MANILA, Philippines — French-trained chef Aaron Isip and Solaire’s chef Alfred Santiago have not known each other for a long time, but they were bound even for a short time by an unlikely element — fire.
Fire played a huge part in their first cooking collaboration that the public will get to see and taste at Solaire’s Waterside special four-course dinner on Sunday, November 24.
The chefs only got to know each other through Solaire’s Vice President for Culinary, chef Sebastian Kellerhoff, but their first-time collaboration was anything but forgettable. In fact, it was fiery and spicy as both chefs put forth signature dishes and tweaked and created new ones for Sunday’s event.
All the dishes will be prepared at Waterside’s firewood grill, an element both chefs work with as Chef Aaron has his own firewood grill in Poblacion’s Kasa Palma, where he serves more “straight-forward” dishes in contrast to his more refined 10-course tasting menu in another part of the restaurant.
From Poblacion to Parañaque
Chef Aaron brought over favorite items from his popular Poblacion restaurant. Trained under a Michelin restaurant and worked in Paris for over a decade after studying at the famous Le Cordon Bleu, Chef Aaron naturally thought of amuse bouche creations for his part at the four-course dinner. He whets the palate with his yellowtail scad with ube tapioca, dragonfruit, and aguachile.
He also brought his famous Tupig with Tinapa Mascarpone and Smoked Caviar, an easy favorite with its decadent and rich flavors bursting inside the mouth. Next on his Kasa Palma menu that will feature in the Waterside dinner is his signature pulpo with cherry tomatoes and smoked yogurt.
His main courses are among the most photographed at the event’s recent preview, and rightly so. Aptly called the big plates, Chef Aaron prepared two types of meats for the carnivores and a fish plate for those who would want to pace their dinner.
There is the 36-hour beef short ribs with peanut sauce and arguably his most favorite creation, the Lechon de Lobster, a crackling log of Kurobota suckling big belly that wraps around a malagkit rice and served with a trifecta of sauce (cilantro green sauce, smoked tomato pork jus, and tartare sauce).
For the more conscious ones, they could dig in Chef Aaron’s grilled red snapper with crispy scales and served with burnt Shishito (a pepper variety) sauce.
For his sweet offering, Chef Aaron is bringing over a Kasa Palma favorite, the corn madeleine with sweet corn ice cream.
New creations
While Chef Aaron brings in his tried-and-tested dishes, Chef Alfred, meanwhile, created new ones specifically for the one-night-only dinner since Waterside does not usually serve Filipino food.
Chef Alfred, however, has been leaning towards a stronger flavor profile.
“My profile is very strong and it really adds a kick to the dish. It just hits you right away straight forward,” said Chef Alfred.
He trained under the famous Manila-based Spanish chef Chele Gonzalez and worked at the one Michelin-starred restaurant, Burnt Ends, in Singapore.
“That's why we ended up doing a firewood theme because he has a background in cooking firewood and then we have a firewood kitchen. Burnt Ends is a one-Michelin star in Singapore. My favorite in Singapore,” shared Chef Aaron.
For his amuse bouche, Chef Alfred features his Alamang (shrimp paste) seaweed meringue topped with tuna and Taba ng Talangka (small crab roe).
The chef pairs Chef Aaron’s cherry tomatoes and yogurt dish with his new creation of a Crab Pinangat with smoked gata and cilantro.
Chef Alfred adds his char-grilled mantis with “spiced-champorado like” buro and curry leaves for the big plates offering.
For dessert, he will introduce the Waterside Bombe, a deconstructed Baked Alaska that features familiar Filipino flavors of Espasol and toasted rice.
Both chefs also contributed to another highlight of the four-course dinner on Sunday: a raw bar on Kansi ice that features oysters with green mango relish and warm bone marrow and prawns and red bell pepper sauce courtesy of Chef Aaron, while Chef Alfred prepared scallops kamias kosho and razor clams and lambanog calamansi jelly.
Diners should not ignore the Kansi ice, where the raw bar is placed on because it can be eaten as a palate cleanser.
The raw bar will be served before Chef Aaron’s famous Tupig and Tinapa Mascarpone.
Those who would want to partake of the one-night-only dinner featuring Chef Aaron and Chef Alfred can reserve their seats at Waterside in Solaire Resort Entertainment City by calling 8888-8888 or email restaurantevents@solaireresort.com.
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