margauxlicious, Enderun & the country's best chefs and food writers welcome Chef Willin Low
A Toast to Filipino Cuisine!
(photo credit: Enderun)
What does it take to impress a chef that has been lauded by no less than the New York Times as one of three chefs in Singapore who are reinventing the city's traditional food culture? Aun Koh, publisher of the Miele Guide, shouted out this challenge: "Margaux: after years of Su-Lyn and me advocating the Manila food scene, Chef Willin Low of Wild Rocket and Relish is finally heading over. Can you get the Pinoy foodies to roll out the red carpet?" That they had been marketing Manila to the world was true (visit chubbyhubby.net) and I was only too happy to prove their promotions to this very important albeit youthful guest.
I had an entire itinerary rolled out: Antonio's, Lolo Dad's, Abe, La Cocina de Tita Moning's ... and then came the bigger challenge: "I will only be in Manila from July 9 to 10 then we fly to Palawan," Chef Willin Low's email read.
How how de carabao?! And so it came to be that since we could not bring Chef Willin Low around to experience the Manila restaurant scene, we brought the Manila restaurant scene to him. Filipino hospitality reigned supreme as chef after chef after chef exhibited kindness and enthusiasm in sharing the best of Pinoy cooking for this very lucky guest. Manila's most popular restaurateurs and Enderun Colleges (thanks to Tricia Tensuan) came together to create a dinner menu to die for!
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| Chef Willin Low (R) with Enderun's Tricia Tensuan (L), Margaux Salcedo (C) |
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| Margarita Fores/Pepato Pop Up: Roasted Bulalo |
There was no better way to start than with Margarita Fores' Roasted Bulalo (served only at a Pepato Pop Up at the Whitespace; see the Pepato Facebook page for schedules and directions). "I want to serve it with rice!" she explained to me three hours before the event. "But we're having rice for the entrees?" I questioned. "No, you have to have bulalo with rice and patis - that's the beauty of it as a Filipino dish!" she explained. So we were presented with a medium sized slab of bulalo, with a piece of bread and truffle paste on the left for the Westernized version; and with a dollop of rice plus patis and calamansi on the right side for the Filipino version. There on our plates was an artful presentation of where Filipino cuisine is today: reaching out to the world on the one hand while staying true to our roots on the other. Signature Gaita.
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| Malou Fores/Mamou: Kurobuta Sinigang |
From Gaita we moved to sister-in-law Malou Fores' Kurobuta Sinigang. If Doreen Fernandez believes that sinigang is THE signature Filipino dish, a menu introducing Filipino cuisine required its inclusion. Mamou's soup is a little thicker than the usual broth but it is arguably one of the best sinigangs in the metro and they delivered!
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| Bistro Filipino, Abe: Binukadkad na Plapla |
From Batangeno and Tagalog recipes, we moved on to Pampanga's paco and plapla care of Bistro Remedios and Abe. Abe is at the top of my list for "restaurants to bring a balikbayan/tourist to". Claude Tayag, the authority on Kapampangan cooking, explained, "Buro or balo-balo is a delicacy of Pampanga using fermented rice and shrimps. We usually wrap this in mustard or mustasa leaves and have it with fried fish." Enderun's Corporate Culinary Head, Chef See, who oversaw the event, already pre-wrapped the buro and pla-pla in mustasa leaves for the convenience of each guest.
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| Pauline Banusing/Freska: Inasal |
Then from Pampanga we brought in the best of Iloilo with Chef Pauline Gorriceta Banusing presenting a stylized chicken inasal. "This is our Hainanese chicken," Chef Pauline explained so our guest would understand the inasal's popularity, "Except that it's grilled and not steamed." Chit Juan, proud advocate of organic cooking (as practiced in Le Bistro Vert) noticed the organic vinegar used on the chicken. "It's sinamak, organic vinegar from Iloilo," Chef Pauline explained. Alongside the chicken was a heritage recipe from La Cocina de Tita Moning: Suzette Montinola's Pinais na Alimasag. Suzette, now also a professor of culinary arts at Enderun, explained that this is an award-winning recipe using blue crab meat and young coconut, wrapped in banana leaves and steamed.
