INFO
| Name | Jessabel Granada (she/her) |
| Also known as | Jess |
| Born | 1990 |
| Country of Birth | Philippines |
| Place of Residence | Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland |
| Ethnicities | Filipino |
| Artform | Culinary arts |
| Decades Active | 2010s, 2020s |
ABOUT
Jessabel ‘Jess’ Granada is a chef and co-owner of the restaurant Nanam. Located in Takapuna, Nanam is the first Filipino-owned restaurant in Aotearoa to have been included in New Zealand restaurant lists like Cuisine’s Good Food Guide and Metro’s Top 50 Restaurants and has helped put Filipino cuisine on the radar in Aotearoa.
Granada grew up in Rosario, a small town in Batangas, in the Philippines. She was part of a family of mango farmers where foraging, pickling, preserving and sourcing food directly from the market was a way of life. She remembers that they didn't have a fridge until much later, which meant that they had to rigorously salt their meat so it wouldn't spoil in the tropical heat. The saltiness was then balanced by the sourness of calamansi, kamias and lots of vinegar and pickles. This depth of flavour is a characteristic in lots of Filipino dishes and has greatly influenced Granada’s cooking.
Another inspiration was her dad Armel Granada, who taught her that simple cooking is what makes a dish memorable. She has mused:
My dad wanted to open up a small eatery back in the Philippines and he wanted to call it Nanam. The idea was to sell classic Filipino food. When he went to register it, they said someone has already called their restaurant Nanam. Later, when I needed to think of a name for my own restaurant, I said to my dad, ‘Your dream will come true; you’ll have a restaurant called Nanam.’
The word means malinamnam or ‘delicious’ in English.
In 2009, Granada and her partner Andrew Soriano migrated to Aotearoa to seek better opportunities and further their careers as chefs. She worked with Chef Peter Gawron at his two restaurants Saffron and Blue Door where she honed her techniques in creating European and Asian dishes. In 2014, armed with determination and faith in her skills, Granada took a 4x4 metre food stall at the Auckland Night Markets selling 'taco pao', a steamed bun folded like a taco filled with pulled pork cooked in humba sauce and chilli chicken filling. The food stall became very popular which gave Granada the confidence to dream even bigger.
In March 2015, Nanam opened in Royal Oak with the aim of showcasing the richness of Filipino cuisine and how New Zealand influenced their food philosophy. This endeavour proved to be very successful and in 2017 they found themselves relocating to an even bigger space in Hurstmere Road in Takapuna.
Since then Nanam has consistently won food awards: their wagyu and lemongrass longganisa and organic roasted tamarind chicken sinigang with watercress puree and salsa won the Iconic Auckland Eats Award in 2019 and 2022 respectively. In 2023, they were one of four restaurants invited to take part in Elemental Auckland's Feast of Legends which celebrates ‘living legends’: talented chefs who bring authenticity to each dish that they serve.
Granada credits her success to her resourcefulness and out-of-the-box thinking:
We couldn’t get Filipino beer, so now we support local breweries. We couldn’t get guava, but we’ve found feijoa provides almost exactly the same texture and flavour. Ube has been swapped out for purple kūmara, annatto powder for paprika, kangkong for watercress. All the replacements are very close in flavour, it’s more sustainable and I have a stable supply again.
The COVID-19 lockdowns allowed Granada to slow down and reflect on her culinary journey. Jess muses:
For years I’d come to work on three hours sleep; like most chefs, I’m a complete workaholic. Covid taught me that I wasn’t a better person for it; if you don’t stop sometimes, you never have time to consider how to reach your full potential. If you want to survive, you have to look after yourself.
Granada said she's come a long way from her previous workaholic and perfectionist self. Now she takes time to get out of the restaurant and go into nature and has even started her own herb garden.
LINKS
Key works / presentations
2023 – Cuisine Good Food Guide: Destination Restaurants, Cuisine Magazine
2023 – Elemental Auckland's Feasts of Legends: The Living Legends, Nanam Takapuna, Tāmaki Makaurau
2023 – Indulge Festival NZ, Participant, Wynyard Quarter, Tāmaki Makaurau
2022 – Twin Cultivation, Contributor, Satellites
2019 – Top New Zealand Restaurants for 2019, Cuisine Magazine
2019 – Satellite's Nanam x Cult Project, Nanam Takapuna, Tāmaki Makaurau
Key awards
2022 – Auckland Eats: Iconic Auckland Eats Award (Winner – Organic roasted tamarind chicken sinigang with watercress puree and salsa)
2021 – Taste of Takapuna: Peoples' Choice Awards (Winner)
2021 – Metro Top 50 Restaurants of the Year: Best Neighbourhood Restaurant (Finalist)
2021 – 24th Harbour Hospice Vintners’ Brunch: Food & Wine match of the Year (Winner)
2019 – Taste of Auckland: Best in Taste Award (Winner – Wagyu and lemongrass longganisa)
2019 – Harbour Hospice: Harbour Hospice Vintners’ Brunch (Supreme Winner)
