Your favorite food columnist joined his colleagues in a Media Preview of the new A La Carte Menu of ACQUA, along with Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort & Spa team. It was prepared by the new Italian Chef who hails from Milan, Chef Marco Ghezzi.
Once in the past, I was in the company of several Italians and they gave me valuable insights to the cuisine of their mother country. There are many “Italys” in Italy! All over Italy, it is divided...every hill, every valley, there is another culture and what we call Italian cuisine is merely the sum of all the cuisine of these “Italys”.
Another input I have learned was the requirements to make an authentic “Italian restaurant”. It must have an Italian Chef, genuine ingredients from Italy, Italian kitchen tools & equipment, including a wood-fired oven.
To be better acquainted with Italian cuisine, it is best to travel to Italy and merely a year ago, I visited Rome & Florence. That provided me with some intimacy to La Cucina Laziale and La Cucina Toscana, respectively, but not La Cucina Lombarda (land of butter and lard as opposed to olive oil), mother cuisine of Chef Marco Ghezzi.
An Italian dinner begins with Antipasti / Appetizers which consist of Affettati misti (Assortment of cold cuts) or the Piatti freddi / Cold dishes. This is followed by the Primi piatti / Pasta and Soups and the Secondi piatti / Meat or Fish and dinner ends with the Dolci / Homemade Desserts. If there are monetary difficulties, pwede panini (sandwiches), insalate (salads) and pizza na lang.
Because this was a food tasting, we had triples of appetizers – Mozzarella di bufala con salsa allenoci (Buffalo Mozzarella Cheese with Tomato and Walnut Pesto), Bresaola con ricotta e rucola (Thinly sliced Cured Beef with Ricotta Cheese, olives, rucola leaves and cherry tomatoes and the Insalata di gamberi con pomodorini e basilica (Prawns with Tomato, Basil and Red Onion in Extra-virgin olive oil vinaigrette); soups like the Fumetto con gamberi, calamari e zafferano (Clear Seafood Broth with prawns, calamari & clams flavored with saffron), Zuppa di patate e porcini (Crème Soup of Potato and Porcini Mushrooms) and Orzo perlato e speck (Barley and Speck Soup); to the pastas and risotto – Tagliolini al nero di seppia in crema di piselli (Black Tagliolini with prawns and calamari on a mirror of green peas sauce), Risotto con funghiaromatizzato al tartufo (Risotto Mushroom with truffle oil and crispy Parma ham) and Tortellini bolognesepasticciati (Tortellini in Creamy Bolognaise Sauce).
Time for the doubles, we tasted the main dishes (Secondi piatti): Filetto di tonno in crosta di pistacchio e vellutata di carote (Seared Tuna Fillet crusted with pistachios on carrot veloute and zucchini flan) and the Carréd’agnello e polenta grigliata e caponata di verdure e rosmarino (Lamb Rack on Grilled Polenta, ratatouille of vegetables with rosemary and roasted garlic gravy, served on a single plate.
And finally, whew, the Dolci / Homemade Desserts: Acqua Tiramisu (Tiramisu flavored with almonds and amaretto liqueur) and the Semifreddo al Cioccolatobianco e Cannella (White Chocolate and Cinnamon Parfait with Prune Compote).
It was a great finale to such a wonderful dinner and such a difficult task for the members of media to understand the intricacies of Italian food.