MANILA -- Filipinos are known for their sweet tooth, and three chefs
are bringing different takes on dessert from three main regions of the
Philippines.
Bruce Lim, Tatung Sarthou and Sider Tadtad are the featured guest
chefs for the third edition of F1 Hotel’s Luzviminda: Pistang Pinoy
promotion, which opened last Friday in time for the Independence Day
celebrations.
“I wanted to have fun with dessert,” said Lim of Rustique Kitchen, who represents Luzon in the promotion.
This is apparent in his dessert offerings like the Filipino Mile High
Pie, where he takes typical Filipino dessert flavors ube and leche flan
and tops it with torched meringue.
His Coco Jam Cream Puffs and White Corn Cream Puffs were also an
innovative take to the common pastry cream/éclair dessert. I much
preferred the Coco Jam Cream Puffs, as the coco jam went well with the
dark chocolate topping.
While Lim, who stars in Asia’s Food Channel’s “The Boss,” described
the Taho Panacotta as an accident in the kitchen, I found it to be one
of his most successful desserts in the buffet, as it had all the
necessary flavors of a street taho, but more refined and had the perfect
level of sweetness.
To end any meal, his Theo and Philo truffles would be perfect with a
cup of tea or coffee, especially the dark chocolate treats with the
pastillas filling.
Cebu and Davao
The Mango Otap Float was Sarthou’s dessert piece de resistance, using
Cebu’s famous delicacies otap and mangoes with cream. I also had a
serving or two of binigkit, the Visayas’ version of the ginataan, with
sweet potato, bananas in a thick milk stew.
Sarthou, who just opened his new restaurant Alab, also served Pastel
de Leche, which was a sweet dough tart shell piled high with leche flan
cubes.
Tadtad, meanwhile, introduced ethnic Mindanao cooking in his desserts
like the Dodol, where a tart shell is filled with a ‘kalamay-like’
textured mixture that tasted of caramelized sugar and coconut milk; and
the Kab-kab, which was an addicting treat of homemade cassava chips
dipped in latik or thickly caramelized coconut milk.
While Lim had champorado and Sarthou had binigkit, Tadtad, who works
at Big 8 Corporate Hotel in Tagum City in Davao, served Tapol Durian,
which was a porridge that tasted of chocolate with a nice
non-overpowering hit of durian. The dish uses grains from the adlai
plant (prevalent in Mindanao, which is not rice, but looks and tastes
like rice), which has an almost wild-rice texture, making it one of the
most interesting food finds in the buffet.
Another must try is the tinagtag, a dessert that looks likes fried
crispy bihon, made of rice flour, milk and sugar, fried and shaped into
tubes or triangles, almost of a baklava in its texture, and just like
the kab-kab, strangely addicting.
The three chefs also served their respective takes on the cheesecake:
Lim served the playful Theo and Philo Chocnut Cheesecake, Sarthou made a
Bibingka Cheesecake complete with salted egg and coconut on top, while
Tadtad had the Mango Durian Cheesecake, which will please durian lovers
everywhere.
The Luzviminda buffet spread also featured interesting desserts from the
F1 kitchen like different flavored crepes, silvanas and even a Brazo de
Ube.
And don’t forget to visit the ice cream station and try the
adventurous flavors like durian, and salted egg with little bits of
tuyo.
(The Luzviminda 3: Pistang Pinoy promotion runs until June 25 at F
All Day Dining Restaurant of F1 Hotel in Bonifacio Global City,
Taguig.)
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
