Truly a food lovers'' haven… GUSTAVIAN

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Every summer, La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, the renowned international gourmet club, holds an annual fellowship celebrating the presence of that wonderful sun which sustains all life on earth. Yes, the group is truly an international one! Those who reside in the tropics shy away from its rays, but some of our members come from regions where the winters are extremely cold and summer is a much-awaited event.

Last April 25, the Gustavian, located at the Paseo Saturnino (road leading to Maria Luisa estate, phone 3447653), was the destination for the "Midsummer Night Frenzy."

Charming waitresses greeted the members and guests with champagne and your favorite food columnist immediately began to work by careful examination of the label of the champagne. It was my favorite, the Moet et Chandon. And I knew it was definitely going to be an exciting night for gourmands.

Dominating the scenery was the Ice Bar with a huge table filled with ice (actually it was a portable children''s swimming pool) and in the middle was the centrepiece with two layers of Jumbo prawn with dipping sauce and the third layer were the huge long legs and claws of the Alaskan King Crab. Murag one meter in length each leg that the jumbo prawn looked like shrimp fry!

Another plate that caught my attention was the Cray fish from the Country of 1000 Lakes. Actually, there were two crayfish on display, the smaller red one (fresh water) from Finland and the larger pink crayfish (sea water) from Norway. Add the oysters, salmon, tuna and prawn and these would make my personal physician happy, reading that his favorite patient is eating only seafood (with passports and air-lifted, since swimming to the Philippines would be too exhausting and their body fat would be depleted of all that good cholesterol!). There were 30 dishes planned for the dinner by Chef Robert Lilja and Chef Dietmar Dietrich and my ever-loyal readers would be disappointed if culinary accounting would be limited.

Take a look at the photos of the dishes in the Salad and the Hors D'' oeuvres Section. I took a small slice or two of each and every dish, including a small piece (honest…) of every cheese and bread. However, the items in the Ice Bar was too tempting that La Chaîne members began with their dinner there-breaking traditional protocol- instead of the appetizers.

Then, onwards to the Roast carving section, I proceeded and got even smaller portions of the Roast prime rib of beef, Rack of lamb, Two sausages, Ham and finally the Venison saddle with summer berries. Choices of sauces were the Red wine mushroom sauce, Mint, Pommery, and Horseradish. Whew! So much hard work for me and yet, I was still eyeing that Roast beef again!

The mind was still enthusiastic but the stomach was finally satiated and so I decided to close this wonderful dinner with a bite of the Assorted Petit Fours.