A gastronomic collaboration

To celebrate the flavors of French, Italian, Filipino and Japanese cuisines, chefs Hiroyasu Kawate and Margarita Fores teamed up for an eight-course collaborative dinner called F2: Florilège X Fores held at Raffles Makati’s upscale French brasserie Mireio. 

Provençal-born chef Nicolas Cegretin, who worked in Michelin-starred restaurants and five-star hotels abroad, also had a hand in the night’s inspired menu.

Raffles Makati managing director David Batchelor and event organizer Angelo Comsti gave their welcome remarks. Kawate, Fores and Cegretin then expounded on all the dishes they prepared that used mostly Filipino ingredients.

For the dinner, Kawate prepared young corn from La Union filled with corn polenta; and Wagyu Sirloin served with parched rice and alocon, a local vegetable from Pangasinan.

Fores, for her part, whipped up blue crab, seaweed with colatura, lemon gelantina, pickled guso and bottarga sabayon;  and river prawn wrapped in torched lardo, head cream sauce, edamame and calamansi salt. A delicious broth was poured into it for the final touch.

Meanwhile, Cegretin served his signature French cuisine but added a touch of Filipino flavors in his foie gras served on Abakka pineapple, young coconut, pain d’epices; and Comte, aged for 36 months and served with asparagus and other condiments.

Fores and Kawate also did collaboration dishes like the slow-cooked roast chicken with annatto oil, adlai and duhat glaze; and chocolate caramel, avocado mousse, fresh chico and a shot of pili milk dessert.

Kawate is known for his innovative French cuisine that features local Japanese ingredients. His Tokyo-based restaurant Florilège received one star in the Michelin Guide Tokyo 2016 and was awarded Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants-One to Watch 2016. 

Fores built her culinary empire from her passion for Italian cooking and is at the helm of the Cibo restaurant chain, Lusso, Grace Park, Alta in Ascott BGC, Cibo di M Signature Caterer and the Casa Artusi Culinary Center. She was named Asia’s Best Female Chef 2016 by Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants.

In October, Fores will fly to Japan to collaborate with Kawate for another pop-up dinner, this time at Florilège.

(Mireio is located at the 9th floor of Raffles Makati.

For inquiries and reservations, call 795-0707.)

Celebrating new flavors

Time flies so fast. It has already been a year since Shangri-La at the Fort’s Canton Road first opened and captured our hearts with its contemporary Chinese cuisine and finest food.

To celebrate this milestone, the restaurant introduces several signature dishes that are representative of the various provinces in China: Canton, Fujian, Sichuan and Huaiyang.

Canton Road executive Chinese chef Wang Wei Qing said, “People always want something fresh and new to try. For a restaurant to be successful, it is important that we, as chefs, listen to what our diners have to say. In the process of completing this menu, we take into huge consideration what the market desires but still reflect Canton Road’s food concept, which is where modern meets traditional.”

The restaurant, for lunch, adds to its dim sum collection a variety of cold appetizers and stir-fried items. Its new dim sum offerings are inspired by the grab-and-go concept, wherein guests can enjoy a casual business meeting over a diverse selection of traditional dim sum.

My personal favorites include the steamed US scallops and bamboo shoot dumpling, boiled cabbage and pork dumpling with ginger vinegar, baked chicken stuffed with glutinous rice and the crispy chicken in iceberg lettuce.

(Daily lunch service is from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and dinner is from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Nine private dining rooms are available for group bookings equipped with a pantry and a personal butler. For inquiries, call 820-0888 or e-mail [email protected].)

Dining in style

Karen Santos, fashion-designer-turned-curator of beautiful things for the home — from table linens and accessories to unique furniture pieces — hosted a casual, sophisticated lunch at Nest on Jupiter Street in Makati City, where her latest Kassa pop-up exhibition-sale of 19th-century antiques, mid-century vintage pieces and new furniture was taking place.

Co-organized by famed interior designers Conrad Onglao and Tania Lichauco, the event featured a lush, tropical theme, with leaf-patterned tablecloths, beautifully embroidered and starched linens, bamboo cutlery and Portmeirion plates with a botanic garden design. All of these elements provided an elegant and unexpected contrast to the furniture on display, from the inherent classicism of the 19th-century pieces, to the modernism of mid-century finds.

Onglao and Lichauco created distinctive vignettes within the showroom, demonstrating how effortlessly vintage pieces blended with the contemporary. *

(For inquiries, e-mail [email protected].)