China's restaurants feel the heat as pork supplies plunge

BEIJING - Cao Xianli, the owner of a 'ribs and rice' restaurant in eastern China's Qingdao city, is facing his biggest test in a decade of running the eatery.

Not only have costs doubled in the last year because of soaring pork prices, but he's not even sure he'll be able to secure enough of the meat needed for his signature dish.

"My concern is how much longer I will still be able to buy pork. If I can't buy pork, I have to close my shop," Cao told Reuters. China's rocketing pork prices come after a deadly disease ravaged its huge hog herd, leaving the world's top consumer of the meat short of about a quarter of its usual supplies. That's about 13.5 million tonnes, more than the entire pork production of the United States.

With pork by far the most popular meat in China, food inflation is running at its highest in almost eight years, surprising both seasoned economists and restaurateurs.

"In the past year, both we and the market underestimated the pace of pork price inflation," wrote analyst Lu Ting and colleagues at Japanese bank Nomura in an October report, revising up their forecast for inflation next year.

PURCHASING POWER

Sky rocketing pork prices are impacting the entire supply chain. Wholesale chicken prices are up 33 percent on a year ago, driven by widescale substitution of pricy pork with cheaper poultry, meaning China's popular fried chicken chains are also feeling the heat.

Industry leader KFC has managed the surge in costs by forcing suppliers to take much of the hit, keeping inflation under 10 percent, executives with the firm's owner Yum China Holdings said on an Oct. 28 earnings call.

To absorb the rest of the increase, it has increased the number of non-chicken items on its menu, adding a duck meat wrap and a Portobello mushroom burger. Duck is China's cheapest meat.

KFC is also using cheaper chicken parts, replacing wings with 'strips' of breast meat, and offering a 'wing tip bucket' in July and again in October.

Though little more than skin, bone and cartilage at the end of the chicken wing, the fried wing tips proved popular, said chief executive Joey Wat on the recent call.

"There are a group, not a huge group, but there's still a group of people who just love it", she told analysts.

The company warned that 2020 will be "another challenging year for commodity inflation" but said it will be "prudent" on the portion of costs passed on to customers.

NO ROOM TO DIVERSIFY

The millions of smaller players in China's 4 trillion yuan ($568 billion) catering sector have fewer options to cope with soaring costs and limited supplies.

Though imports have surged this year, an expected 3 million tonnes of pork from abroad can't plug domestic needs, and Beijing only has small volumes of frozen pork in state reserves.

"The impact on us is huge. We sell ribs, that's it. For us, there is no room for diversification," said Cao, owner of the Qingdao restaurant.

Cao hiked his prices by about 10 percent to 19 yuan per serving and managed to retain his customers.

"People still come as they also have no choice. If they go to the market to buy pork, they'll find it's no cheaper," he said.

But others have struggled to keep customers while raising prices. Xishaoye, a Beijing-based chain that specializes in 'roujiamo', the traditional Chinese pork bun, had to lower prices again after a small hike hurt business, said Ji Chen, a manager at one of the chain's outlets.

"It's a highly competitive market, you can't raise your price more than by a low single-digit," said Lina Yan, consumer analyst at HSBC.

Xishaoye has resorted to promoting chicken and vegetable variants of the pork bun, and offering a set menu with pork-free side dishes to steer customers away from their bestselling item.

That helped to halve pork consumption at their 43 restaurants but it has still racked up losses of more than 6 million yuan this year, said chief executive Meng Bing.

"Ingredients usually account for about 30-40 percent of costs, so if the cost of ingredients increases by 20 percent to 30 percent, the company is highly likely to lose money," said Meng.

China's Vice Premier Hu Chunhua has urged farmers to restock empty farms and called on provincial authorities to do all they can to guarantee pork supplies, particularly ahead of the important Lunar New Year holiday next month.

The agriculture ministry says pig production should return to about 80 percent of normal levels by late 2020, but many others believe that forecast is overly optimistic, particularly as swine fever is still spreading.

After dipping last month, pork prices are rising again and even larger companies could come under greater pressure if inflation doesn't soon subside.

An executive with one of China's largest mass-market catering companies said it may soon be forced to raise prices.

"Increasing the price is really the last resort as our consumers are price-sensitive. But if pork prices stay high in 2020, we will have no choice," he said, declining to be identified because pork supplies are a sensitive topic.

