Signal #1600

Hey there Astoria Reddit! This is a re-post to my original post– thanks for the honest comments about taking another crack at this introduction minus ChatGPT :) I’m not a writer but did get some help from my boo on this, so thank you so much to them! My name is Martin Blanco, aka Chef Manila Boi. I moved several months ago to Astoria from Santa Fe, NM, where I ran my own business as a private chef, catering for private dining experiences and retreats while also producing my own Filipino Kamayan (family-style) pop-up dinners. I specialise in Filipino, Japanese, and Southeast Asian cuisine and develop custom menus tailored to dietary needs and seasonal ingredients. I have over 10 years of professional kitchen experience in Portland, Santa Fe, and now in New York City at a Michelin-starred restaurant. I’m reaching out to this group to share my Filipino meal prep services with you and to connect with my new neighbors! A little bit about me: As a child growing up in Manila, my best memories as a kid centered around food: sharing Pork Adobo and Shrimp Sinigang with my family at dinnertime; hunting for the best street food in Pasig City and downtown Manila; and frying up Tender Juicy hot dogs in onions, chili and banana ketchup for my friends at 2am as a teenager. When I immigrated to the U.S. in 2011, cooking became a big part of my journey to find meaning in my life. Although I honed my skills in high-pressure kitchens in Portland, Santa Fe and New York, starting my private chef business in 2019 showed me that what I love most about food and cooking is serving others: it is a pathway to family, community, and love, and I love to share that with the people I cook for. Through my food, I want to bring you the delicious essence of that Manila childhood, but I also want to create dishes and experiences that help bring you together at the dinner table, because I feel most alive when I’m sharing food with my loved ones. Right now, I’m starting with family-style meals prepared