What makes a burger great?

Any number of ingredients if you ask Cesar Domingo.

He’s the chef behind SanziBar, the tapas and burger bar at Newstead. Fourteen burgers are on the menu. If you want an out-of-this-world experience, your best bet is likely the SanziBar. As a warning, it’s not for the fainthearted. Made of Kobe beef and stuffed with a ball of foie gras, it comes with truffle cheese fries — and a bill for $80.

The offering is a far cry from what the chef ate growing up in the Visayas region of the Philippines where traditional dishes include whole roasted pig, sausage and beef in soy and tomato sauce. “I had a very humble beginning,” said Mr Domingo, the eldest of nine children. “When I was young, I helped my parents preparing foods for special occasions and family gatherings and learnt a lot [through that].”

That early introduction was enough to get him hooked on cooking. He chose technology and home economics as his major in high school and got a part-time job as an assistant kitchen helper in a cafeteria.

The savings, combined with a scholarship, were enough for him to study at a culinary school. “I then had training at Hyatt Regency in Boracay, a famous island in the Philippines,” Mr Domingo said.

He then moved to Manila where he worked at one of its most popular delicatessens, Almon Marina. A job opportunity in Dubai took him out of the country for the first time, in 2002. He stayed there for three years before he was offered a position with the Little Venice Group.

“I had some friends who worked in Bermuda and so I sent in my CV,” he said. “I didn’t really know anything about Bermuda. I’d only heard about the Bermuda triangle. I figured it was an island like Boracay, just busier — especially in the summer time.”

He worked at Café Lido for eight-and-a-half years under Italian chefs Max Olivari and Guido Barambilla. “I learnt a lot from them,” said Mr Domingo who has a five-year-old son Prince Anthony, with his wife Maryann.

Although beaches aren’t a huge draw for him, he’s happy he made the decision to come to Bermuda, he added. “I always thought I would travel. And in Bermuda you can go to the US. It’s far easier to travel from here than the Philippines.”

Two years ago, he joined Beau Rivage as executive sous chef. He said the opportunity to work with restaurant owner Jean-Claude Garzia was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

“We started SanziBar last year and had the grand opening in May,” said Mr Domingo, who is responsible for creating the tapas and burger bar’s menus along with Mr Garzia and Beau Rivage maitre d’ Dirk Beck. “It’s not like in the main restaurant [Beau Rivage] where [everyone] waits for dishes to be served at once. We can bring a dish one at a time while you chat with friends. It’s not ‘fine dining’, it’s a little more relaxing.

“Lots of guests [at Newstead] like it.”