Myrna Segismundo shows what is truly 'Lasang Pinoy' at The Pen

MANILA, Philippines - Lasang Pinoy (Filipino Flavors) is the name the foodie think tank of The Peninsula Manila is calling their forthcoming food festival at their all-day dining restaurant Escolta. Foreigners often ask me what our Philippine cuisine is like. I suppose they expect a reply in one word or one sentence at most, like Thai food is hot, Indian is spicy, Japanese is clean tasting, Vietnamese is simple, clear broth phô with plenty of fresh basil and vegetables, Korean is kimchi, period.  But how does one define the cuisine of 7,107 islands, all vying for their mark and identity on our national culinary landscape?

I answer proudly, “Filipino food is the most wonderful food in the world.”

Another question often asked is why our food is not popular among foreigners. Now, this can lead to long debates, from the need to standardize (so one no longer wonders what it is), to lack of distinct flavors, to not exotic enough, to unpalatable visually, etc. This can go as long as the debates on which adobo is the right adobo.  And, as they say, a country’s history can be told in one plate. The Philippines has indeed a very delicious history with the Malay, Chinese, Spanish, Indian, Mexican and American influences in our cuisine, all very distinct in their own right. As Anthony Bourdain (who loves our sisig and declared our lechon the best in the world) said, we Filipinos have always had fusion food, being geographically located at the crossroads where both sides of the Pacific Ocean meet. He further commented that we Filipinos are so polite that we easily adapt our lifestyles and food ways to wherever we find ourselves in a foreign land, but dangerously close to losing our identity and culinary traditions. But culinary icon Nora Daza says that we Filipinos have innately very “international taste” and that is why luxury liners and hotels all over the world have Filipino chefs in the kitchens ably cooking international food (a case in point is chef Cristeta Comerford at the US White House). The same cannot be said about other Asian chefs.   

 Chef Myrna Segismundo, an accomplished cookbook author, restaurateur and managing director of multi-awarded Restaurant 9501, the exclusive executive dining restaurant of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. who has been promoting Filipino cuisine here and abroad, will be The Peninsula Manila’s celebrity guest chef from June 17 to 30. Mariano “Garch” Garchitorena, the hotel’s PR director, invited some 30 guests from the media and friends to partake of a feast, sampling chef Myrna’s take on what is truly Lasang Pinoy. 

We were greeted by the hotel’s F&B manager Javier Berenguer Testa, who passed around different chilled martinis spiked with lambanog (coconut wine) flavored with kamias, ube/raspberry, and a virgin guyabano/basil shake. 

When hubby Claude and I arrived, a crowd was already gathered around a long table filled with an assortment of pulutan (appetizers), which could have served as the main feast in itself. It included fresh vegetable lumpia (spring rolls) with honey-patis dressing, dulong (silver fish) cooked in olive oil, assorted seafood kinilaw, chicharon with fresh pineapple salsa, and pizza with longganisa hamonado (sweet and garlicky sausage), salted duck egg, kesong puti (farmer’s cheese) topped with fresh pakô or fiddlehead fern. Chef Myrna’s version of the humble tokwa’t baboy is a refreshing mix of silken tofu and crunchy pork bits served ceviche (kinilaw) style.  

Once seated, hubby literally jumped out of his seat when the carving trolley was rolled in. His eyes twinkled with excitement upon seeing chef Myrna’s pièce de résistance, a boneless lechon de leche roulade, which had golden brown crispy skin and moist and tender meat, served with a red wine/liver sauce. Platters of other dishes came in quick succession, served family-style.

An Ensaladang Filipina, a mélange of grilled eggplant, tomatoes, singkamas (Mexican jicama) and onion was served first. Then molo soup came, having pork and shrimp dumplings in clear chicken broth, which was poured tableside. The paella binagoongan is a riot of flavors with shrimp paste, pork, salted egg and mango strips. Another carving trolley was rolled in, this time with roast beef, commonplace and de rigueur in a five-star hotels, you might say, but chef Myrna’s take is an adobo-flavored roast beef, which was quite intriguing. It was pink and tender and she served it with the adobo jus and another sauce that looked like horseradish to me.  I spooned both and the combination was heavenly, especially when dribbled over the fatty side of the beef, which melted in the mouth.  I found out later it was roasted garlic puree, and I thanked God I didn’t know because I would not have tried it and would have missed the wonderful experience.

Her beef kaldereta was served individually in cups with a crusty pastry shell baked like shepherd’s pie. It tasted how we know it should be, but certainly better and more flavorful, with the beef cubes well-steeped in the rich tomato sauce. I have not met anyone who makes a better kaldereta. There was also a trio of skewered barbecues with pork, chicken and seafood; seafood kare-kare richly bathed in peanut sauce; and baked laing or taro leaves with coconut cream and shrimps. 

Lastly, what would a Pinoy feast be without pancit or noodles coming in the form of sotanghon or glass noodles sautéed with vegetables? There was plenty to pass around for vegans, ovo-vegetarians and pescatarians that night.  Dessert lovers must not miss the signature budin (bread and butter pudding with dried fruits) and turon, while chef Jill Sandique’s to-die-for canonigo, mango Pavlova and pistachio sans rival made a cameo appearance.

Admittedly, being a purist when it comes to food, I can only appreciate a change in the presentation but the taste must remain as I’ve known since childhood. I myself am surprised that I like her lechon roulade with mixed dried fruit chutney instead of the traditional sweet-sour liver sauce. As our friend Reimon Gutierrez, who was with us at the media dinner, so eloquently and succinctly said: “Only the daring and albeit seasoned chefs would touch upon age-old tradition and general preferences. Partakers of such a feast must erase all memory, leave all prejudices, put all arguments to rest as one can only enjoy this meal if one remains objective; in between bites come a pleasant update into a cuisine most chefs would dare not challenge.”

The hotel’s GM Sonja Vodusek welcomed us guests by saying how thrilled and excited she was when chef Myrna agreed to be a guest chef at Escolta, taking time off her 9501 Restaurant, exclusive only to ABS-CBN executives and its talents. She also announced that chef Myrna is the first Filipino to guest as chef in the hotel, a milestone indeed in the hotel’s 36 years (turning 37 this coming September) in the Philippines, and highlighting Filipino cuisine in its rightful place, at that.

Now, you don’t have to be a star to experience chef Myrna’s cooking. Catch her at Escolta of The Peninsula Manila from June 17 to 30, lunch from Monday to Saturday, dinner from Sunday to Thursday.

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For inquiries or reservations, call 887-2888 or e-mail diningpmn@peninsula.com.