the biryo, which is the dish that they're known for.
04:11 The beef here is cooked for eight hours.
04:15 I like how the tortilla still has that bite. It's not soggy.
04:20 So I'm going to try the shrimp tacos here. It's in a batter that's deep fried.
04:27 I'm trying the sudero, which is like a very carnivorous almost kind of taco because it has beef brisket and it's cooked in lard.
04:37 It's rich, but it's not as in-your-face fatty as I thought it would be because the stuff on top is super sour and bright. I love it.
04:49 Mine is the same. Even though it's fried, it's still light.
04:54 And I love how the batter is still crispy, even though it has all that sauce on top of it.
05:03 I think it's unique because it has edamame, which is not what they usually sell in ceviche.
05:09 It's bright for sure, but it's not super acidic that it burns your tongue. It's pretty balanced.
05:16 It's a little sweet, a little creamy. It's so good.
05:21 Even the cabbage itself is so good. I think it's a little sweet because it's grilled.
05:30 I love that it's a little smoky. And then you get the peanut butter underneath, which is a little rich and nutty.
05:36 Next, Eliotte. I'm gonna try the corn. It has whipped butter. I'm just gonna make sure the piece I have has all that.
05:50 The smokiness is everything. It's the first thing that hits you, the smokiness of the corn.
05:57 So that's it for us. If you enjoyed this video, please don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell so you get updated with all our videos.
06:07 And catch us on spot.th
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