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| J Gamboa/Cirkulo: Cochinillo; Enderun's Chef See serves guests |
Of course no Filipino fiesta is complete without lechon. First, we presented Chef Willin Low with the best traditional (restaurant) lechon: J Gamboa/Cirkulo's cochinillo, masterfully chopped the Spanish way - using a saucer - by Enderun's Chef See. Cirkulo's cochinillo had such crisp skin with nibbles of fat pleasantly lying underneath, that it was absolute piggy heaven. Then we presented Chef Low with the more global version: Myrna Segismundo's Lechon Roulade, to introduce Filipino flavors to the westernized palate. As I bit into it, I tasted something I had overlooked when I first tasted this in 2006: "Atay? (Liver?)" Chef Myrna nodded. The liver had been oh so discreetly tucked into the rolled pork meat. Wow.
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| Myrna Segismundo/MS's Private Kitchen, 9501: Lechon Roulade |
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| Jill Sandique/Delize: Pistachio Sans Rival |
Finally, we had the best of Filipino desserts care of Jill Sandique: Pistacchio Sans Rival and Mango Pavlova, alongside Enderun's Kalamansi Tart. "Is Sans Rival French and is Pavlova Spanish?" we tried to clarify with the chef before printing out the menu. "No they are both Filipino desserts but with French/Spanish names. You ask any French guy what is sans rival, they wouldn't know." And so we asked Gerald, Enderun's French sommelier. Conclusion: It's true! These desserts are 100% Pinoy. Yet the sans rival is truly "without rival" in taste: a creamy beginning, a crisp bite in between, and finally that toasted aftertaste that keeps you wanting for more.
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| Chit Juan/ECHOstore: Explaining Single Origin Benguet Arabica |
To dot the i on this exceptional the dinner, coffee was single origin Benguet Arabica from the Women in Coffee Project of ECHOstore. "We have some of the best coffee in the world," Chit Juan explained as we appreciated the beans. "We are working on getting Philippine coffee to compete with the more well known coffee growers on the map."
A menu to die for? A menu to live for! If the Department of Tourism is paying attention, please note that we can increase the number of our tourists by sheer virtue of the creativity of our chefs and the sheer force of the flavors of our food (give or take a better airport or two). Singapore has taken this route and we would be wise to follow! If there was anything that was proven that night, it's that Philippine cuisine rocks.
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| Enderun's Restaurant 101 |
The evening ended with the Singaporeans offering a toast to Filipino food and hospitality. "I will definitely come back to Manila," Chef Willin Low exclaimed.
Mission accomplished!
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| Myrna Segismundo and Micky Fenix: "ah basta, kain lang tayo at cute kami!" hehehe! (Claude and Maryann Tayag, Nana Ozaeta behind) |
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Restaurant 101 Enderun Colleges 1100 Campus Avenue, McKinley Hill, Fort Bonifacio 856-5000 local 101. More details at 101.enderuncolleges.com. Pepato Pop Up The Commissary at Whitespace, 2314 Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati. By reservation only 729-0030 or 0917-5138945. More details at the Pepato page on Facebook. Bistro Remedios 1911 M. Adriatico St., Remedios Circle, Malate 523-9153. Abe Serendra, Bonifacio Global City 856-0526. Freska branches at freskagroup.com. Cirkulo G/F Milkyway Bldg., Arnaiz Avenue (Pasay Road) cor. Paseo de Roxas 810-8735, 810-2763. More details at elcirkulo.com. Myrna Segismundo's Private Kitchen Private dining venue for small parties of up to 20 people. 45 Sunrise Hill, New Manila Rolling Hills Village, Quezon City. By reservation only 721-0736. Delize by Jill Sandique 33 Sunrise Drive, Cubao 721-7022. ECHOstore G/F Serendra, Bonifacio Global City 901-3485. More details at echostore.ph. Wine Story G/F Shangri-la Plaza Mall, Mandaluyong 633-3556 (the menu was paired with a 2003 Chateau La Bien Faisance St Emillion Grand Cru). Chef Willin Low Singapore restaurant details at www.wildrocket.com.sg. More details, photos at margauxlicious.blogspot.com.
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| Enderun's Tricia Tensuan, Pauline Banusing, Nana Ozaeta, Chit Juan |
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| Micky Fenix, Willin Low |
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| Willin Low, Tricia Tensuan |
