In celebration of the country’s culinary traditions, Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa presents Pagkaing Pinoy: The Third Philippine Food and Arts Festival. The country’s most prolific women chefs: Myrna Segismundo, Glenda Barretto and Jill Sandique team up to prepare a specially prepared dinner buffet at Tides restaurant, featuring classic Filipino dishes culled from the Luzon region.
Barretto and Segismundo highlight the nuanced flavors of the North, in their take of classic courses such as lechon paella, bistek Tagalog, boneless lechon, chicken galantina, sinigang na isda, Bicol express, Batangas bulalo, pinais na alimasag (crab shell filled with meat and assorted vegetables), chicken and pork adobo, and many more.
Completing the triumvirate of women chefs is pastry chef Jill Sandique, who, like Barretto and Segismundo, makes it her personal mission to raise the bar and showcase the best of the country’s culinary traditions. Sandique’s dessert specialties utilize native ingredients such as her mango cashew torte, peanut kisses sans rival, Malacanang roll, canonigo, coconut lime cake, and the Spanish-inspired tocino del cielo and brazo de Mercedes roll.
An accomplished chef, manager, hotelier, and producer, Myrna Segismundo is the only Filipino female chef to win the most number of recognitions in Chefs on Parade, the Asean region’s biggest and oldest culinary competition. She is currently managing director and executive chef of 9501, the corporate restaurant of ABS-CBN television network, and is keeping busy as co-host and executive producer with Chef TV, a food show on the Lifestyle Channel.
Segismundo graduated with a degree in hotel and restaurant administration from the University of the Philippines, then went on to gain experience in the Sheraton Hotel and Waldorf Astoria in New York City. Upon returning to the Philippines, she became a restaurant manager at Sign of the Anvil, a corporate dining restaurant. Today, the popularity of Sign of the Anvil is such that a book of the restaurant’s favorite recipes has been published.
Glenda Barretto is the proprietor and vice president of the popular Via Mare chain of restaurants. Having participated in DOT-organized Philippine festivals in various countries worldwide, Barretto’s passion for culinary craft helped catapult Filipino cuisine to the global audience.
A favorite caterer of presidential dinners and social parties, she was the caterer of choice for the January 2007 ASEAN dinner held at the Cebu International Convention Center.
Barretto’s zeal for helping Philippine cuisine receive wider recognition and appreciation gave birth to Via Mare Publications in 1997, which published The ASEAN Seafood Cookbook (Philippine edition), and Flavors of the Philippines: A Culinary Guide to the Best of the Islands. Displaying business acumen, Barretto is also credited for bringing Filipino fine cuisine into the frozen food industry.
Jill Sandique is a pastry chef, culinary instructor, private consultant for food suppliers, and co-hosts Chef TV with Myrna Segismundo. Sandique carries the distinction of being the only Filipino to earn the highest grade in the famed Peter Kump school of culinary arts in New York City, and has learned under the tutelage of Paul Bocuse, Roger Verge, Rose Levy Barambaum, Julia Child and Nick Malgieri.
Sandique manages her own pastry shop, Delize, and is the program director and lead trainor of the US Demonstration Kitchen and Learning Facility of the US Department of Agriculture in the Philippines.
The Third Philippine Food Festival is co-presented by Philippine Airlines. For reservations, please call Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa, Cebu at tel: (032) 231 8224, or e-mail mac@shangri-la.com.