Drop the Gun, Take the Quarchioni

IMG_5252Originally uploaded by margauxlicious.

It's 1:13 a.m. on the Apple watch but I am so stuffed I can't lie down.

I was invited by the dynamic duo of the Mandarin - the ever elegant Charisse Chiudan and the sultry Erika Aquino - to attend a small dinner at the Tivoli last night to try the creations of British Chef Paul Anthony Quarchioni.

In all honesty I had no clue what to expect. The first thought that came to my head upon the invitation was continental cooking, followed by good coffee (I just like Tivoli's coffee - probably why I'm still awake!). They have guest chefs a lot - a Thai chef was just here from The Oriental, Bangkok (more on that tomorrow ... or the next day hee hee) - and they're almost always amazing, so I really had no extra expectations aside from very satisfying food.

The surprise was in the guest list. It was indeed a very tight invite! Aside from the lovely ladies of the Mandarin, there was just me, Anna Sobropena of Lifestyle Asia, Juan Lanuza of Businessworld, and Claude Tayag of ... The Claude Tayag. I make note of this because I got to sit beside The Claude Tayag (hereinafter TCT) - and while I look like it's all cool during the moment, in reality I'm just real starstruck, haha. (Some 101 so I don't look too much like a fool: Claude Tayag is one of the country's top gourmets. He is an authority on Pampangeno food aside from being an amazing cook, author and artist. His book, Food Tour, made me a fan.)

The menu was incredibly filling. The amuse bouche of watermelon with goats cheese was not a tease but a joke because it was no introduction at all to what we were about to experience - a rich and hefty meal on meal on meal! What Chef Quarchioni did was to get recipes of the Michelin-rated chefs that he'd worked with and put them all together for one gorgeous and gorge-ous evening.

He began with a salad recipe from Jean Georges Vongerichten. It was a hill of crab meat beside a smaller hill of diced mango. TCT, who was allergic to crab, had to copy notes from me, hehe, his seatmate, asking how it tasted, with me jokingly replying, "Parang kilawin." But it was not just so. The secret was in the coriander, which dotted the i on the dish. And then, as if that wasn't enough, you realize there's a whole mound of chilled mango right beside it waiting to be explored. This adds a sharp sweet taste that contrasts with the sour mixture of crab meat. It's a wonderful Thai-French dish that is signature Jean Georges. 

Next was a Pillow of Wild Mushroom with Asparagus, which was a beautiful mushroom experience that hushed the table. The mushrooms were encased in a crepe-like 'pillow' and asparagus was added to break the monotony of umami. 

But the best experience for my seatmates was the foie gras. TCT wisely asked for a sweet wine to compliment the salty liver. The maitre d', pouring the white into TCT's glass, instructed TCT to leave the taste of the foie gras on his tongue as he sipped the wine. This perked the curiosity of the ladies on the table, who agreed to another round of foie gras. It was funny watching Erika and Anna after, because they looked almost like they had an "afterglow" from the experience. 

This was followed by the seabass. On the menu, the ingredient that stood out was the osetra caviar.  It was drowned in the liquid though and what stood out instead against the softness of the fish was the crunch of the underlying chicharo. 

We thought the curtain would close after the seabass but no, veal followed. The veal was amazingly tender and I wished it was served before the fish so that I could have consumed the whole thing. 

Dessert was strawberries in "whole milk". They used fresh local strawberries. TCT and I had a brief discussion on how local produce is so much sweeter than those imported, which are bigger and may be prettier to look at but are far less tasty. These strawberries were right up the alley of tart and sweet, the kind of sweet that wakes you up. It was wonderful. 

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The following day ... I had so much food I dreamt of food last night ... The cholesterol haunted me in my sleep. But hey, we live once!