For Chef Dabo Pamplona, Filipino food begins with memory. It lives in the aroma of garlic, the sharpness of vinegar, the brightness of calamansi and the comfort of rice shared around a table. But in Dubai, a city shaped by cultures arriving from every corner of the world, Pamplona is asking a bigger question: what happens when Filipino food meets the world?
That question sits at the heart of Naimas Café & Bistro, the homegrown Dubai concept he co-owns, where Filipino comfort food meets Southeast Asian flavours, contemporary techniques and the energy of one of the world’s most diverse culinary cities.
Pamplona does not see reinvention as abandoning tradition. For him, the format can change, techniques can evolve and familiar dishes can travel, but the story must remain.
As he puts it, he loves to “tell stories out of my cooking.”
At Naimas, those stories are becoming a new language for Filipino cuisine.
A Cuisine Built on Contrast and Culture
Pamplona describes Filipino cuisine as a cuisine of memory, one defined by boldness, comfort and contrast.
Garlic, vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, calamansi, tamarind, coconut, seafood, rice and fermented ingredients form the foundation. Yet reducing Filipino food to a single flavour profile misses the complexity of the cuisine, he explains.
The Philippines has enormous regional diversity, with culinary traditions shaped by acidity, fermentation, smoke, seafood, coconut and preservation.
For Pamplona, Filipino food is not one flavour. It is a conversation between flavours.
That philosophy is important because it challenges the idea that Filipino cuisine needs to fit neatly into an established category. His approach is rooted in the belief that Filipino food already has the depth to stand confidently on the global table.
It simply needs more opportunities to be experienced.
Inside the World of Naimas
Naimas, created by four Filipino expatriates in Dubai, was built as more than a restaurant. The café and bistro brings together food, coffee, culture and community, with its name taken from the Ilocano word “naimas,” meaning delicious.
But delicious is only the beginning.
For Pamplona, Naimas is a space where Filipinos can see their culture represented with confidence, while diners from other backgrounds can discover Filipino cuisine through dishes that feel approachable yet unexpected.
That philosophy comes alive through creations such as the Adobo Burger, where the deeply personal Filipino classic meets Black Angus beef.
Almost every Filipino family has its own version of adobo, making it more than a recipe. It becomes a family memory.
At Naimas, that memory is given a different format without losing its identity.
The same philosophy appears in palabok transformed through laksa, sampaloc brought into an inasal skewer and the Burnt Brazo de Mercedes, which gives a familiar Filipino dessert a contemporary personality while preserving the memory behind it.
The food may have travelled further, but it remains recognisable.
The Ingredient That Tells the Story
Among the ingredients that define Pamplona’s cooking, calamansi holds a particularly important place.
Small yet powerful, the Filipino citrus can transform seafood, meat, sauces, salads, desserts and drinks. More importantly, its unmistakable character can immediately make a dish feel Filipino.
It represents what Pamplona is trying to achieve with his cooking: take something deeply rooted in Filipino identity and allow it to speak naturally to a wider audience.
The result is neither a rejection of tradition nor a rigid recreation of it.
It is evolution.
A Bigger Future for Filipino Cuisine
Pamplona’s culinary journey has been shaped by more than a decade of experience within Dubai’s multicultural food landscape, including work across Pan-Asian and Latin American kitchens.
That environment has strengthened his belief that Filipino cuisine can engage with global influences while remaining distinctly Filipino.
His ambition extends beyond Naimas.
Through supper clubs, cultural collaborations and international culinary events, he continues to use food as a platform for representation, conversation and connection.
Most importantly, he wants the world to discover the Philippines beyond its most internationally recognised dishes.
Every region has its own ingredients, cooking methods and stories, and Pamplona hopes more of that regional diversity will eventually find its place on international tables.
Naimas may be his kitchen, but Dubai is the canvas.
And Filipino cuisine is the story.
For Chef Dabo Pamplona, that story does not belong only to the past. It is still evolving, one familiar flavour, unexpected format and shared meal at a time.
Do follow Naima’s Cafe & Bistro on Instagram that journey is just beginning.
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