When food brings you home

Home has a way of finding us, even after we have traveled far from it.

For some, travel means discovering unfamiliar streets, meeting new people and tasting dishes they have never tried before. But for Filipino chef Fhred Batalona, the journey has become something more personal. After years of building his culinary career in Australia, coming home has given him a chance to rediscover the flavors, stories and traditions that first shaped his love for food.

That homecoming is at the heart of LaMeza: Salo-Salo, the latest culinary collaboration of Megaworld Global Hotels & Resorts (MGHR), which brings Filipino chefs from overseas together with the group's chefs in the Philippines.

The initiative recognizes that Filipino cuisine continues to evolve wherever Filipinos take it. Different kitchens, techniques and experiences can influence how familiar dishes are interpreted, but the memories behind them remain deeply connected to home.

Chef Fhred knows this journey well.

After leaving the Philippines at a young age, he grew up and established his career in Australia, eventually opening Palay in Melbourne. His restaurant became a way of introducing Filipino flavors to a new audience, combining the food of his heritage with techniques and influences gathered throughout his career.

Yet coming home has shown him that there is still much to discover.

“I’ve never come back thinking that I have all the answers. I came back knowing how much I still have to learn,” Chef Fhred said.

Through Salo-Salo, he now gets to learn alongside MGHR chefs while sharing Palay+, a 10-course Filipino dining experience inspired by his Melbourne restaurant. The collaboration allows familiar ingredients and traditions to be viewed through different culinary experiences, creating something that belongs to both places.

During the media launch on 18 September, the collaboration was given a particularly meaningful moment when Chef Fhred prepared the teaser finale dessert onstage, a creative pairing of polvoron, tamales and the Australian-inspired lamington.

But the sweetest part came after the cooking.

Chef Fhred gave the dessert he had prepared to his mother, Alma, who was present during the launch. The simple gesture carried a meaning far beyond the plate. It was a son sharing something he had created through years of learning with the woman he credits for planting his love of cooking and creativity in him.

Long before Palay, before Melbourne and before his journey as a chef, there was his mother.

“Long before I became a chef, she was the person who sprouted that love of cooking and creativity in me,” he shared.

Perhaps this is what makes coming home different. Travel may take us to places we never imagined, but it can also bring us back with a deeper appreciation of where we began.

For Chef Fhred, every technique learned abroad and every dish created along the way eventually led back to the same table, where food becomes memory, heritage becomes something living, and a mother's influence becomes an eternal legacy.

Palay+ will be presented at Eastwood Richmonde Hotel on 26 September 2026, with lunch and dinner seatings at P4,800.

For Chef Fhred, coming home is not simply about returning to a country. It is about returning to the flavors, people and memories that made him who he is.