One enchanting evening with Chef Jessie

We all have our dreams and fantasies, some of which we know will never be realized in our lifetime.   I have this fantasy of being a chef and the fantasy got intensified even more after I watched Catherine Zeta-Jones’ movie, No Reservations, where she played a chef in a top restaurant in Manhattan.  I have indulged in my fantasy by enrolling in short cooking classes every now and then, notably in Cordon Bleu in Bangkok, where the head teacher, chef Fabrice Daniel, inspired me with his good looks and gentle manners to love French cuisine.

Years ago, I was in the famous spa Chivasom in Hua Hin, Thailand, and I saw that they offered spa cuisine courses. I took an intensive course where I learned how to cook delicious low-calorie dishes with not a drop of oil in them. Spa cuisine dishes are cooked in vegetable broth.   I cook spa cuisine for my own personal meals, especially during days that I want to lose weight.  On a recent visit to the Hilton Resort and Spa in Mactan, Cebu I took a half-day course with their excellent Swiss chef Peter Anton Wicki, who taught me (among other things) some tricks on how to sear fish and meat with all their juices intact.  But reality check tells me that I will never be a Julia Child, or a Marcella Hazan, or our very own distinguished chefs, Jessie Sincioco, Gene Gonzalez, Gaita Fores, among others.

I don’t love food or the kitchen with a passion strong enough to put it in the center of my universe.

Last week, I received an invitation from my good friend, chef Jessie Sincioco, who added another feather to her cap when she opened a new restaurant, Enchanté (French for enchanted) at the third floor of the Joy Nostalg Building on ADB Ave., Ortigas Center.

Enchanté is like a French garden on a warm sunny day.  Interior designed by the building’s owner Jacinto Ng Jr., it has warm yellow hues and French murals, making one yearn to be in a French countryside during the summer months.

I have known chef Sincioco since 1991, when she opened Le Soufflé at Greenbelt with Billy King, one of Manila’s top expat chefs then.  Chef Sincioco has an interesting history.  She never had any formal culinary schooling. In fact, she is a graduate of banking and finance.  But her aunt, Lita Dy, who she considers her mentor, introduced her to the joys of cooking at the tender age of eight. Since then, she only had one dream in mind: to be a top chef.  She got her break when she won the top prize of the Great Maya Cookfest in 1983, held at the Intercontinental ballroom.  The expat chef of the Intercontinental, chef Sigfried Schober, saw how hard Sincioco worked on her entry and offered her a training program at the hotel’s pastry department.  After two months, one of the department staff left for abroad and Sincioco was given his position. She was the only female in the hotel’s roster of chefs but soon she was overtaking the male chefs.  She credits Swiss pastry chef Roland Lutz as the master who taught her everything about pastry.

In 1990, she rose to the rank of chef de partie in the pastry department and was offered a partnership in Greenbelt’s Le Soufflé in 1991.

Today, chef Sincioco has evolved into a full-fledged chef, not only in the pastry department but in serious food as well. Her dedication and focus to her art makes her one of Manila’s top chefs.  In 2000, Le Souffle, Greenbelt with chef Sincioco moved to Ortigas until Jan, 2005. Then they moved to the Rockwell Club.  In 1998, she opened Le Souffle at the Top of the Citi, Citibank building on Paseo de Roxas.  To this day, Rockwell and Top of the Citi are still operational but have changed their name to Chef Jessie in Rockwell Club, and Chef Jessie at the Top of the Citi.

However, her attention is now focused on Enchanté, her new baby. I spent an evening with her in her new kitchen and it was so enchanting to see her work.  She definitely has perfected her art but is still open to learning more and more techniques. When we sat down to try the menu she prepared for me (crab claws salad with raspberry vinaigrette, baked foie gras on seared Chilean sea bass and some to-die-for desserts to satisfy my sweet tooth), I asked her what excited her about her art.

“I never considered any other career but this. Even in my second life, I will still be a chef. The more I do this work, the more I am convinced that I am cut out for this. My work amazes me by the day.  The challenges of the trade in terms of being creative, meeting clientele from all works of life daily, the opportunities of making people happy with my cuisine, providing a decent source of income for our employees and their families, finding means to reach to those in need, training and being a source of inspiration to future players in the industry are enough reasons for me to continue doing this work that God meant for me to do,” she replied.

For Valentine’s Day, chef Sincioco has concocted a special menu for P2,500 per person.   For starters, there’s a trio of goose liver — homemade goose liver terrine, pan fried goose liver, and goose liver crème brulee — followed by Canadian jumbo scallops on puff pastry shell, oxtail soup encroute, and sorbet to cleanse the palate. For the main course, choose from roast chilled US black Angus striploin in morel sauce or Norwegian lemon sole fillet.  For dessert, a sumptuous trio: macadamia chocolate slice, strawberry pana cotta and a Grand Marnier crepe.  If this is a bit too much for your small appetite, you can skip a dish or two and pay ala carte prices instead.

For the eve of Chinese New Year today, chef Sincioco has added some Chinese touch to her menu.

For reservations, call 470-4828 or 470-4210.