Of mochis, memories & a Bloody Mary in a tomato
MANILA, Philippines – It is the morning after. Last night, you were given a small package with the instruction that it not be opened until the next morning. What it contained, you were told, would help you remember the dining experience you had that night. And what an experience it was.
It was another one of Cheryl Tiu’s successful Cross Cultures events, which brought together good friends Josean Alija from Nerua at the Guggenheim Bilbao and Chele Gonzalez of Gallery Vask, “for a two-night dinner event, an exchange of cultures and culinary experiences between Spain and the Philippines, and between mentor and protégé.”
Imagine this: the welcome cocktail, a Bloody Mary, does not come in a glass. Instead, you have a shallow white bowl with a cherry tomato resting on a bed of ice. You pop the tomato in your mouth and the Bloody Mary, which had been injected into the tomato, bursts inside your mouth. It’s extraordinary.
Everything about this dinner comes as a pleasant surprise. The Wagyu Chicharon is made, not with pigskin but with Wagyu cheek that had been slow-cooked for 20 hours then deep-fried, resulting in a crispy, light and airy chicharon. Your dipping sauce is spicy Pinakurat vinegar.
Unlike what you usually find in your homemade escabeche, there is no tomato in this Escabeche made with elephant clams. Instead, the acidity is delivered by slivers of ripe mango that are pickled, and green mango, which is fermented. The next dish, Nabo Jamon, mimics carbonara, but instead of pasta, shredded white turnip is used. Iberico Joselito takes the place of pancetta. Only two ingredients make up the dish Aubergine: squid and eggplant. The squid is cooked two ways. The body is a confit in garlic oil, while the head is grilled.
Cod Kokotxas with green pepper pilpil sauce is a traditional dish from the Basque country. It is made with the flesh from the jaw of the bacalao. Reduction of its high gelatinous content for five hours creates a fantastic broth. Nothing complicated yet superb in flavor, the dish is a fine example of chef Josean’s signature style that has earned him the title, “master of minimalist cuisine.”
You are given a tiny scroll that contains an explanation for 500, a fish dish made with snapper as the main ingredient. It called that because it is an adaptation of a 500-year-old recipe that is Spanish with Moorish influences. The dish can be enjoyed two ways: “first, on its own; and second, mixed with Majada made of almond and raisins that sit on the side of the plate.”
Chef Chele, who always looks for new ways to present a dish, using “fresh, indigenous products while honoring their true nature,” presented a very special dish that took one year to develop. His Suman ice cream is made with mango, vanilla, and rice.
A second dessert, the Aguacate, is made with fenugreek ice cream on top of avocado cream, sprinkled with black olive powder for some contrast and crunchiness. The chef does not use any sugar in his desserts and prefers to bring out its natural sweetness.
Preparing the dinner was an experience that he started enjoying from the first moment he thought about coming, chef Josean says. He and chef Chele had worked together at Nerua before Chele came to the Philippines and opened Gallery Vask, applying the same culinary concepts and values he learned at Nerua. “I am very proud about all that he is doing here,” Josean says. “He is putting the Philippines on the map in the gastronomical way.”
The last dish served was a collaboration between Nerua Guggenheim Bilbao and Gallery Vask. It took three months to develop, Chele says. It began when Josean traveled to Japan. “With his signature techniques and familiarity with the flavors of northern Spain, he developed this Rice Cake Mochi. Chele then contributed his culinary perspective as inspired by his experience in the Philippines, resulting in a collaboration that highlights the philosophy of Cross Cultures by Cheryl Tiu, to exchange cultures and experiences through the language of food.”
The Rice Cake Mochi was exquisite — soft, not too sweet, almost melt-in-your-mouth. It was a pleasant surprise the next morning to find that your take-home package actually contained another such mochi, for you to relive your enjoyment of the night before. This must have been what it was like for Proust, who upon tasting a cookie dipped in his afternoon tea was overcome with childhood memories. This is what your take-home package contained — a mochi and a memory.