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China reshapes global meat markets as swine fever rages

LONDON/BEIJING -- China is scouring the world for meat to replace the millions of pigs killed by African swine fever (ASF), boosting prices, business and profits for European and South American meatpackers as it re-shapes global markets for pork, beef and chicken.

The European Union, the world's second largest pork producer after China, has ramped up sales to the Asian giant although it can only fill part of the shortfall caused by ASF. Argentina and Brazil have approved new export plants to meet demand and are selling beef and chickens, as well as pork, to fill the gap. U.S. producers, however, have been hampered due to tariffs imposed by Beijing.

Other Asian countries are also ready to step up imports as they, too, deal with outbreaks of ASF. Vietnam, the Philippines, North and South Korea, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia are all struggling to contain outbreaks of the disease, which is deadly to pigs although not harmful to humans.

"It is very good news for those involved in processing and have licenses for exports to China," said Justin Sherrard, global strategist, animal protein at Rabobank.

Major EU pork processors include Danish Crown, Tonnies Group and Vion Food Group although the market is fragmented with many small- and medium-size players.

Shortages in the world's top pork consumer have been exacerbated by the upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations in late January, when pork, and pork dumplings in particular, play a central role in the food on offer.

One of the biggest European players Danish Crown said there had been a very clear jump in demand from China in the run-up to the Lunar New Year and it was bullish on the outlook for 2020.

China's state-owned agriculture conglomerate COFCO said this week it had agreed to buy $100 million of pork from Danish Crown in 2020 to help ease the domestic shortage.

NEW PLANTS IN SOUTH AMERICA

Rabobank estimates that China's hog herd, the world's largest, fell by half in the first eight months of 2019 and will likely shrink by 55 percent by the end of the year.

Many more meat plants in Argentina and Brazil have recently been approved to export to China including beef and chicken as well as pork.

Nicholas Lafontaine, a cattle rancher from the town of Azul, 300 kilometers (186 miles) southwest of Buenos Aires, said China had traditionally taken cheap cuts with premium steaks destined for the EU.

China is now taking the whole carcass, reducing the amount of meat sold on the local market for Argentina peso, a currency which has lost around a third of its value this year.

As processing margins have improved, plants have reopened.

"The other benefit that comes from growing Chinese demand is the reopening of beef plants, he said, adding that when a factory opens its doors it is thinking about China.

Neighboring Brazil has also benefited.

According to Brazilian meat trade groups, in one go Beijing authorized Brazil to more than double the number of beef plants with permits to sell directly to mainland China -- to 33.

Brazil exported 1.64 million tonnes of beef in 2018 with China buying 19.3 percent of the volume, trailing only Hong Kong. The South American country's exports have been forecast to rise to 1.8 million tonnes this year.

"China is the market paying the highest premiums for Brazilian meatpackers," Luciano Pascon, chief executive of privately-owned meatpacker Frigol, told Reuters in an interview.

TRADE WAR HITS US PRODUCERS

Hefty tariffs on American pork imposed by China as part of the ongoing trade conflict are likely to mean that the US industry will benefit less than its rivals.

US-based meat packers such as Smithfield Foods have, however, been able to secure some direct sales. Tyson Foods expects to benefit from African swine fever by increasing sales to China or other countries as the outbreak redirects global meat trading.

Tyson Foods share price has risen about 50 percent so far this year.

Trent Thiele, a farmer who raises about 60,000 hogs a year in Elma, Iowa, said, however, the trade war is hurting American hog producers.

Thiele said he would prefer selling US pork to Chinese buyers than picking up residual business elsewhere in the world because China is a main buyer of products such as pigs' feet and organ meat that other countries have little appetite for.

"A lot of our other competitor countries are obtaining the market share that naturally would have been ours if we didn't have the retaliatory tariffs," said Thiele, president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association.

ASTRONOMICAL

Imported pork ribs currently cost around 40,000 yuan ($5,680) per ton, compared with 17,600 yuan in spring 2019, traders said, while prices for other cuts such as pig front leg and rib meat have roughly doubled in that period.

"Right now, prices are astronomical, and the risk is very high," said a Beijing-based beef importer, who was struggling to gauge the right volumes to meet demand and avoid being left with expensive stock at the end of the holiday period.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's Meat Price Index is up 12.5 percent so far this year and is at the highest level since January 2015.

The pork component has risen by more than 20 percent.

The high global pork prices are even sparking interest in pig farming in predominately Muslim Kazahkstan.

