It was a blast!

Graduating students of the International Culinary Arts Academy Cebu (Don Gervacio Quijada Street, Guadalupe; email: [email protected]; phone – 4125241) are required to prepare a final culminating dinner and it was an "Evening of Food and Wine". If there was such a thing as award for perfect attendance to these events, your favorite food columnist would surely get this award because I cannot afford to miss any dinner in this institution head by Chef Jeremy Young that is constantly reinventing food appearances, flavors and textures.

I was seated in the company of former employees from the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino and it became a sort of reunion for these gentlemen and ladies. I checked the menu and I counted 12 dishes to be served (excluding the Petit Fours, served with coffee or tea). As usual, it was hard work eating all the delicious food paired with all those exciting wine and this reminds me that I am in my 10th year as a food columnist and performing this herculean task.

The first three dishes were as follows: Caviar, potato & radish, Abalone, avocado, tomato & kimchi and the Prawn, basil & coconut, paired with the GAVI, Fogliarubina DOCG, Italia 2008. Caviar always evokes a sense of luxury though in the early 19th century in the USA and Canada, it was served in saloons, sometimes for free. Abalone is another expensive item often used in the canned or dried form in Chinese cuisine because it quickly hardens when excess heat is applied. This is easily handled by the ICCAA kitchen using the sous-vide technique to cook the meat while keeping it succulent. The shrimp meat, coconut and basil combination is easy to understand and to finish the dish, I had to extract the juicy goodness from the shrimp head.

These were followed by the Foie Gras & cherry and the Onion Soup Sphere, paired with the Lagrein, Rose DOC, K. Martini & Sohn, Italia 2010. The latter dish, onion soup enclosed in a sphere is a subtle reminder that molecular gastronomy is here to stay and it has always elicited a surprise to new converts.

 The service of the Piñacolada Sorbet (nice cup of pineapple and pine nuts flavors!) was followed by two seafood dishes: US Diver Scallop, spinach, orange & vanilla and the Norwegian Salmon, carrot, dill & lemon. The latter dish was my favorite that night. It was a visual feast and I did not really know where to start to eat the dish. In the end, my palate encountered a sea of such wonderful flavours, rolling back and front, from the salmon to the dill cushioned by textures of carrots and mild acidic citrus taste. Truly such a magnificent creation!

It was time for the meats and two dishes were prepared:

US Veal Sweetbreads, bacon, mushroom & veal sauce and the Australian Lamb, eggplant, dates, pine nuts & pomegranate, paired with the Nero D' Avola IGT, Tessalico, Italia 2009.

 Sweetbreads refer to the thymus and the pancreas of the calf or lamb which is soak in salty water, poached in milk, dried then breaded and fried. The lamb dish reflects some Middle East origins with the use of dates and the pomegranate fruit, perhaps Algeria then moving to the realm of French cuisine.

At this point my gastronomic journey has reached its saturation point and I look forward to complete it, with the Pink Rose & Grapefruit Sorbet (definitely, a Chef Gabriel Garcia creation) and the Trio of Chocolate Cone with Vanilla Yogurt Milk Shake and Passion Fruit Sauce served with a dessert wine, the Malvasia Rosaa di Castelnovo Don Bosco, Italia.

Competition is also stiff in the hotel, restaurants and leisure industry and students of the International Culinary Arts Academy Cebu have trained long and hard to be gladiators, excuse me, in the kitchen arenas of the world.