The Mandarin is also a 5-star classroom

Are you familiar with the performance sport known as "air guitar"? It is a strange sight in which even tone deaf and musically moronic grown men pretend to be rock stars. Holding invisible guitars, they run their hands down imaginary frets and twist their fingers to do impossible chords. They prance around, leap from potentially bone-breaking heights, and gyrate to the music playing over loudspeakers. For the spectator, it can be an astonishing and utterly weird sight. Air guitarists may believe that they are cool, but there is just no getting away from the fact that those watching know that the guitar playing is unreal. And, although air guitar is a deliberate and acceptable exercise in pretense, faking it through most things in life is not acceptable and encouraged. People will eventually see through your phoniness.

In writing about food, one should have a keen and genuine appreciation for gustatory pleasures. One tries hard to develop the senses, and the accomplished gourmand aims to be synaesthetic to be able to maximize enjoyment of the different colors, textures, aromas, and flavors. Necessarily, the food writer has to educate himself about new ingredients, cooking forms, and techniques. And thus, cooking lessons at The Tivoli of Mandarin Oriental are a happy development.

Forget the usual cooking classes that require standing over a hot stove in an equally steaming kitchen. Learning how to cook at the Mandarin Oriental is an effortless experience that simply requires you to pay close attention to the cooking instructor. For this cooking lesson, we were comfortably seated at Mandarin Oriental’s The Tivoli, while Swiss chef Stefan Trepp expertly demonstrated the steps in putting together a distinctive full-course meal.

"When we have company and my mom cooks, she is at the stove the whole time. That’s not the way to enjoy," says the youthful chef Stefan who shared tips on how one could cook for company and be stress-free at the same time. The key to staying unperturbed while cooking and entertaining company is to prepare well before the meal. Slow cooking ensures that the food’s flavors are locked in and accentuated.

Chef Stefan Trepp comes to The Tivoli from The Westin Mission Hills Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage, California where he was the sous chef. Prior to that, he worked with the world-acclaimed Burj al Arab in Dubai, the Grand Hotel Quellenhof Resort and Spa in Bad Ragaz, Switzerland, and the Grand Hotel Kulm in Arosa, Switzerland.

For this cooking class, part of the menu consisted of a confit of duck that had started to simmer several hours before. The slow cooking over a gentle flame was to produce a dish with incomparable flavors and textures.

Creative gourmet cooking classes at The Tivoli, Mandarin Oriental’s fine-dining restaurant, began in September with Asian-influenced gourmet dishes that included lemon grass and coconut-infused salmon ceviche with mango-chili salsa, confit of duck with Asian spices and herbs, vanilla thyme risotto and ginger-glazed pak choy, and dessert of crème brulée with lotus paste ice cream.

Succeeding cooking classes will be held on Oct. 21 and Nov. 18. The recipes that will be included are best-sellers from The Tivoli, and Christmas dishes that could help participants add their personal touch to their gift-giving during the Yule season. This cooking course, which is offered at P1,700+ inclusive of lunch, will also include wine and beverage recommendations.

* * *

The Tivoli is now accepting enrollees for its gourmet cooking classes. For details, call The Tivoli at 750-8888 local 2431 and 2432.