"Not a week goes by without someone visiting us who wants to get into pig farming," said Maksut Baktibayev, chairman of Kazakhstan's Meat Union, an industry lobby group.

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Noche Buena price watch: 'Premium' may rise, cheaper brands steady

MANILA — The retail price of some premium Christmas food items like ham will likely increase, as higher manufacturing costs offset lower pork prices due to the African swine fever outbreak, the trade department said.

Manufacturing costs rose 30 to 60 percent, which could push the prices of premium fare for Noche Buena by 2 to 9 percent. Some traders also imported meat requirements for Christmas hams, said Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez.

Prices of cheaper products did not move, Lopez told DZMM.

"Takot din silang maipasa ang presyo kasi walang bibili e saka baka lumipat sa ibang brands," he added.

(They're also afraid to increase prices because consumers might not buy or patronize other brands.)

The DTI is inspecting markets daily to ensure that chicken prices do not exceed P180 per kilo as consumers switch to poultry from pork.

African swine fever does not affect humans despite causing hemorrhagic fever in pigs that almost always ends in death. An outbreak of the virus in parts of Rizal and Bulacan provinces has prompted authorities to cull around 7,000 hogs.

Pork accounts for 60 percent of meat consumption in the Philippines, the world's 8th biggest pork producer by volume, with its swine industry estimated at P260 billion, the Department of Agriculture earlier said.

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China inflation surges as pork prices soar

BEIJING - China's consumer inflation accelerated at its fastest pace in almost 6 years in September as African swine fever sent pork prices soaring nearly 70 percent, official data showed Tuesday.

Authorities have gone as far as tapping the nation's pork reserve to control prices of the staple meat, as the swine fever crisis could become a political and economic liability for the state.

The consumer price index (CPI) -- a key gauge of retail inflation -- hit 3.0 percent last month, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, up from 2.8 percent in August and the highest since since November 2013.

Analysts in a Bloomberg news poll had forecast 2.9 percent.

The rise was caused by food price inflation, particularly disruptions to pork supply, Capital Economics said in a note.

The price of pork soared 69.3 percent on-year in September, the NBS said.

Beijing's official statistics say around one million pigs have been killed since the first outbreak of swine fever in August but that is widely considered to be an underestimate.

This in turn has also pushed up prices of other meats including beef, chicken and duck and eggs by up to 19 percent as consumers switched to other sources of protein. 

"Looking ahead, consumer price inflation should continue to accelerate in the coming months as supply disruptions continue to push up pork prices and as the drag from lower oil prices eases," said Martin Lynge Rasmussen from Capital Economics.

Producer prices, however, continued to slide for the fifth straight month, hit by weakening demand and mounting trade tensions with the US.

The producer price index (PPI) -- an important barometer of the industrial sector that measures the cost of goods at the factory gate -- contracted 1.2 percent in September from the previous year, the NBS said.

A slowdown in factory gate inflation reflects sluggish demand, while a turn to deflation could dent corporate profits and drag on the world's number two economy.

This in turn could lead to a drop in prices globally. 

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Pig farmers pessimistic as China tries to talk down swine fever

BEIJING - Sun Dawu sighs sadly when asked about the death of thousands of his pigs, killed by the African swine fever outbreak that has been decimating hog herds across China.

"The pig farm was completely destroyed," he says quietly, fanning himself from the heat and flies on his large Hebei province farm outside Beijing.

"It's a painful process, it's painful to watch them die. We buried all the dead pigs five meters (16 feet) underground."

More than a year since swine fever began to spread across the country, China's pig farmers are wary of replenishing their stock -- and the disease could become a political and economic liability for the government.

Frustrated after a month of official stonewalling, Sun posted pictures of the dead pigs on social media platform Weibo -- quickly attracting tens of millions of views and forcing the local government to respond.

Pigs that were not killed by the fever were culled.

Eight months later, his restocked herd is healthy, but under government restrictions his pig farm is still sealed off. 

His livestock is quarantined and can't be sold for consumption until at least the second half of next year.

China's swine herd is down by about 40 percent, and the shortage has pushed prices of the country's meat staple up by at least half.

A Rabobank report warned China could lose 200 million pigs during the epidemic, and Sun said he believed the number of those affected is higher than official estimates.

"Some pig farmers dare not declare sick pigs, so they quietly sell off even dead pigs," he said.

TRADE WAR FALLOUT 

By the time swine fever broke out on his farm and killed his herd of 15,000, Sun says "all the pigs of the other farms were dead".

