When one is far away from home, it is always a treat to be able to taste all the traditional favorite cuisine/delicacies from our home country. To my surprise, my friend Girlie Hines, who has been living in Jakarta for more than four years, informed me about a Filipino food promotion at the Shangri-La Hotel. It wasn’t long after that I also received advise from another friend, Cathy Nepomuceno, who is currently the DOSM (Director of Sales & Marketing) of Shangri-La Jakarta regarding the hotel featuring Filipino flavors in their Satoo Restaurant in celebration of the 65 years of friendship between Indonesia and the Philippines.
So, off we went... other friends in tow: Whulan Herman, Francis Finstad and Aileen Constantine.
At the entrance, we were greeted by an array of Filipino goodies on display. Sponsored by Philippine Airlines and the Department of Agriculture, they had a variety of Mama Sita sauces which included some sweet & savory, sour & spicy concoctions of marmalade, syrups and sinamak vinegar.
Plus muscovado sugar, HOP (House of Polvoron)’s assorted polvoron, tinned Dole pineapple, mango and fruit cocktail, Capitan del Mar smoked milk fish, dried mangoes and YNut assorted pili nuts. All these of course gave us a bit of a thrill simply because these are not available in any of supermarkets in Jakarta.
We indulged in the Philippines’ favorite pork dishes, such as boneless lechon balamban (roasted pork), bagnet Ilocandia (air-dried crispy pork belly), pork and chicken adobo, pork estofado, lechon paksiw (pork cooked in vinegar), hamonado (pork cooked in pineapple juice) and crispy pork belly begukan.
There was also the famous halo-halo, which is a popular Filipino dessert with mixtures of shaved ice and evaporated milk to which are added various boiled sweet beans, jello and fruits. It is served in a tall glass or bowl. All prepared by Manila’s talented chef Jam Melchor.
The food promotion runs for a whole week, Sept. 3 to 10.
It was indeed a fabulous treat! We enjoyed the food so much that we have made reservations to dine again before it ends. By Dl. Northcott