He walks into the restaurant, armed with artful tattoos, and with a raw confidence of someone who’s travelled far from home to create another one. This man clearly knows style and throws on his ensemble effortlessly, especially on this day’s interview with PhFW’s Chief Vision Officer Nikky Nicandro, wherein the questions were the kind he’s never been asked before, he says later on. He didn’t have the air of a typical chef, so, is he? But this is Naimas Café & Bistro, which he calls home. And this is Chef Da Bo.
While he confessed to loving boxy tops for his daily grind, nothing is boxy about Naimas. The interiors are subdued yet strongly present. They don’t steal the scene, except for the British Racing Green that Chef Da Bo attributes to his love for cars. The interiors are backdrops to human connections that happen at Naimas, with an electricity and authenticity that Chef Da Bo and each and every one of his crew inspire.
He never considers guests as a collective. The connections are forged individually. The positive energy is almost stitched with the desire for you to enjoy your personal experience at Naimas. Naimas means blessing, and he wants people to feel that way when they come to dine. Each person is individually gifted with nothing less than great food and friendly embrace. And you can never, ever replace a gift. Looking back, the idea of gifting is Chef Da Bo’s heritage, as his mother ran a catering and a wedding souvenirs business.
‘See, we don’t have pictures of dishes on our walls,’ he points out, because each dish deserves its own spotlight on the runway. We didn’t expect him to use those terms akin to fashion, but he just did. Chef Da Bo fully grasps the essence of good taste. It’s elevated style fused with comfort. He said that when you dress well, wear your style, you gain confidence. When you’re comfortable, you can do things well. No wonder everything in Naimas moves with an easy rhythm.
A life-long love affair with failures only strengthens his resolve to serve something better. When Chef Da Bo finally stepped into the kitchen professionally, it was through the exacting world of fine dining. “I started with instructions,” he says. “My knowledge was very limited, so I followed everything strictly. It was very technical. Very precise. Those early years were all about mastering the fundamentals.” From there, Chef Da Bo playfully elevates the dining game.
That experimental spirit would soon become a signature of his style: layered, unexpected, but always intentional. With a deeper sense of purpose, he envisioned something beyond the traditional idea of a restaurant, where food was just the beginning. And so, Naimas Café & Bistro was born. Afterall, naimas in local parlance means delicious, tasty, pleasurable.
Naimas isn’t solely Filipino food. It’s pan-Asian. It’s refined Filipino soul. Chef Da Bo distinctly defines it as such. Dining at Naimas comes with a heaping of hospitality. ‘Hospitality has an aftercare aspect to it.’ Hence, an experience at Naimas goes beyond dining. Through all these novel thoughts on running a business, Chef Da Bo talks with the sharpness of a newly honed kitchen knife. He cuts to the chase in most things, believing that ‘Honesty saves time. In love, marriage, business, art, and life.’
Fashion and food both begin with vision. They both require craft. They both tell stories of heritage, culture, and evolution. In many ways, Naimas is a culinary atelier. Chef Da Bo’s approach mirrors the fashion world’s hunger for reinvention while never forgetting the roots that ground us. His dishes carry the elegance of design, the structure of form, the unpredictability of texture. But above all, they carry personal meaning.
As Philippine Fashion Week celebrates creators who re-examine what artistry looks like, from runways to cafés, from garments to garnishes, Chef Da Bo’s journey reminds us that good taste goes deeper than aesthetics.
It’s about:
The feel of a place.
The thought behind a gesture.
The soul behind the flavor.
And in that space where food and fashion collide, Chef Da Bo continues to serve one thoughtful dish, one kind interaction, one beautiful experience at a time. It’s this same spirit of creativity and reinvention that makes his presence at Philippine Fashion Week feel right at home where style meets substance, and hospitality takes center stage.
It’s often difficult but exciting to sum up one’s life into a movie title, and when asked, Chef Da Bo closed the interview with an enthusiastic response, ‘Masarap na, mas pinasarap pa!’
Look who’s reinventing the runway.
Philippine Fashion Week presents Naimas Café & Bistro, Dubai, UAE.
Naimas Cafe & Bistro
Dubai Health Care City, Bldg 25.
Dubai, UAE
IG: naimasdxb
Website: https://www.naimasdxb.com/
