Amy Besa in Manila

Amy Besa is the partner of Romy Dorotan and this amazing couple own and run the quaint restaurant Cendrillon in Soho in New York. I was introduced to them by my chef friend Jayme, who at the time was working in another restaurant Fiamma (no relation to our Jupiter party place), also in the City. I wrote about them for inq7.net's Global Nation when I was based in Manhattan and we had a wonderful discussion about slow food that I remember to this day. She complained about the use of buillion cubes in certain "fine dining" restaurants in Greenbelt and was aghast that this was actually being practiced.

She has finally completed a book entitled MEMORIES OF PHILIPPINE KITCHENS. I believe the New York launch was done a while ago but she has come home to launch the book here as well.

There will be a book launch tomorrow, 12 January, Friday, at 6 p.m. at A Different Bookstore at Serendra.

She is also giving a food lecture on 25 January, Friday, at 6. p.m. at the Ortigas Foundation Library (across the Meralco Building?). Her email read,

You should definitely come there and bring your foodie friends. I would love to open up the discussion there about Filipino food and what's good or bad about it now.

So holler to fellow foodies: come, ok?

Here is the article on Cendrillon I wrote a couple of years back, my very first article for PDI on food!

Yes, it's a 3-star Pinoy
restaurant in New York
By Margaux Salcedo, contributor
INQ7.net

A CAUCASIAN friend of mine once challenged me to name him a Filipino restaurant in any big city in the world, saying that people are acquainted with Japanese, Chinese, even Ethiopian food, but no one is really acquainted with food that is Filipino; and there are definitely no Filipino restaurants in any big city, especially not in New York. I had to slump in defeat after this conversation, which took place during my first week in New York City. At the time, I was not yet well acquainted with the restaurants in the city and could not name one Filipino restaurant in Manhattan.

Now I am proud to say that I know not one, not two, but three Zagat-rated Filipino restaurants in New York City: Cendrillon in Soho, Dragonfly in the Village, and Kuma-Inn at the Lower East Side. And these are not hole-in-the-wall restaurants, mind you. (I've also already discovered a number of those!) These restaurants have received two- or three-star ratings from critics and have received rave reviews from no less than the New York Times.

Of the three, Cendrillon is the most known by word of mouth among Filipinos. Probably because it has been around the longest, but primarily it serves exquisite Filipino-based cuisine.

The difference, though, is that the cuisine at Cendrillon is not strictly classified as Filipino (note I wrote Filipino-based). A lot of Filipinos have a difficult time appreciating the cuisine at Cendrillon because they come to the restaurant expecting the homemade Pinoy food we grew up with. This restaurant does not serve that. The menu contains ... well, whatever chef/owner Romy Dorotan thinks of! It is Pinoy food with a twist: the lumpiang sariwa is wrapped not in normal lumpia wrappers but in ube wrappers (yes, they are purple); the adobo features organic chicken; and the paella is made not with rice but with pirurutong (usually used for puto bumbong). In short, Cendrillon does not serve Filipino food but Filipino food a la Romy Dotoran ... to rave reviews.

No less than the New York Times has said:

"Cendrillon [is] a fashionable SoHo bistro, where traditional Filipino fare is masterfully tweaked; where, with a wink and touch of culinary genius, the bibingka becomes a rich souffle of gouda and feta instead of the traditional water-buffalo cheese, and where the paella is a steaming cornucopia of shrimp, long beans and indigo-colored rice ..."
-- Somini Sengupta, New York Times, April 1998

Although not formally schooled in culinary arts, after working in restaurants around New York for almost twenty years and especially after opening Cendrillon, Romy Dotoran has been hailed as one of New York's "unsung fine chefs". Tasting his seafood paella, I discover why. Romy's concoctions are mixed in a way that your palate is sure to get the hint of each ingredient in the dish. He does not capitalize on making the best adobo or the best paella or the best beefsteak or the best Filipino food you can imagine. Instead, he takes the best of Filipino dishes and mixes it with other ingredients he has gotten acquainted with throughout the years to come up with his own recipes that really are, literally, one of a kind.

The idea of using pirurutong (black or purple rice -- depending on which province it comes from) for paella is entirely his. As is the idea of cooking the paella in a claypot. The result is a dish that has its origins in Filipino cuisine yet unknown to the Filipino palate.

The secret behind such excellent cooking is that chef Romy Dorotan and co-owner Amy Besa really study not only their ingredients but also the culture behind the components of each dish. "You must be rooted in culture to understand an ingredient's use," Amy explains. Romy agrees and says that is the essence of the ingredients that he seeks to bring out.

The result is that they draw a crowd of loyal customers who have made them last almost ten years. Because the customers keep coming back, it is common to see Romy and Amy themselves welcoming the guests and calling them by their first names. When you walk into the restaurant, it almost gives a feel of walking into the home of an old friend for a celebration. Amy humbly replies, "It's a two-way street. We really enjoy and love our customers."

Undoubtedly, Cendrillon will continue to bless Mercer Street with its flavorsome Pan-Asian cuisine. And for Filipinos in New York, there will always be Romy's cooking to come home to ... your favorite Filipino food with a Dorotan twist.

Cendrillon is located on Mercer Street between Broom and Grand in Soho. Amy Besa, co-owner of Cendrillon, will soon release a book on Filipino dishes entitled "Memories of Philippine Kitchens." Visit www.cendrillon.com.