Knowing what you want is half the battle. Working hard to get it will win you the war.
Arvi-Christopher Agra, or AC as he is more commonly called, has fond memories of watching cooking shows with his mom—from age five. “I grew up watching Cooking with the Dazas and the shows of chefs Fernando Aracama and Jackie Ang-Po,” he muses. It is no wonder that he always wanted to be a chef.
After graduating with a degree in Hotel & Restaurant Management, he tried to get work in a cruise ship, but only entry level positions were open to those with no work experience.
He thought about going to culinary school to learn to do what he has always loved. His mom told him, “Pag-ipunan natin.” One day, after taking his mom to the doctor for a check-up, they decided to drop by Global Culinary and Hospitality Academy. “Akala ko magtatanong lang kami, but they enrolled me already.” He didn’t know that his parents had been saving up for his tuition. That day, he cried all the way home.
At Global, he found what he was looking for. He took to it like a duck to water. He had read the entire Professional Cooking textbook by Wayne Gisslen even before classes started and applied himself to learning everything he could. His mom bought him all the books that he needed, and more, and through it all, they both continued their TV watching ritual—adding the shows of Gordon Ramsay to their list of favorites.
Agra earned his stripes working in local establishments before finding work abroad. In 2016, he was told about a job opening in Australia. Out of the 24 Filipinos who had applied, two were hired—he was one of them. He started as a commis assigned to peeling potatoes for two months. After six months he was moved to fine dining as chef de partie. He was sous chef in a year’s time, a senior sous chef in his second year and by his fifth year became head chef of Bathers Pavilion Restaurant, a two-hat fine dining establishment in Sydney. “Pinaghirapan ko ito,” he says.
Adjusting to a new environment can be difficult, but anyone who is serious about advancing one’s career must learn to adapt, be open to learning, and be ready to jump into the fray. Agra says, “I needed to learn about the seasonality of ingredients so I could design menus based on what was available. I visited the markets to learn about ingredients that were unfamiliar to me. I had to learn different culinary styles, as Australia’s food scene is defined by a ‘no boundaries’ approach.” He is grateful for the great help and support he got from his French-Canadian boss.
Not one to choose the easy path, he took on another big challenge when tasked with the role of executive sous chef for the restaurant operations of the Sydney Football Stadium and Sydney Cricket Ground—each holding a maximum capacity of 45,000 people. Agra was in charge of a team of 150 chefs and 100 kitchen hands. A year later, he was hired as executive chef of The Goodsline, a café of hospitality veteran, Jack Hanna. There, he was able to apply his fine-dining touch to a café set-up.
Agra lived in Australia for almost eight years before deciding it was time to come home.
He returned to the Philippines in 2023 and found a home at Chef Tonyboy Escalante’s Antonio’s Group of Restaurants. As corporate executive chef he handles the various concept restaurants of the company including Antonio’s, Breakfast at Antonio’s, Balay Dako, and Azela by Balay Dako. Antonio’s was the first Filipino restaurant to be named in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants back in 2015 and this year was lauded as a Michelin-Selected establishment. With Agra’s vast experience, he is perfectly suited to helming the multi-awarded group of restaurants.
There is another facet to Agra’s culinary life though, and that is his love for competition. His first foray in the Philippine Culinary Cup (PCC) in 2010, as part of the team from Lyceum of the Philippines University, earned him a highest gold in the Filipino Cuisine category. In the succeeding years, he would continue to vie in various local and international competitions. As competitor or coach, he would rack up medal after medal. At the 2019 PCC, he took home seven medals. In 2023, he earned the highest gold at the Global Chef’s Challenge Vegan Asian Finals. The following year he competed in Singapore for the World Finals of the same competition and won a silver medal. The year 2025 saw him coaching the team of Antonio’s at PGA to three highest golds, one gold, and one silver medal.
He continues to be excited about competing as he says, “With every mistake, you learn and become better.” This highly-decorated chef, a proud member of LTB Philippines Chefs Association, says he plans to work for the promotion of modern plant-based cuisine in the country and to mentor and develop young local talents as his way of sharing what he has learned through the years. • Cris C. Abiva
