Flavors of the ‘Land Down Under’

It was a morning with delectable canapés and overflowing champagne as Wade Watson, chef and owner of my favorite Australian restaurant Bondi & Bourke in Legaspi Village, launched his second branch at Forbes Town Center, Bonifacio Global City.

Foodies, lifestyle media  and bloggers were all in attendance at the launch of the two-story restaurant as chef Wade prepared his signature no-nonsense Australian comfort food from Bondi & Bourke’s open kitchen.

Aside from starters such as foie gras brochettes, prawn cocktail, mini-pies, sausage rolls, and fish & chips, chef Wade also served his best-selling roast prime rib-eye with mashed potatoes and fresh warm mushroom salad  to the guests’ delight. The Australian chef even prepared a flavorful, tender and juicy Lebanese chicken kebab.

The meal was capped with my favorite — Bondi & Bourke’s famous sticky toffee pudding.

Mini-steak pies and the Australian dessert lamingtons were packed for the guests to bring home.

(For reservations, call 0998-8406268 and 833-1812 or reserve via Booky app. For more information, visit @BondiBourkePh on Instagram and Facebook.)

Of peace & thanksgiving

(From left) Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. and wife Cecille with Japanese Ambassador Kazuhide Ishikawa and wife Yuko.

Members of the diplomatic corps, government officials, prominent members of the Muslim community and business executives joined hands recently to celebrate the Eid’l Fitr Festival at the Samsung Hall of SM Aura Premier.

Hosted by the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Office of Middle East and African Affairs (OMEAA), in partnership with SM and the Magbassa Kita Foundation, Inc. (MKFI), the festival shared  a better understanding and appreciation of Muslim culture among Filipinos.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. graced the event, sharing a special Eid’l Fitr message from President Rodrigo Duterte who hoped that “all the members of the Muslim Filipino communities unite with other Filipinos to achieve lasting peace, political stability, economic growth and development.”

The works of the late National Artist for Visual Arts Dr. Abdulmari Imao and his son Toym Imao were showcased during the event.  Cultural performances mirroring the traditional Muslim culture through dance and music by DFA’s very own Angklung Ensemble and the renowned Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group also performed for the guests.

Resident embassies from Muslim countries like  Kuwait, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Oman displayed mini-exhibits for this occasion, providing the international context of the global Muslim community.

Eid’l Fitr, also known as the Festival of the Breaking of the Fast, is an important celebration for Muslims worldwide. It marks the end of the month-long fast during Ramadan and marks the beginning of the month Shawwal. During Eid, families and friends reunite to celebrate and offer thanksgiving to Allah. Eid’l Fitr has been a national holiday in the Philippines since 2002 to foster peace and goodwill between major religions in the Philippines.

‘Can’t Sit Still’

Valentine Willie, Ernest Concepcion and Karim Raslan.

Visual artist Ernest Concepcion’s latest solo exhibition is titled Can’t Sit Still.

In this latest exhibition, Concepcion explores materials that are viscous, those that endow terrain to the painting’s ground, and which allow the artist freedom, even pleasure in painting. His current works take from objects as can be discerned in the mute outlines of buds and blooms within the tangle of paint as well as the mounds and hollows that define the surface of his works. He describes his method as departing from recognition of real objects, which he uses as paths for paint, resin, plaster, among others to take in what can only be described as amalgam of form and the various ways it can be taken apart and made whole.

Concepcion recently relocated to Manila from Brooklyn, New York. He participated in several artist residencies while in New York, including The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) Workspace Program, Artists Alliance Inc. Rotating Studio Program, Lower East Side Printshop Keyholder Residency, among others. His works are defined by a wide ranging interest in experimentation in painting, sculpture and installation.

He was a 2011 finalist in the New York Foundation for the Arts Drawing category and was nominated to the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant in 2012.

He has exhibited his works at various venues in Manila including the West Gallery, Blanc, as well as the Lopez Museum and the UP Vargas Museum. He was resident artist of Light and Space Contemporary in 2014 and was among exhibiting artists in El Museo del Barrio’s La Bienal in New York in 2013.

Concepcion received the Thirteen Artists Award from the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 2015.

The artist conducted an artist’s talk a few days after the opening of his exhibit at Tin-Aw Art Gallery.

(Tin-Aw Art Gallery is located at the Upper Ground Floor of Somerset Olympia, 7912 Makati Ave. corner Sto. Tomas street, Makati City.  For more information, call 892-7522, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.tin-aw.com.)

(Follow me on Instagram @pepperteehankee.)