But only one case of swine fever has been officially reported in Hebei, according to the agriculture ministry -- Sun Dawu's farm.

The province was declared free of the disease in April.

The shortage is being exacerbated by stuttering imports from the US in a painful trade war.

And as it wears on, it is not just a problem for farmers, but also for the country's leaders -- afraid of social repercussions and spiraling economic costs.

"Historically, high food inflation has triggered bouts of urban protests," says Victor Shih, the Hi Ho Miu Lam chair professor at University of California San Diego.

Beijing has implemented several measures to boost the pig population, including subsidies of up to five million yuan ($700,000) for breeders.

They also announced in September that new large-scale breeding bases were being built in southwest Sichuan province with the capacity to produce two million pigs a year.

But farmers contacted by AFP -- reluctant to be identified -- were afraid to raise new herds despite government subsidies, fearing that any trade deal between Beijing and Washington would undercut Chinese producers or that their hogs would be taken away again.

"When the trade war between China and the US ends, the government will start to import large quantities of foreign pork and Chinese farmers will have no profit," a Hebei farmer surnamed Zhang told AFP.

'LOST TOO MUCH' 

In a bid to keep a grip on escalating prices, the government auctioned 30,000 tonnes of pork from its strategic meat reserves ahead of the National Day holiday. 

Officials insisted in September that there was sufficient supply and prices would now be stable.

But given the slowing economy and the trade war, "pork-driven inflation has further limited the government's options", says Shih.

The government also toyed with encouraging citizens to eat less meat -- efforts met with mockery.

"We should just eat the pig feed, it will be healthier," wrote one social media user after a front-page article in the state-run People's Daily extolled a vegetarian lifestyle.

Farmers also accuse governments of not doing enough to tackle the crisis, particularly local authorities that don't want to fork out compensation to farmers.

Sun started as a farmer three decades ago with 50 pigs, but now runs a large business that he says can absorb the shock of his losses -- hundreds of millions of yuan in total.

But others are not so lucky.

"Some pig farms just lost too much to rebuild," Sun said. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Happy holidays? Not in China if frozen pork is on the table

* China has released 30,000 tons of reserve pork this month

* Aims to keep lid on soaring prices ahead of holidays

* Consumers say volumes too small, frozen meat not appetizing

BEIJING - China's supermarkets are topping up their meat counters with frozen pork from state reserves, after prices of the nation's favorite protein source surged to budget-busting levels, threatening to mar this week's National Day festivities.

Pork, which has a prominent place at nearly every Chinese dinner table, is in short supply after a deadly virus infected and killed millions of hogs across China over the last year.

Beijing has stepped in to try and quell prices that have jumped to almost double what they were a year ago and are still climbing, releasing 30,000 tons of pork in three batches over the last fortnight.

That appears to have dampened further price increases for now and helped sales, at least in the capital Beijing.

"Pork is selling much better compared with three weeks ago," said a butcher at the Qianxi Street branch of Yonghui Superstores in southwestern Beijing.

"Today we have very cheap frozen pork belly, it's only 17.98 yuan (per kg, or $2.52 per pound) compared with 35.98 yuan for fresh," he said. "We're not sure where the meat is from but it must be from Beijing's reserves."

Cheaper meat will be a relief to many ahead of the holidays. Chinese typically gather for elaborate meals during festivals, and most of the repasts will feature pork in some form.

Sufficient pork supply is a "most basic requirement" for the people's welfare, said Vice Premier Hu Chunhua in a televised message to officials in late August. He urged them to guarantee supplies and increase the scale of reserves.

Shoppers in Beijing said they will not skimp on meat during the National Day holiday, whatever the price, although they have been reducing their intake at regular mealtimes.

"Before I would buy four or five ribs, but now I only buy two or three, as long as it's enough for a meal," said a retiree surnamed Wang shopping at the Yonghui store.

Many people are substituting chicken, duck or beef for some of their pork intake, with pork so pricy that even more expensive meats now appear affordable.

For some, however, it is hard to stomach a change in diet.

"My family doesn't like beef, it's a heating food, so I can only buy pork," said Wang, referring to the classification of foods as either "heating" or "cooling" in traditional Chinese medicine.

DROP IN THE OCEAN

State sales will have limited impact on prices overall, said Miranda Zhou, an analyst at Euromonitor, with total reserve volumes sold in recent weeks just a "drop in the ocean" in a country that eats about 40 million tonnes of pork a year.

