A farm-to-table Ilonggo Christmas dinner

Amid the holiday frenzy, good friends made sure to spend quality time together to enjoy a delightful evening with a healthy and delicious dinner specially prepared by Pauline Gorriceta Banusing.

As the guests arrived that evening, one immediately noticed the dinner table’s arrangement contained colorful native vegetables mixed with Christmas decorations to go with the theme of Pauline’s latest baby: her “Farm to Table Iloilo” restaurant that serves sumptuous and mouthwatering dishes made from organic and natural ingredients. Mindful of sustainable and healthy living, Pauline ensures that she gets the freshest and best-quality ingredients only from local producers.

Favorites of the evening were the veggie tofu with native Oton mushrooms, crispy and succulent soft-shell crabs from Dumangas, the ever-popular (native) chicken inasal marinated in local vinegar and Visayan batchoy that contained fresh egg noodles with a broth base of organic beef and pork ribs.

Coming from a family of politicians and entrepreneurs (Sarabia Manor Hotel and Karat World), Pauline originally wanted to follow in those paths, taking Social Sciences at the Ateneo de Manila. However, she was always drawn to cooking, which she learned simply by tasting and experimenting. Realizing that there are others ways to serve people than politics, she found herself studying once again and this time she was in her element in the kitchen of the Culinary Institute of America (New York), where she felt reborn.

Upon her return to Iloilo 17 years ago, she put up Al Dente, the first Italian restaurant in Iloilo City that served authentic Italian dishes. It was then considered a courageous undertaking because Ilonggos had yet to accept Italian cuisine. The uphill battle proved successful with Al Dente earning Philippine Tatler’s Best Restaurant award from 2014 to 2016.

Her biggest projects include the opening of the Iloilo Convention Center and

PNoy’s Vin d’Honneur at Casa Real during Independence Day 2015.

Not one to rest on her laurels, Pauline plunged ahead by putting up more restaurants with various culinary themes that included Freska Hometown Buffet, which offers more than 30 local dishes and is considered the biggest buffet in the city, as well as Brewery Gastropub, which serves gourmet food and hundreds of beers sourced internationally.

As we congratulated Pauline on the delicious dinner, she enthused, “My success as a chef is also brought about by the entrepreneurial drive of my husband, Gus (Banusing), who even if he has his own businesses, ensures that my culinary concepts materialize into fruition. Ours is a perfect pairing of food, wine and business.”

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For comments and ideas, please email: jacinto.fa@gmail.com.