Noma cooking — done with Filipino ingredients
What was originally set as an intimate dinner at Green Pastures, a restaurant located at the East Wing of Shangri-La Plaza by chef Robby Goco, was reset in Makati when it became a small party catering to a chosen few. There are very few epic moments in life that can compare to that wonderful evening hosted at the lovely residence of Aleth Ocampo, besieged by a collective cast of who’s who in the Philippine culinary landscape. The night was off to a wonderful beginning, thanks to the breathtaking setting and meticulous attention to detail of the dinner that was set to highlight a cultural partnership between Belgians and Filipinos. In other words, it was a meeting of minds and a fellowship of good food.
Sous chef Yannick Van Aeken and pastry chef Louise Bannon, who both previously worked in Noma, were in the Philippines in search of local delicacies and local ingredients to redefine Philippine food as we know it. The brainchild of Glen Ramaekers, who has Filipino blood, and with the support of many like-minded individuals such as Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat and chef Robby Goco, the idea that was born at a similar intimate dinner in 2012 paved the way for this enchanting evening.
I was one of the lucky ones who got invited to witness the great event. Who would not want to try the type of cooking Noma offers? Noma was chosen as one of the best restaurants in the world and three times was number one. I was super-excited when I heard the news and invitation from Pio Goco, who did the live blogging of the event from morning till dinnertime. So can you imagine the excitement building up from all of us?
On the morning of that day, I had meetings one after another, so by noon I was already exhausted mentally and physically. After I finished with my last meeting, I decided to take a nap, but my phone kept notifying me almost every minute about Pio’s Facebook updates. Because of this I was not able to take my power nap. But it was worth it after all — just the thought of seeing and dining with colleagues from the Philippine food industry, enjoying good company and gourmet food.
What caught my attention was the fact that in most, if not all, their dishes, local ingredients such as ube, kalamansi, sigarilyas, and even sinamak, which is a traditional vinegar from Ilocos, took center stage, but they were prepared, cooked and served in such an extraordinary manner that one could not believe these locally available ingredients could make such a different impression. Add to that the scarcity of seasonings and it was a remarkable feat, granted that everything tasted savory and beautifully flavored.
This is all thanks to the driving mission of sourcing fresh ingredients locally within the region, reducing the carbon footprint of food transportation and production, but also enriching our palates and tastes as familiar ingredients received a different interpretation.
Our odyssey into the world of redefined Filipino flavors started with a parade of breathtaking appetizers ranging from scallops drenched in tapuy, or rice wine, and juices of shrimp head, topped with creamy uni. Needless to say, the taste was superb as it was a mixture of salty and sweet, followed by chef Goco’s appetizers using native eggplant and pine nuts, where ube and kamote chips were used to serve roasted eggplant dip garnished with pine nuts and olive oil straight from Greece. The last appetizer was buttered garlic bread with a dip of ipon (dilis from Ilocos Sur) and fish roe. All of these appetizers were au naturel, of course, with no additional seasoning.
With starters like that nothing could go wrong. Our six-course dinner started with an interesting dish made of Angel Wings, locally known as diwal, with sigarilyas, kalamansi, coconut vinegar or sinamak, and pickled shallots, followed by mussels in pumpkin sauce and kalamansi topped with chicharon.
The third course was a fish and pork soup with moringa or malunggay topped with raw egg. We had sensory overload as the preparation and taste of these locally known ingredients indeed took a 180-degree turn. Take, for example, the traditional ube, a tuber usually prepared as dessert, was made into part of the main course, mashed ube mixed with cherry beer from Belgium, topped with wild oats, rice, and Kiziek, a Nordic flatbread with the texture of a biscuit. It was followed by roasted cabbage with kimchi sauce.
Our dessert was a refreshing mix of mangoes topped with homemade coconut milk ice cream and a bit of thyme, served in a coconut shell.
Needless to say, the night was filled with a plethora of ideas, tastes and flavors that came from the very unusual preparation of local food. I was inspired and grateful to be in the midst of such wonderful company of brilliant minds and sophisticated palates; I will be waiting in anticipation for another distinctive dinner such as this one.
