Canada-based Filipino chef Ervin Castillo Maliwanag shares how he built Victoria´s Go-to Pinoy Kitchen.
It was 2023. Ervin Castillo Maliwanag, a Filipino immigrant, was in the midst of discussions with friends and associates about opening a restaurant in Victoria. Since he arrived in Canada in 2017, he had been scraping by with an entry-level job at McDonald’s and the occasional catering for friends who contacted him online. This, despite 7 whole years in Singapore in various food service jobs that included a managerial stint, and exposure to different cuisines.
That here was a seasoned baker and chef turning hamburger patties at a fast food restaurant is an oft-repeated tale when it comes to immigrants, from the Philippines and other countries as well. The story of a medical doctor turned insurance agent or an engineer turned taxi driver is all to common, as is the Master of Arts degree holder greeting customers at WalMart.
But Ervin dreamt big. And so when Guido’s, a well-loved Italian restaurant in Esquimalt, closed down and was put on the market, he said “Why not?” It was easier said than done. There were funds to raise and all the moving parts involved in running a food business to think through.
He did, however, make his interest known. And took a bit of time. But then it came to him that someone in the community had laughed at the idea that Guido’s would be serving “shitty Filipino food.”
Birth of Benjamin
For Ervin that was the clincher. He shook hands with Paul Sliletta, Guido’s previous owner, and found himself with a restaurant not knowing the first thing about starting a restaurant from scratch. But he was eager to prove the doubters wrong. “I felt I had to defend the reputation of our Filipino cuisine.”
Happily, there was a lot he did not have to worry about, because he had access to Guido’s well-equipped shared commercial kitchen, and friends and acquaintances came through to serve as suppliers and staff. What he did have apart from his determination to put Filipino food on the map was his cooking skills, honed, as it turns out, even from childhood growing up in the Philippines.
“My father was the one who cooked at home,” Ervin says. “Perhaps I picked up a lot just from watching him.” Ervin’s father was nicknamed Ben, and he named his own son, born in 2020, Benjamin. It is no surprise that the restaurant is named “Benjamin’s,” to honor his father and son, and also because it was at son Benjamin’s first birthday in 2021 that friends and acquaintances first started asking Ervin to cook for them.
“They liked the food I cooked and encouraged me to start a small online business,” he recounts. Coworkers too, were impressed with the kare-kare – a Filipino beef stew with vegetables in a peanut sauce – he brought to work, and asked him to make more.
Fast forward to 2026, and Benjamin’s is an established presence at 614 Grenville Avenue in Esquimalt, about to observe its 3rd anniversary. It has 5 full-time staff, including Ervin, and about 12 part-time workers. It can seat 50 guests comfortably and accommodate more patrons outdoors as needed. The restaurant has been the venue for numerous wedding and birthday parties, supplying not just the parties’ food needs but also balloons and decorations. Indeed, because of demand, Ervin has had to start an event decoration business to supplement the catering.
“We cater for about 60 events in a year. The busiest times are June and July for weddings and of course. Christmas.” Benjamin’s is also the go to for several Filipino organizations in Victoria, including the Victoria Filipino Canadian Association, the Victoria Filipino Seniors’ Association and the Victoria Filipino Canadian Caregivers’ Association, and religious and civic groups that have welcomed the ability to outsource food preparation for members who hardly have time off work.
“The community has really come through for Benjamin’s,” Ervin reflects, with gratitude for his kababayan, or countrymen, who have provided a steady stream of patrons over the years. And what do Filipino patrons come for? They are especially happy to go to the weekend buffets at Benjamin’s where a hot bowl of bulalo soup- a soup made by boiling beef bones for many hours, and a traditional favorite of long-distance drivers in the Philippines – can be followed by lumpiang Shanghai – pork spring rolls; pancit – noodles with chicken and vegetables; kare kare; lechon kawali – crispy roast pork; adobo – chicken in a soy and vinegar sauce; and exotic dishes like dinuguan and sisig. Especially for Filipinos working two or three jobs, with no time to cook at home, Benjamin’s is a bonus.
Nothing to laugh at
“But it’s not just Filipinos who have been enjoying our food. Many non-Filipino members of the community come through our doors,” Ervin notes. Benjamin’s buffets always include pasta carbonara, a dish Ervin perfected while working at an Italian restaurant in Singapore. Eggs Benedicts and waffles and pancakes are on offer for breakfast, apart from the Filipino silogs, or different meats with fried egg and rice. The restaurant makes its own brazos de Mercedes, buko pandan, and leche flan for those with sweet cravings, and the community has fallen in love with the unbeatable halo halo – ice shavings served with milk and at least 5 different toppings with a crown of ube ice cream on top.
“I think we have shown that Filipino food is nothing to laugh at.”
Ervin Castillo Maliwanag
It has been a long and not always easy journey for this brave restaurateur. His is an all too typical story of a Filipino with modest means growing up, driven by dreams to venture abroad. His father a casual construction worker and his mother a housewife, completing an education would have remained unreachable for Ervin but for a brother who also sought a new life in Saudi Arabia.
He managed to go to college on a scholarship by joining the school’s dance troupe. A course of studies in hotel and restaurant management brought him to Singapore, where he was first initiated into the business of managing a restaurant. And then there was a former classmate’s phone call in 2017, inviting him to Canada.
Like thousands of immigrants before him, he said yes to the first job that became available, working overtime, sleeping on friends’ couches, having little sleep. Through all the years of hard work, uncertain housing and low pay, he kept his confidence, his faith, and his dignity, so when the opportunity came to shine he was ready. A refusal to let his country be laughed at gave him the added boost to start on a new and fulfilling adventure, Benjamin’s.
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