And though chef Oscar whipped up dishes from Spain’s Catalan region, as he hails from the south coast of Catalonia, I found his cooking familiar, but not everyday, the way other Spanish dishes (menudo, mechado) have become so everyday in this former Spanish colony.
Bacalao (salted codfish) from Spain is really a thicker, less salty version of our daing. But it’s daing, nevertheless. During Holy Week each year, my sister-in-law Elvira always mails five kilos of bacalao (quite a pricey package, if converted to pesos, mind you) from Spain. But not once did the package get waylaid. Once, when my in-laws went to the Post Office to claim the package of bacalao, the dumbfounded clerk wiggled her nose and asked, "Ano ba ito?" Why indeed would you mail daing all the way from Spain when it abounds in every market in these islands?
Anyway, the charming and suave Oscar prepared wafer-thin slices of bacalao with aceitunas negras (black olives), feta salad with walnuts and aceite de piñones, croquetas de jamon y queso (almost bite-size pieces), mar y montana (beef meatballs with cushed garlic, squid, prawns in a sauce of tomato and wine) and zarzuela de pescada (fish medley). Dessert was crema catalana (something like creme brulee), menjar blanc de Reus (which looks and tastes like our maja blanca) and brazo de chocolate (just like brazo de mercedes with chocolate cream.)
The secret to a fine dish, says the 27-year-old Oscar, is to use fresh ingredients always.
"When you use fresh fish, you hardly need any seasoning," notes Oscar, who first took cooking lessons under his very own grandmother.
His interest in cooking was further enhanced when his family started a restaurant called Los Acantilados in the south coast of Catalonia. His interest in cooking became a passion, and so he enrolled at the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management in Cambrils (Tarragona), where he graduated in 1995.
Oscar’s culinary flair has brought him to Sweden, Italy, Norway, Finland, France and Denmark, where he displayed his expertise in Catalonian and Mediterranean cuisine.
And now, Oscar is in Asia for the very first time as guest chef of the Barcelo group, which manages the Pearl Farm Island Resort in Samal Island, the Sarabia Manor Hotel in Iloilo City and the Asturias Hotel in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan.
The Barcelo group is considering expanding its presence in the Philippines, so you don’t have to go to Davao, Iloilo or Puerto Princesa to sample its authentic Spanish dishes.
It’s a good thing the Spaniards are "invading" these shores once more, when other Europeans have virtually retreated. Well, señores y señoras, you weren’t daunted in 1521. Don’t start now.
It was such a delightful lunch– the food romanced the palate with flavors that weren’t strange, but were special enough for the diner to know that a true-blue Spanish chef was just in the kitchen.
Operation Damayan was established by the late Philippine STAR founding chairman Betty Go-Belmonte in 1988. It subsequently helped victims of typhoons and the Mount Pinatubo eruption. As donations kept pouring in, the foundation provided financial aid to patients from the pediatric ward of the Philippine General Hospital. The STAR’s president and CEO Miguel Belmonte now spearheads the foundation’s humanitarian projects, including a non-formal education program for illiterates.
The Edsa Shangri-La aims to bring out hope and the true spirit of Christmas among the beneficiaries of the foundation. Balls are available at Edsa Shangri-La’s food and beverage outlets for only P200 each. These will be hung at the Christmas tree on display at the lobby carrying the donors’ names. Beside these trees is a poster that reads:
In keeping with the theme of a Filipino Christmas, sinamay and raffia balls will be sold for P200 each and hung on trees made of coconut husks.
All proceeds will go to the STAR’s Operation Damayan.
This is the third year in a row that Edsa Shangri-La, Manila holds a project such as this. Previously, the hotel’s sale of ornamental bells raised over P200,000 for the late Arturo Borjal’s The Good Samaritan Foundation.
For inquiries, please call 633-8888 extension 2920 or 2918.