Reporting by Angelique Misa
(Photo from geoffreyzakarian.com)
The Next Iron Chef Season 4 winner and great culinary icon, Chef Geoffrey Zakarian was in Manila last March 20, 2014 for the Feast of Colours – Gala Dinner held at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila.
The event was made possible by Colours, the living magazine channel and Cignal Digital TV, and it was all for a good cause! Proceeds of the five-course gala dinner – attended by the Who’s Who in Manila society – went to the Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation (PDRF), the country’s major private sector vehicle and coordinator for disaster management.
The whole idea was to bring to Manila’s food-loving denizens the true-to-life flavors and expertise of the famed Iron Chef that they only see on TV. And the central theme was “East Meets West.”
Media representatives and bloggers had the opportunity to witness the Iron Chef himself preparing the Adobo Spiced Pork Belly, one of the five main courses that was served at the gala dinner that night. Chef Geoffrey explained that he wanted a harmonious balance of flavors which led him to experimenting with several kinds of vinegar to see which will produce the best result. He also played around with different pork and chicken cuts and settled on the pork belly. His version of Adobo was a definite must-try since he added ingredients that are not typically found in the Philippine national dish but nonetheless ended up very extraordinary.
Aside from the adobo main course, we were lucky to taste the following dishes too –
Seared Scallop with Mexican Salsa and Tortilla Dressing
Cream of Forest Mushroom Soup with Blue Cheese Crostini –
… and Baked Mango Cheesecake with Chocolate Stick for dessert!
About Geoffrey Zakarian:
He won in Season 4 of the Next Iron Chef which was the “Superchefs” edition and pitted him against eight of America’s top chefs. He owns and oversees the following restaurants: The Lambs Club at the Chatwal Hotel and The National at The Benjamin Hotel, both in New York City; Tudor House in Miami; as well as Ocean Blue, The Raw Bar and Ocean Blue on the Waterfront at the Norwegian Breakaway cruise ship of the Norwegian Cruise Lines.
Quotable quote: “Food goes through similar style trends and redefinitions as fashion. You need to know that landscape to understand how to achieve something timeless.”
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