Guess who came to dinner?

It was one of those very private dinner parties that your favorite food columnist was privileged to attend, a Welcome Dinner in honor of Bailli Delegue Magistral Donald Hall, from the Macao branch of La Chaine des Rotisseurs.

My beloved followers know that this society is dedicated to the Art of Cuisine and the Culture of the Table, so Magistral Donald Hall is not an ordinary guest and extra efforts must be made to come up with a dinner that is befitting his high rank in a gourmet society.

Everything starts with the budget and when you entertain guests, limits are set based on financial resources. At times, the guest would like to try certain types of foods and we do sometimes go out of our way to accommodate them. Last month, I had a guest from California who was in the fur coat business and his special request was to eat Filipino food in Larsian!

Perfect gyud because it is within my most humble capacities and he was very happy eating those grilled fish and squid, pork and chorizo barbecue, siomai accompanied by puso and San Miguel light beer. Eating utensils was a pair of barbecue sticks conveniently transformed into chopsticks. Photo opportunities followed to show the ambiance of Filipino culture back home.

For dessert, it was now my choice and we completed our food tourism adventure, excuse me, at the Gustavian. Extreme ends of the culinary world, so that it is very difficult to be so hospitable!

Back to the Welcome Dinner, it was held at the La Vista in Maria Luisa, Banilad, residence of Michel and Amparito Lhuillier, officers of the national and local branches of La Chaine, respectively.

Welcome drink was Moet et Chandon Champagne served with a fine selection of cheeses, greens and fruit. Actually, these were mere teasers to prime the appetites while Gustavian Chef Robert Lilja was busy preparing dinner in the Lhuillier kitchen, which has the facilities of a medium-sized hotel.

When we serve dinner to our guest, we do serve appetizers and dinner time is usually 7:30 pm. Many of my devoted followers would be inconvenienced with dinner served at 9:00 pm; very hungry na gyud at this point, including your favorite food columnist.

With the service of the Pouilly Fume, Les Vallons, 2007, dinner, ahem, was ready with the first course, the Prawn Cocktail with Dill Crème Fraîche topped with Caviar. Delicious taste sensations are felt on your palate when the prawn meat combines with the sour cream, then followed by the quaint taste of the caviar. 

Sun-dried Tomato Soup came next, served with Walnut Bread. I tread carefully eating this bread because it is very filling. And consumption of sun dried tomatoes is an acquired taste.

Sun drying tomatoes (including smoking technique) is a common practice in many western countries to preserve their produce for the winter months. We have not adopted this because we have the sun all year round, hence we can plant anytime we want. But do you notice all those tomatoes rotting during summer, simply because prices have fallen so low and harvesting them is an added expense? So much waste!

Cleansing action was accomplished by the Lemon Grass & Calamansi Sorbet with Saki and then the red wine was served, the 2000 Château Troplong Mondot, Saint Emilion, Grand Cru Classe, followed by the main dish, the Lamb rack with Pommes Williams, Caramelized Shallot & Haricot Beans.

The lamb was very delicious, with the beans and the carrots providing the colors to the dish. The potato croquettes were shaped like a pear and a slivered almond is added on top to look like a stem. And looking at these photos again makes me very hungry.

Finishing touches to the luxurious dinner was the Fruit Tart topped with Raspberry Sabayonne with Fresh Strawberries & Kiwi Fruit. It was time for those after dinner drinks and our most generous hosts Michel and Amparito Lhuillier, asked us to select between the Armagnac Napoleon, Cognac Courvoisier and Cognac Hennessy. Choices, choices…and personally, I find it hard so I went the easier way — I had a shot of each drink!