News of the latest sale from state food stores was trending on Weibo, China's popular microblogging site, with many users commenting on how reserve pork had done little to cool prices.

Others questioned the quality of pork that had been in storage, describing it as "zombie meat".

"In addition to the small volumes, in the south they like fresh pork, so frozen pork really isn't appealing," said Zhou, the analyst.

A man surnamed Zheng shopping in a wet market in downtown Nanning, 2,000 km (1,250 miles) south of the capital, said he had not seen any frozen meat on sale there.

"We don't eat that kind of stuff here," he said.

"Even if there was frozen pork, we wouldn't buy it. We only eat fresh meat."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

South Korea confirms new case of African swine fever

SEOUL, South Korea—South Korea has confirmed a third case of African swine fever at a hog farm in a city near Seoul after the country’s first outbreak of the deadly virus last week, the agriculture ministry said on Monday.

The new case occurred at a pig farm with about 1,800 pigs in the city of Gimpo, nearly 14 km south of the city of Paju where the country’s first case was confirmed on Sept. 17, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement.

Since the first outbreak, over 15,000 pigs had been culled, according to the agriculture ministry data. That makes up 0.1 percent of the country’s pig population of above 12 million pigs.

South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, has raised the country’s animal disease alert level to the highest following the outbreak and ramped up disinfection measures to keep the virus spreading further.

African swine fever is highly contagious among pigs and nearly 100 percent fatal, but does not affect humans. It has spread across China including Vietnam and the Philippines.

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China's duck farmers cash in as disease slashes pork output

JIAXIANG, China - On a 30-hectare (74-acre) plot of land in China's Shandong province poultry hub, more than half a million white-feathered ducks are busy eating, chattering and laying eggs to produce cheap meat for thousands of factory canteens.

With birds already packed into around 60 open-sided buildings, farm owner Shenghe Group is expanding further, aiming to raise output by 30 percent this year to capture record profits as a plunge in pig numbers shrinks production of pork, China's favorite meat.

"The market prospects are very good now because of African swine fever," said Shenghe Chairman Wang Shuhong, whose firm sells about 300,000 ducklings a day for fattening and slaughter.

The deadly pig disease has already reduced China's hog herd by more than a quarter, according to official data. As many as half of the country's breeding sows are thought to have died or been slaughtered to cope with disease outbreaks.

Pork production will fall by 30 percent or about 16 million tonnes, say analysts at Dutch lender Rabobank, pushing prices to new records and leaving a gaping hole in the country's protein supply.

CHEAP PROTEIN

Higher pork prices - up about 35 percent in a year - have already fueled a surge in poultry meat demand. Chicken breast is about 20 percent more expensive than a year ago, while duck breast has nearly trebled in price to 14,600 yuan ($2,125) a tonne, according to Shenghe.

This is still only about half the cost of pork, but such prices are unheard of in China, where breast is typically the cheapest part of the bird.

About 80 percent of the world's ducks are raised in China, but are traditionally eaten in the south, where fried duck tongues, braised feet and spicy duck neck are popular snacks, and duck intestines make up a hotpot.

In recent years, however, more ducks have been processed for use by cost-conscious catering firms, supplying large canteens feeding schools, factories, businesses and the military.

These buyers are now switching as much pricey pork as they can to duck.

A procurement manager with a catering firm that supplies about 100 large clients around China said he has replaced about 20-30 percent of the pork on menus with either chicken or duck meat. He declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

"We may switch even more. But our concern is that the poultry price is now going up as well," he said.

The price of day-old ducklings, sold by farms like Shenghe, has hovered around 6 yuan, 3 times the usual level, since July last year.

Prices eased last month as farmers held off restocking during hot summer weather, but are rising again and set to go higher, said Dong Xiaobo, China general manager for French genetics company Orvia, the No.2 supplier of breeding ducks.

Orvia is sold out 6 months ahead and has even had calls from pig farmers considering raising ducks after losing their hogs to African swine fever.

"I've never seen this in our 10 years in this market," said Dong.

PIG CRISIS, DUCK OPPORTUNITY

As swine fever continues to spread, China's vice-premier Hu Chunhua has urged poultry farmers to help fill the protein gap to maintain social and economic stability.

Analysts warn the disease could hit some farms more than once, and ratings agency Fitch forecasts pork output will stay below 2018 levels through 2021.

With output of about 5 million tonnes last year, less than half China's chicken production, duck meat has plenty of room for growth.

