Roces has since opened his own restaurant on Nakpil Street in Malate. El Cirkulo's interesting interiors, inspired by a bullfighter's arena, were designed by Ramon Castellanos and features collages by Arturo Luz. That means cooking a wide range of specialties, and Gamboa can swing from a classic paella, cooked in a clay pot with saffron and short grain rice, to something more jazzed up, like a paella with duck and orange, or with bacalao , sweet peppers and leeks. Some things are sacred, and you don't massacre them. Others, well, you could improve.
Food is something to be shared with family, friends, the community.
In Spain, you hardly see anyone eating alone or eating while walking. They savor their meals, which is the way it should be. Eating is a social event. When he's not cooking or coming out on television pushing Del Monte's Kitchenomics recipes, Gamboa, named one of the Bonlac Great Chefs of Asia in 1996, tries to get in a round of golf and travels every year to catch up with what's new in the dining scene. Just married this past July, Gamboa admits he and wife Maja haven't even gotten around to using the stove at home.