Fascinatingly Filipino

Imagine 24 hours where delicious food fell from heaven and you gorged yourself on this incredible and bountiful cuisine. Exquisite dining was served to you on a silver platter — a feast fit for kings and queens of medieval lore, emperors of the Roman Empire, the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. Louis the Sun King himself would have been jealous, and guess what? It was all Filipino food.

It started one evening as an honored guest, Janet Hsieh, princess of Taiwan and of travel media, came to film Manila’s food scene. She bestowed upon us her presence, wide-eyed and interested in what Filipino food had to offer. Appalled at some of these “fear factor” food items that she had previously tried and horrified at the fact that her last memory of Filipino food was a scrunched-up nose and a seemingly questionable reply of “I do remember adobo…” I foraged through my phone books calling in favors trying to cram into an evening and a day deliciously forward-thinking and evolving Filipino cuisine.

We started out with some very inventive takes on our local fare, dining at Bistro Filipino of chefs Jackie and Rolando Laudico. This husband-and-wife team wowed our host and my palate with some pretty exciting food. I came with an open mind because of the mixed reviews I had heard and now I understand why. The flavors are truly and uniquely Filipino but don’t come in expecting your lola’s kare-kare or manang’s sinigang, come in ready for new food, new sensations. The tasting menu was rather hefty, spinning twists on several classic dishes and introducing interesting new ones.

For me, one of the highlights was lumpiang ubod in a cone with a spicy vinegar sherbet. The mix of fried, salty, hot and crispy with a surprise of cold, tart spice was truly genius. Janet impishly described it as the savory version of a browning or apple pie a la mode. Then the shiitake mushroom adobo cappuccino, which was a little shot glass of beauty. Give it to me in a mug with a slurpy, twirly straw on the side… I’ll be happy. No argument here, the earthiness of the shiitake and soy, acidity of the vinegar and the creamy velouté of truffle foam — a winning combination fit for any palate. Lastly a perfectly seared tuna, crusty outside and gorgeously pink inside, sat royally atop a sticky paella rice-stuffed paella leaf in the middle of a pool of rich orange buro sauce. An island of inspiration and simplicity in a sea of flavor. Inspired by Greek dolmades? Perhaps, but no matter how distinctly un-Filipino it was in technique, the flavor was honestly, in-your-face Pinoy.

A stroke of genius: Chef Laudico’s lumpiang ubod cone with the spicy vinegar sherbet

Flash-forward to the next morning where darling Tita Myrna Seg-ismundo waited for us in her - home kitchen. Gorgeous Smeg stovetop, everything perfectly thought out and shimmering orange sunset le creuset pots hung about. She showed Janet step by step how to make adobo and turon while I snooped around the kitchen sniffing out all the delightful traditional delicacies she was to feed us. (As if I hadn’t eaten enough already the night before.) Everything from the cute little empanadas — pockets of delight — to one of the most heavenly, glorious and breathtakingly amazing pieces of pork I’ve ever had. It might be a far-out comparison, but if I really had to, Joel Robuchon’s cotelettes de cochon de lait was overshadowed by this innovative cuchinillo roulade. When one has lechon, I always look at the aromatic stuffing and say, hmm, that would have been nice to eat for the flavor and scent. Tita Myrna deboned the cuchinillo, stuffed it with tamarind leaves, basil and all sorts of exciting things, rolled it up in its skin and roasted it to divine perfection. It was crisp yet tender and succulent. I picked it up like a cookie, admiring the intelligence of it all, took a bite and savored as juices rolled down my hands. The other great Filipino dishes (prawn and tanigue kilawin, sinigang, lechon kawali, lechon manok, adobo, pinakbet, coconut prawns) were truly delicious but outshined by this lechon cuchinillo roulade. And as we washed it down with dried mango-infused ice-cold lambanog I couldn’t help but think: “Finally, a Pinoy limoncello.”

As if we didn’t eat enough we headed over to Market! Market! for its plethora of street food and snacks and when we could fish ball and bibingka no more, we headed over to Cirkulo for yet again their amazing sisig and crispy patita… oh, and an ice-cold beer. After a long day of pigging out — no pun intended for all the porcine meat we did eat — it was such an honor when Janet told me that she truly changed her mind about Filipino food and Manila and that she would definitely come back to visit. The cherry on top was when asked, “Where is your favorite place that you’ve visited?” (and their team for Fun Asia travels a lot!) one of the production assistants, Ren Wei, said in broken English, “The Philippines (is) my favorite country that I’ve visited. Beautiful islands, nice people, good food.”

The Philippines is a truly vibrant place with creative minds trying to move things forward, trying to get out there in the international scene. Just looking at the dining scene alone, we have a plethora of amazing chefs boldly experimenting or even just adventurous restaurateurs contributing to our burgeoning food industry, many of which I have yet to try.

In terms of upscale, mid-scale and fast food, Pinoys are getting more creative and their audience more discerning. Even in other cities like Cebu, Bacolod, Davao, and Baguio, the food scene is thriving. It’s my dream that the Philippines be the next culinary hub in the next five or so years. With the right kind of marketing and media support, it truly can be. The talent and the passion is here… so is Tita Myrna’s dried mango-infused lambanog. Now, that’s a great idea to bank upon.

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You can contact me at Stephanie_zubiri@yahoo.fr.