OAKLAND – Filipino-American chefs from California and across the country gathered in the San Francisco Bay Area to showcase their own creative takes on traditional Filipino food.

Presented by ABS-CBN's Lifestyle Network and The Filipino Food Movement, the second 'Savor Filipino' event highlighted the fresh new take on traditional Filipino cuisine.

"Filipino food in the Bay Area I think is blossoming. It's been here for a long time especially here in Oakland. Some companies have been here for 20, 30 years but they just didn't get the recognition and we want to come to the communities and give them that recognition and give the chefs the attention they deserve," said Joanne Boston of the Filipino Food Movement.

Pj Quesada added: "You could kind of call it a fashion show for Filipino food. A lot of what people are seeing here you might not be able to buy necessarily but we hope we could add something new to the conversation and have people really see what are some of the potential really is in Filipino food."

Some of the dishes included grilled bistek skewers with preserved calamansi, crispy shallots, pancit and a desert option of mango panna cotta with coconut foam.

A particularly unique dish was the Sarap Shop's vegan popcorn chicken sinigang, atchara and jasmine milk tea.

"Everything we have today is vegan because the other reason we started the Sarap Shop is to provide food experiences that are really inclusive so we like to have a balance of vegan and omnivore options on our menu," said Chef Kristen Brillantes.

Chefs came from across the Bay area and California but they also came from other parts of the country like Seattle, St. Louis, and New York.

Filipino alcohol was also on display.

"Just as Russia has vodka, Japan has saki, Korea has soju, the Philippines has lambanog. So that's why we're here. We're here to represent you," said Marc Padilla of Infanta Lambanog.

Nearly a thousand people attended what they call a more controlled event compared to the reportedly 30,000 people who attended the first Savor Filipino in 2014 which was a free event at San Francisco's Justin Herman Plaza.

Read more on Balitang America.