A treat of authentic Thai food

CEBU, Philippines - If a gastronomic GPS has been invented, it would definitely point to Cebu. Hotels and restaurants here serve food that would be considered ‘exotic’ in the 80s. In the past six weeks, we had Swiss, Indian, Thai and French food festivals and I got quite busy dissecting all these food from diverse cultures.

Movenpick Hotel Mactan Island Cebu recently launched its Thai Food Festival at the Sails Restaurant, in partnership with Cebu Pacific and Movenpick Resort Karon Beach Phuket Hotel, which sent three chefs over to guarantee the authenticity of the Thai cuisine to be served. I believe that authenticity can be achieved when the ingredients, chefs and kitchen facilities are sourced from the same country. What would happen if a Filipino chef will cook Chinese gluten-free flour in an Indian tandoori clay oven? Sometimes, fusion cuisine results in confusion!

Select members of the local mainstream media and online journalists were invited to the press launch and the menu listed ten salads and appetizers, two soups, ten main dishes and five desserts. My knowledge of Thai cuisine is very limited and gets updated only by my participation in food festivals and occasional visits to Thai restaurants in Cebu. I had invitations to visit Thailand in the past but for some reason, like a flood or political unrest or another, I never made it but hope that in the near future I will be able to visit this food paradise.

In the Thai Food festival at Movenpick the appetizers served were Goong Sa-Long (Fried Wrapped Prawns with Vermicelli), Po Pia Goong (Fried Shrimp Spring Roll), Kra Tong Thong (Minced Chicken with Sweet Corn and Crispy Golden Cup), Thod Mun Pla (Fried Thai Fish Cake) and Satay Gai (Chicken Satay served with Peanut Sauce).

There were three salads: Larb Gai (Spiced Minced Chicken Salad with Crispy Rice), Pra Goong (Spicy Prawn Salad, Lemon Grass & Mint) and the Classic Thai salad, Sum Tum Thai (Green Papaya Salad) while two soups were served; Tom Yung Goong (Spicy Shrimp Soup) and Tom Kha Gai (Chicken Soup with Coconut Cream).

The main dishes were Pla Rad Prik (Fried Fish with Sweet Thai Chili Sauce), Goong Phad Priew Waan (Prawn with Sweet & Sour Sauce), Gai Phad Med-Mong (Fried Chicken with Cashew Nuts), Moo Thod Ka-Tiam (Pork Fried with Garlic Black Pepper), Gaeng Pa-Naeng Gae (Red Curry Lamb Peanut in Coconut Milk) and the Masaman Nuea (Beef Masaman with Potatoes).

The usual wonderful Thai flavors were there but I noticed that it was a bit toned-down. Perhaps the visiting Thai Chefs Sutee Yamkrathok, Teenasit Nakrua and Wiwat Yong-en perhaps were given instructions to temper the chilies. I shared this observation with the online journalists in the group and they agreed with me. You see, millennials these days are more adventurous in terms of hotness in food.

I had three favorite dishes: Moo Thod Ka-Tiam (Pork), Gaeng Pa-Naeng Gae (Lamb) and Masaman Nuea (Beef). It becomes a problem when you have more than one favorite; I was too stuffed up and only had to eyeball the desserts. I was interested in the Pan Sib (Mung Bean Stuffed in Fried Puff) because it looks like empanada, my comfort food.

My favorites in the festival dinner were among the seven Thai dishes on the list of the World’s 50 Most Delicious Foods (2011, CNN online poll with 35,000 respondents). In that list the Philippine Lechon was… a poor number 49th. Maybe, the respondents had never tasted, excuse me, the Cebuano version of the dish! (FREEMAN)