A dinner I almost missed!

Last November 16, your favourite food columnist was expecting visitors from Japan who regularly visit Cebu to donate and administer anti-rabies vaccinations.

Homeless dogs often endanger the lives of our citizens, as a potential reservoir of the dreaded rabies. Bite victims regularly seek the help of city officials since human anti-rabies shots are very expensive. These Japanese veterinarians regularly invite us to very expensive dinners after a hard day’s work.

On the same evening, I also had an invitation from the International Culinary Arts Academy Cebu (in front of USC- Girls High, Email: [email protected], phone 256-0461, 418-2988) to the Final Culminating Dinner Event of the Two-Year Culinary Arts Chefs Programme called “An Evening of Brasserie”. And your favourite food columnist, excuse me, has a reputation to maintain, perfect attendance to all the dinners of this culinary institution.

Life can be very difficult indeed, choosing which dinner to attend; so I invited the Japanese veterinarians for lunch and with great anticipation, joined the ICCA dinner. Two days later, I regrouped with the visitors for another lovely dinner. The wisdom of Solomon!

Seated down to some very serious business of eating very delicious food, I joined the company of Waterfront GM Marco Protacio to start with the Cold Appetiser Plate, a Mixed Green Salad with Poached Egg Yolk (made from quail eggs) and Warm Bacon Vinaigrette. The greens were served with the Langoustine Salad. Perfect start!

Then we had the Hot Appetiser Plate: Traditional French Onion Soup, Crab Cakes with Mustard Dipping Sauce, Mussels Mariniere with Saffron & Toast and the Foie Gras with Cranberry Relish & Port Wine Reduction. Wow! Very nice, the dinner had merely begun and six dishes were already  served. Remember, appetizers pa!

For the main dishes, we were served the Seafood Plate: Pan Seared Divers Scallop with Warm Tomato Confit, Grilled Salmon with Grapefruit Beurre Blanc and the Poached Halibut with Spicy Vinaigrette. The Poultry Plate came next: Magret de Canard with Green and Pink Peppercorn Sauce and the Pan Roasted Organic Chicken with Hunter Sauce. That’s eleven dishes to be dissected and I was pretty sure I would over-work my taste buds! The scallops and duck were extremely delicious!

Red wine service signaled the next dish—Meat Plate, a Trio of Tenderloin: Beef Tenderloin with red wine sauce, Bobby Veal Tenderloin with sauce foyot and Lamb Tenderloin with creamy boursin cheese sauce.

A very long time ago, when I was asked how the steak is to be served, well-done gyud na since my father’s eating habits earlier indoctrinated me as he disliked the appearance of blood in the meat. Much later, as we have grown older, taste changes (not necessarily wiser, though!) and my preference today would be medium for lamb and medium rare for beef and veal.

That’s a total of fourteen dishes in the last one and half hours of dinner and I glanced at the menu to see eight more dishes, all desserts, were yet to be served. You see, the life of your food columnist can be extremely difficult, eating all those delicious food that I cannot even pronounce correctly.

The Hot Dessert Plate was served first, Wild Passion Fruit Escapade, Suchard Decadence topper with Crème Anglaise, Golden Peaches Frangipane and the Deep Fried Mango Mascarpone Ravioli. How I wish all my beloved readers could be with me that night to share such glorious dessert. 

And Dean Jeremy G. Young, ever the perfectionist, closed the dinner event, “An Evening of Brasserie,” with the Cold Dessert Plate: Nutty Chocolate Bombe Glacee, Quenelles of Cobnuts, Espresso Almond Dacquoise and the Cocoa Cannoli filled with Swiss Chocolate Mousse. A total of twenty two of the finest dishes and to think that I almost missed this very exquisite dinner.

Ah, such fine cooks, these student chefs, ready to venture into the world and proudly proclaim they are graduates of a very fine institution, International Culinary Arts Academy Cebu.

Congratulations!