The braised adobo veal shank by Mr. Tante Urban of Tante’s Restaurant in Maui, bested six other local restaurants and was declared as the “Best Adobo” in Hawaii, during the first-ever Great Adobo Cook-off held at the Philippine Consulate General on 8 June 2017.

Adobo, which is cooked using basic ingredients of vinegar, soy sauce, meat and bay leaf, is one of the Philippines’ popular dishes and favorite comfort food.

The cook-off was the third annual food festival organized by the Philippine Consulate General in partnership with its outreach arm, the Philippine Celebrations Coordinating Committee of Hawaii (PCCCH), following the 1st and 2nd Filipino Food Fair in June 2015 and June 2016, respectively, which seeks to put a spotlight on Filipino cuisine. It is also one of the activities organized in celebration of the 119th Anniversary of Philippine Independence.

The event was also the culminating activity for the week-long Adobo Festival, which ran from 1 to 7 June 2017, where twenty-two (22) Hawaii restaurants participated in by prominently featuring and offering their own versions of the adobo to their patrons and diners for the entire week.

Aside from Tante’s Restaurant, local restaurants such as Shay’s Café, 3 Star Gourmet, Nayong Filipino, North Star Deli presented their own versions of the adobo.

Judges include founder of the Filipino Food Movement PJ Quesada and Filipino American chef Paul Rivera of Duke’s Waikiki.

Shay’s Café’s adobo pizza won the People’s Choice Award and the Most Creative Adobo.

Mr. Urban won a round trip ticket to the Philippines courtesy of Philippine Airlines, and has the bragging rights of winning the 2017 “Best Adobo in the State”. END