JULIE: So this is um, our signature dish, duck adobo.

SETH: Duck adobo, all right.

Oh, and is that the duck right here that I see?

JULIE: Yeah, so we use the confit duck legs and we use the breast as well.

SETH: Oh wow, okay.

Well, because I've had chicken adobo many times, but duck confit is the protein.

JULIE: It's really different, yeah.

So there's a lot of variety of adobo.

What we're doing is we base it in a regular adobo, like the soy sauce and vinegar.

And then this is the black garlic, this is one of the secrets, so it's like an aged garlic.

SETH: There is a uh, a nice aged aroma to it as well.

JULIE: Yeah.

SETH: So how do you put this dish together?

JULIE: We sauté it using the wok.

So we put the garlic first.

This is really hot, so... SETH: Oh, it's like already brown.

Immediate sear on that garlic right there.

JULIE: And then black garlic.

Can you smell that?

SETH: Oh my goodness, yeah.

JULIE: Yeah, and then we're going to use this pot with a little bit of oil too.

Hot pot.

And then we're going to put it here in the sauce pan.

This is the soy sauce.

We use Filipino soy sauce here.

And then the key flavor, this is a coconut vinegar.

SETH: I'm not sure I've ever had coconut vinegar before.

JULIE: Coconut vinegar.

SETH: But vinegar itself is the key part of adobo, right?

JULIE: Yes, yes.

And then our own duck stock.

A lot of people in the Philippines doesn't use coconut milk, us, we're going to use coconut milk.

We love coconut here in this restaurant.

Sugar, use mushroom seasoning.

SETH: Give a little depth and umami flavor.

JULIE: Umami flavor.

And then one of the key ingredients too is bay leaf, fresh bay leaf and then black pepper.

And then we're going to bring it to a boil.

We're going to cook it down and then get all the flavor.

And then we're going to blend it all together and then strain it.

And then this is the finished sauce that we have.

SETH: Oh, wow.

It's such a beautiful color on that.

JULIE: Very silky.

And then if you want to take one taste.

SETH: Have a taste?

Oh, I would love to take a taste here.

Ooh, instantly hit with that vinegar, that aged garlic.

Just a lot of really bold flavors in there.

That's terrific.

JULIE: And then after that, we're going to sear the duck, the duck breast and the duck legs.

And then we're going to plate it.

Under is the duck adobo sauce.

And then we're going to finish it with scallions, garlic chips.

We fry our own duck skin.

To get along with that, we're going to fry some heirloom garlic rice.

And then we're going to sit down and enjoy the duck adobo.

SETH: Julie, this looks incredible.

Start with a little bit of duck breast.

I'm sure I got to get a lot of that adobo sauce.

That is phenomenal.

And it makes perfect sense to have a nice garlicky vinegary sauce with all that nice fat and crispy skin.

That just works together so nicely.

PAOLO: Yeah, you have to say sarap after that.

SETH: Sarap?

PAOLO: Yeah, "sarap" means delicious in Tagalog.

SETH: Oh, sarap.

Sarap indeed.

JULIE: Thank you.

PAOLO: It's just a fun little take on a classic staple dish from our motherland.

SETH: And how did you decide to take it up to the next level with the uh, with the duck?

PAOLO: I've always been a fan of uh, game meat, so we figured it'd be such a good protein to kind of, um, combine together.

Duck's really fatty, and then the sauce is kind of acidic and cuts through the richness of the duck.

JULIE: You should try it with the rice.

SETH: All right, and tell me about this uh, this rice Chef.

JULIE: So we call it heirloom garlic fried rice, so it's a mixture of jasmine rice and a forbidden rice.

SETH: What's forbidden rice?

JULIE: So forbidden rice back then, only rich people can eat the black rice in China.

SETH: But now it's available to the common folk here in DC?

JULIE: Yeah, yeah.

We're all equal, you know.

PAOLO: Now we want to make them feel like they're royalty.

JULIE: Yeah.