Let Chef Rob do it

What started as a simple feature turned into something bigger: A TV hosting job. But Chef Robert “Rob” Pengson  is not used to the cameras, more so to talking a lot while cooking. Still, he has turned into a TV personality  in the name of food, glorious food.

This means concocting dishes that are delightful to the eyes and a feast for the taste buds. And this is what televiewers will see when QTV 11’s Chef To Go starts airing on Aug. 5, 7 p.m.

The show veers away from traditional cooking demos which share the recipe to the audience to the last detail. Televiewers will see a different twist to cooking as Chef Rob prepares dishes far from the usual stuff served on the table. This time, it will be more classy, upscale and delectable. It also engages televiewers in a more entertaining way.

“This is as entertaining as a talk show since the host will get to know his guest while preparing a sumptuous dish televiewers will see and can do at home. It’s like having first-class cuisine at your own home,” program manager Lisa Ruivivar says.

For the first time on local TV, the show, in its succeeding episodes, will invite televiewers to send in their food fantasy. If chosen, Chef Rob will go straight to the letter sender’s kitchen to cook his or her fantasy food.

 Chef Rob didn’t expect things would  happen this fast. As director of  Global Culinary and Hospitality Academy, all he wanted was for his school to be featured on TV.

“One time, I asked my student Rosebud (Benitez) of Ka-Toque if the show can feature Global Culinary and Hospitality Academy. She said QTV has a new concept for a cooking show. Featuring my school with me in there while I was preparing meals turned out to be some kind of a screen test for me,” the 27-year-old chef relates.

As soon as GMA 7’s SVP for Entertainment Wilma Galvante saw the show’s video, she decided to cast  Chef Rob as host for the new cooking show which caters mainly to the AB market. His expertise, which he got from then California Culinary Academy, will be displayed through set menus  featured every week.   

So, are we expecting tongue twisting recipes and hard-to-resist set courses on the show?

“Maybe it’s not those normally seen on  daily menus but it would be great if these will be tried at home,” Chef Rob replies.

At home is where Chef Rob first tried his hand in cooking by making paella at age six. It was during college taking up Psychology that he realized he wanted to cook.

“I saw a culinary brochure in my friend’s house and asked my mom to enroll me there at the risk of not getting my allowance anymore if I didn’t make it,” Chef Rob relates.

He became the No.1 instructor at Center for Culinary Arts (CCA) in eight months.

“I really strove to be No. 1. Imagine being evaluated as the worst instructor? I thought this was not nice. That’s why I worked hard to get to where I am now,” Chef Rob says.

Persistence and hard work enabled him to become the founder and executive chef of Academy for International Culinary Arts and Global Academy. He also has a catering business called Gourmandise and a consultancy business for those wishing to put up a restaurant.

Aside from first-class cuisines, Chef Rob  excels in preparing Pinoy dishes in a more appetizing way. Some of them are  boneless beef adobo with red wine and roasted garlic sauce, kare-kare, pinakbet and tuna sisig with bijon (tuna egg).

For Chef to Go’s pilot episode, Chef Rob will prepare Apple tart and foie gras as appetizer, Salmon and truffle with potatoes as entrée and chocolate mousse for dessert. Joyce Jimenez joins him in the kitchen as celebrity guest.

So think about your fantasy food and let Chef Rob do it for you.