Am not much into eat-all-you can buffet these days for the reason that it will make me have Claudine Barretto hips more horizontally-challenged. I broke my fast with the invitation from Diamond Hotel to try their just-launched Filipino food festival at Corniche with the spotlight on Culinaria Capampangan by Chef Sau Del Rosario.
Indeed, these words made me vanish dieting from my vocabulary: Kapampangan (certainly my fave cuisine) and Chef Sau. One would be a fool to resist an appointment with this celebrity cook.
So there I was lucky to be seated with the chef of the hour and to find that he’s one down to earth guy. In my short conversation with him, I learned all about the history of sisig, their heirloom family recipes and how he does NOT eat camaru (among other exotic insects) like a true Kapampangan.
“Inspired” is the way to describe the menu Chef Sau has concocted for the Corniche food fest, as he tried to add a twist to traditional flavors.Adobo & quezong puti pizza anyone? How about Pork sisig with foie gras and organic egg or US sirlin bistek with shiitake? I certainly couldn’t resist this boneless crispy pata kare-kare with steamed local vegetables. It was awesome!
More sinfulness.Imagine whole baby lechon stuffed with curry rice or bringhe on the carvery. Here’s what I got on my plate. Pork skin was crispy and rice so tasty that I had to come back for seconds!
Lamb chops kaldereta with a ratatouille of local vegetables –
Fern, watermelon and prawn salad on coconut vinaigrette. Spell h-e-a-l-t-h-y!
Array of native desserts also concocted by Chef Sau: ube haleya, tibok tibok and brazo de maiz.
This is just a sneak peek though. Chef Sau drafted an extensive menu which rotates around two cycles. You can also look forward to the usual favorites like fried catfish fillet with buru, pansit luglug, aligue fried rice, chicken galantina, pastel de lengua, pinakbet con lechon, camaru and vegetable okoy… to name just a few.
I thought Culinaria Capampangan was vast enough. And then I realized it is just a part of the big & wide international buffet selection at Corniche. Price is P1,600 net per person while buffet with free-flowing tropical juices is at P1,888 net per pax. To add oomph to the festival (which runs until May 19 only, by the way), guests availing of the buffet will get a chance to win roundtrip airline tickets for two to Bohol with accommodations.
Shown here: Chef Sau with the Corniche staff. Special thanks to PR Manager Melanie Pallorina and Twinkle Lacsamana for the filling dinner 🙂
Foodie tip: when in Corniche, don’t forget to drop by the ice cream station. It has the best, most exciting flavors in Manila. Gen maicha and black sesame are my favorites , but you can also have a taste of banana with palm sugar, chestnut, and langka.Totally yum!
Diamond Hotel Philippines
Roxas Blvd. cor. Dr. J. Quintos St. Manila
call 528-3000 local 1121 for reservations
How can one resist all those kapampangan food.. Extremely delicious! 🙂