This week, Top Chef Canada Season 9 fan favourite Andrea Alridge and Farmer’s Apprentice chef Alden Ong announced that the two acclaimed Vancouver-based chefs will soon be teaming up to host a unique Jamaican-Filipino-themed barbecue collaboration. Similar to chef Ong’s periodic Basta Barbecue pop-up events at Farmer’s Apprentice, the duo’s upcoming collaboration will feature a slew of slow-cooked, wood fire barbecue fare along with a selection of natural wine and locally-produced craft beer pairings. 

"I am super excited for this collaboration as it's with my long time friend or kuya as I refer to him (which means brother in tagalog),” explains chef Alridge. “Alden actually trained me when I first started at CinCin and after some time he moved on, but we stayed quite close. We really work well together and just vibe seamlessly off each other. It's been a while since we did any projects together and we finally decided it was time.”

Since their time together at CinCin, the two talented chefs have each established renowned reputations throughout their careers for showcasing innovative, local-centric cuisine infused with culinary techniques and traditions from their respective backgrounds. 

“With this pop-up we are hoping to showcase both of our backgrounds and styles of cuisine,” chef Alridge adds. “Guests can look forward to some of Alden's very cool new school BBQ techniques, traditional Filipino and Jamaican flavours and some intermingling of two cultures together. It will definitely be a very vibrant blend of flavour combinations." 

The collaboration is set to take place from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on October 3 at Farmer’s Apprentice. A limited number of walk-ins will be accepted as supplies permit, however, reservations are strongly recommended.