The barrier to entry is lower for ducks than broiler chickens and breeding stock is more available, said Pan Chenjun, senior analyst at Rabobank.

Broiler chicken farmers rely almost entirely on imported breeding stock, which has been restricted by China's bans on imports from key markets because of bird flu outbreaks. Output may expand less than 5 percent this year, said Pan.

Any rapid expansion carries risks however. In densely stocked farms, diseases like bird flu, several strains of which are circulating in China, spread easily.

And it remains to be seen whether duck farmers can hold on to a bigger share of the meat market when pork output recovers.

Duck farmers were forced out of the industry in droves between 2012 and 2016 when overproduction killed profits, and most people still want more pork dishes than any other meat, said the catering company manager.

But Shenghe's Wang, who is planning to expand downstream with a slaughterhouse later this year, is not worried.

"Pork output won't go up in the next 3 years and will take at least 5 years to recover," he said.

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Lechon shares stage with single malt whiskey

MANILA -- Glenfiddich, the multi-awarded single malt Scotch whisky, shared the stage with the Filipino fiesta centerpiece, the lechon, in a rare lechon-whisky pairing at the Commissary in White Space.

Dubbed as "Two cultures, one table: A gustatory exploration in the great Filipino-Scottish feast," the pairing featured lechons from Cibo di M and Pepita’s Kitchen, and was presented by Matthew Fergusson-Stewart, the William Grant and Sons’ South Asia brand ambassador.

“We wanted to show that Glenfiddich whiskies are great for the Filipinos to eat with lechon. Pork is great with whisky… it’s the coming together of the finest whisky in Scotland and the finest food in the Philippines,” Fergusson-Stewart said about the inspiration for the dinner.

The first pairing featured Cibo’s roast lechon skin with a piece of fat on top paired with the Glenfiddich 12, a light Scotch that has hints of pear, green apples and vanilla. The sweetness of the Scotch cut the taste of the fat, and brought out the sweet taste of pork.

Crispy skin and the Glenfiddich 15 was the next pairing. The skin was salty with hints of smoke, while the Glenfiddich 15 tasted of raisins, ginger and spices (reminiscent to a fruit cake), the two complemented each other, as the whisky brought out just the right smokiness to the skin.

The Glenfiddich 18 had a more intense flavor of fruits – apple, pears -- raisins and cinnamon than the previous. It was sweet, and it accentuated the succulent richness of the meat found at the ribs of the Cibo di M lechon, which was also roasted while stuffed with a bottle of Glenfiddich 12 (with a small hole in the cork) infusing the meat as it cooked.

Last but not the least was the pairing of Pepita’s Kitchen’s Truffle Lechon and the Glenfiddich 21. Full flavored, rich, and smooth are just some adjectives for the Glenfiddich 21, with its taste of oak, dried fruit, and hints of toffee (butter and caramel). Pepita’s Truffle rice lechon, on the other hand, had smooth, creamy rice imbued by truffle and pork essence.

This last was my favorite pairing, with the creamy rice and the piece of crispy skin creating a mouthful that was both a play in textures and flavors with the Glenfiddich adding a really nice dried fruit sweet element to the bite, not to mention, a wonderful smooth finish--smooth on smooth.

Glenfiddich 12, 15, 18, and 21 are all award-winning spirits, having won prestigious awards around the world. Glenfiddich is also said to be number one selling single malt whisky in the world.

Cibo Di M Whisky Dinner

The first course was a salad with Txistorra crisp greens, watercress, palm hearts (which added a nice textural element), and edible flowers with a negros txistorra (sausage)-queso de bola flan, dressed with a guava jelly balasamico vinaigrette.

The delicate pan-seared pompano was the second course served Pinais sa Tampipi or en papillote with Tagaytay fennel and Davao pomelo confit, with a calamansi-carabao butter on top to add a bit of acid and richness.

Main course was a tenderloin medallion served with sautéed corn and winged beans (mais and sigarilyas), with an earthy and nutty sinangag of heirloom brown and red rice.

To end the meal, two desserts were served --- the Argellanitas (softer otap-like pastry) Torta, with Silay Dulce de Leche, a Cebu mango and jackfruit compote, and a sampaguita perfume.

Last but not the least was the small pot of Batangas chocolate lava with San Miguel, Bulacan pastillas that was lightly torched — a bite of sweet and creamy from the pastillas, a buttery hit from the caramelized sugar and a note of bitterness from the native chocolate, wonderful with a sip or two of Glenfiddich 21.

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