Yummy regional cuisine at Marco Polo Plaza Hotel Cebu
Marco Polo Plaza Hotel celebrated Independence Day with Independencia, a culinary journey that featured the distinctive cuisines of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
From Luzon, guests enjoyed a taste of their regional favorite flavors such as kare-kare, a popular Filipino stew that is complemented with a thick savory peanut sauce, and bringhe, a glutinous sticky rice cooked in coconut milk tinged with turmeric. Diners pampered their taste buds with the crunchy and crispy lechon belly and linarang, a sour and spicy fish dish made popular in the Visayas. From Mindanao, the patrons were impressed with the savory satti, a Malaysian inspired dish from Zamboanga and the unique Tausug Pyanggang, chicken marinated in curry paste from blackened coconut.
MPPC executive chef Juanito Abangan, Vice Governor Agnes Magpale and MPPC director of sales and marketing Lara Scarrow
What made this event extraordinary was the fact that the entire gastronomic journey was prepared by an all-Filipino culinary team led by the hotel’s first Filipino executive chef, Juanito Abangan.
Chef Juanito discovered his love for cooking at a very young age. He began his culinary career in fine dining restaurants as a commis chef which paved the way for a career in five-star resorts and hotels. As executive chef, he oversees the hotel’s four dining venues including the signature restaurant Café Marco that enables him to continually create wonderful dining experiences for hotel guests.
Executive chef Juanito Abangan (fifth from left) with an all-Filipino team — Macario Escorra, Elton Alviar, Riz Degamo, Gina Arao, Luigi Mangubat, Geneleene Barluado, Jayson Tampus, Jovenson Acebo and Ramil Espan?ol
To complete the delicious Philippine culinary experience, guests relished the country’s famous desserts such as halo-halo, leche flan, palitaw, puto and kutsinta, ginatan and turron.
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Erstwhile Cebu residents Laurent Boisdron and Michael Albaña, both pillars of the all-important tourism industry within the island of Cebu, recently visited the city sporting new hats of authority and responsibility.
Conrad Hotel’s Michael Alban?a, director for business development, and GM Laurent Boisdron with members of Cebu media — Jaime Picornell, Flor Ynclino, Cookie Newman and Chinggay Utzurrum
In an appreciation dinner hosted by the present Manila-based gentlemen at the Circa 1900, a restaurant known for its excellent international cuisine, the selected members of the lifestyle press soon learned of the new promotions, Laurent Boisdron as general manager of Conrad Manila and Michael Albaña as director for business development of the same hotel.
Located in the 42-hectare Mall of Asia complex, the 347-guest-room property owned by the SM Hotels and Convention Corporation is the epitome of luxurious dining experience with ultimate leisure options.
