MANILA -- Opening a new restaurant is no walk in the park. It takes months of planning, from the location to the look to the menu. Some restaurateurs even take years to create a new dining concept.

But in the case of chef Isaiah “Seya” Ortega, it took only two months to open his new restaurant Seya's Kitchen.

“It was very sudden. I expected the space to open up next year,” he said.

Despite the short notice, he still decided to open shop. He already had a concept in mind but scrapped that idea to make way for Seya's Kitchen. He also had an idea of what to offer, pulling recipes from his repertoire, like from his old restaurants to new ones he's been keeping in his recipe stash.

“Originally my concept is a farmer's kitchen type of restaurant but I thought people wouldn't understand what I would serve. So I thought of something that caters to a wider audience, just to make it simple,” he explained.

The result is a concept that serves traditional and non-traditional Filipino food, and some international dishes with a bit of a twist -- a menu that primarily focuses on flavors and comfort.

“I don't want to go into a specialized cuisine because I'd rather go cook what I learned to love and learned to cook. Other chefs really fall in love with a certain cuisine; I, on the other hand, I like it more diverse. And also the logistics for imported ingredients are easier to get nowadays so might as well put some Spanish or Japanese influences. Filipino is still there because that's my base cuisine, the first cuisine I learned to cook,” Chef Seya said.

Located along Katipunan Avenue, the strip parallel to White Plains in Quezon City, Seya's Kitchen sits among landscaping supply shops and a few young and established restaurants. It's housed in a small space formerly occupied by Fat Buddha.

Its dining space including an al fresco area can only accommodate up to 22 persons. Keeping it small is a big advantage for the chef/restaurateur because operations are more manageable.

Chef Seya is keeping its menu lean as well but plans to expand it soon. He focused on dishes that are both flavorful and comforting which he hopes can draw in the crowd.

“I try to dish out something I think would work. I'm promoting comfort food. The menu is culmination of what I know. I'm trying to introduce chef-driven dishes, something more personal. Rather than I'm going to put out french fries, pizza, etc., I'm trying to serve what is me, what I know. What makes me happy would hopefully make them happy,” he said.

One of his genius dishes is the grilled skewered bacon with blue ginger teriyaki sauce. Bacon is in itself full of flavor and a crowd-pleaser. He adds a Japanese touch to the smoked meat by grilling it yakitori-style and serving it with an umami-rich blue ginger teriyaki sauce. Then it is served like takoyaki balls, with a drizzle of Japanese mayonnaise and topped with bonito flakes.

Then there's the Asian-inspired torched salmon fillet in Thai basil and lemon grass broth. This has Japanese and Thai influences. The fresh sushi-grade salmon fillets are torched aburi style then served in a flavorful broth that has Thai and Vietnamese flavors.

But talking about comfort food, the Filipino dishes are definite must-tries. The classic lechon bagnet is as traditional as it gets, served with vinegar dip and liver lechon sauce.

Moreover, the coconut garlic squid adobo is a comfort dish with a twist. Coconut milk is added to the squid adobo making it creamier than the traditional Filipino seafood dish. It is topped with crispy garlic, bonito flakes, and cilantro leaves for freshness.

For dessert Chef Seya serves his traditional crème caramel or leche flan and classic canonigo. The restaurant partners with Pastry Amore for its dessert needs. The restaurant also offers several cakes like calamansi cheesecake and ube queso cheesecake.

Ultimately, Chef Seya wants to turn the space into a garden restaurant. Slowly, he's been planting herbs and other vegetables around and even on the roof of the restaurant to create a small urban farm. This way, he has a more sustainable source of herbs and veggies. He also plans to sell some of these produce to customers as well as products from his partner farms.

The chef has his own farm in Batangas where he grew a lot of rare vegetables. But now, the farm is focused on growing local fruit trees.

“For me, it's going to be impractical if I plant everything in Batangas. So I thought, why not push for urban farming? I was thinking the concept will blend in the area since this strip is known for landscaping supply gardens. So here we plan to offer is on the edible side. I'm also trying to partner up with young farmers, for them to rent out a space outside the restaurant and sell their products,” he said.