Restaurant Reyna
What happens when Brazil and Germany meet Philippine-inspired cuisine at the Reyna restaurant? A delicious evening among friends!
Reyna means queen in Filipino, Chef Erica Paredes’s native language, and it’s a nod to her grandmother, a love letter to all the strong and wonderful women who raised and educated her.
Erica’s cuisine is heavily influenced by her Filipino culture, but also by her extensive travels and the dishes that remind her of her childhood. So Reyna offers a personal interpretation of her Filipino roots, with seasonal ingredients and original flavors! Pair it all with a selection of natural wines and your favorite friends, and you’ll have a great evening!
When we discovered that Sebastian and Celia had never tasted Philippine cuisine, June rushed to invite them to Reyna.
Sebastian took the lead in choosing the dishes we shared, with careful attention from Edgar. Burrata with a spicy sauce. Kinilaw, fish marinated in a calamansi sauce. Sisig, pork cheek. Calamari.
And then there was the fried chicken wings, which has been celebrated by the New York Times, as follows:
“Maybe you don’t go to Paris to eat wings, but that might change after trying the chef Erica Paredes’s twice-fried chicken, which comes topped with one of three sauces: adobo, a balsamic, sugar and soy glaze topped with garlic yogurt (not much heat); the Patis Caramel, made from fish sauce (lip-tingling heat); and the Pinatubo, a spicy mango habanero option with chile oil and bird’s-eye chiles (full-mouth fire).
Paredes, who studied at Le Cordon Bleu and has been cooking in Paris for seven years — both for chefs like Joël Robuchon and at private homes — has taken the techniques she learned at school and infused them with the Filipino ingredients she knew from her upbringing in Manila.”
Sebastian and Celia loved their introduction to Philippine-inspired cuisine, especially the desserts in the case of Celia. A little “doggy-bag” of Erica Paredes’s twice-fried chicken carried forward the memory.
For June and I, Reyna will forever remain a delicious memory from our time in Paris. Au revoir Reyna.