A Culinary Tour of the Philippines
The Cebu Food and Wine Festival 2022 was held from June 18, 2022 with a Grand Tasting Opening at the Crimson Resort & Spa, and the finale took place last July 2, 2022 at the JPark Island Resort.
For its part, the Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu lent its support to the festival by hosting a Gastronomic Tour de Philippines, a grand dinner buffet prepared by executive chef Nicolas Van Riemsdijk with restaurateur chef Anton Abad. The hotel’s Feria Restaurant had 70 meters of regional cuisines laid out in this gastronomic tour. Four dishes, one from Luzon and three from Mindanao caught my attention.
There was the Pancit Habhab from Lucban, Quezon province. This was a noodle dish I had tasted four decades ago. It looks and tastes like our Pancit Canton, but is served in banana leaves. The banana leaf is folded with the noodles like a taco. You put it directly in your mouth and allow gravity to work its magic on the noodles – but you do not eat the banana leaf.
The first of the three Mindanao dishes I tried was the Pakfry (Deep Fried Tuna in Spiced Vinegar Sauce). The name “pakfry” is derived from the two cooking methods applied to the dish, “paksiw” or cooked in vinegar and spices, and “fry.” In Davao City, tuna tail is usually used in this dish, although any tuna part will actually do. The version served in Radisson tasted mild chilli hot, and savory with a hint of sourness.
The next dish was the Paella Chavacano with Jasmine and Sticky Rice in Seafood & Kasuba Broth. It was my first taste of this Filipino version of the Paella Valenciana cooked with two types of rice where the yellow color comes from Kasuba or Safflower. Other versions like Arroz a la Valenciana use only glutinous rice and annatto for color, while the Bringhe also uses glutinous rice and is colored by turmeric before coconut milk is added. The Paella Chavacano was delicious. By the way, the original Paella uses rabbit meat and land snails which many Cebuanos do not eat.
The third dish from Mindanao was the Chicken Pyanggang or Twice Cooked Marinated Chicken in Burnt Coconut Paste/ Pampa. The latter is made with burnt coconut (sinunug lahing nga lubi) and a mix of spices such as turmeric, galangal, onion, garlic, and chilies.
The chicken is marinated with Pampa and sautéed with onion and garlic before coconut milk is added, and then cooked for 40 minutes. The chilies, black pepper and salt are added before serving. It has a unique flavor dominated by a smoky, earthy, and chili hot flavors all at the same time.
Congratulations to the management and staff of Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu for its excellent hosting and their support of the Cebu Food and Wine Festival 2022!