Inviting Royalty To Dinner

Very rare is an occasion for royalty to visit the Philippines; even rarer is for these persons of noble descent to reach Cebu like one of the ASEAN Heads of State in 2007. For ordinary mortals like your favorite food columnist, only in the movies ra do we see these aristocrats; the movie like “Vatel” when a prince invites King Louis XIV to three days of festivities at a chateau in Chantilly.

 Filipinos have plenty of practice of dreaming about royalty. We celebrate fiestas in every city and municipality. And the fiestas will not be complete without a Reyna. We even have a grand fiesta, the Aliwan fiesta, that includes the different cultural festivals of the Philippines and a Reyna ng Aliwan is inevitable. We also celebrate the Flores de Mayo to commemorate the search for the Holy Cross and we have Reyna Elena, Reyna de las Flores, Reyna Justicia, and Reyna Esperanza…so many Reynas!

One of these rare occasions for a royal patronage was in September 17, 2008 when Cebu had a guest; HRH Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand, Prince of Orange, the eldest son of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. The Crown Prince is heir apparent to the Dutch throne. Prince Willem-Alexander is an honorary member of the World Commission on Water for the 21st Century and is the Chairperson of the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation.

There was a Dinner Reception at the Hilton Cebu Resort and Spa (www.hilton.com) in honor of HRH Prince Willem, hosted by the Dutch Ambassador to the Philippines, Ministry of Korea, Dr. Olivia Castillo and Manny Osmeña (the latter was one of the awardees with Dr. Lucio Tan of the 8th Asia Pacific Round Table on Sustainable Consumption and Production).

It is really a simple task to prepare a dinner for royalty if you are, excuse me, a person like Manny Osmeña who has lots of practice in serving food fit for nobility. First, you have the good kitchen and a world-class chef to prepare the food. Second would be the keys to the wine cabinet (pwede pud number combination) where your personal collection of good wines is stored because the price to secure some of the wines could also buy a good second-hand car. Third, would be the budget for the reception because the cost of the entire dinner could buy a brand new car!

The first course was Hotate & Poached Crystal Bay oysters, Light mornay sauce & Fumet de Poisson. The latter is an extract of the delicious juices of fish, a nice companion to my favorite shellfish, oysters and scallops. This was paired with a l Lane Sauvignon Blanc 2002 with its crisp and refreshing taste of citrus flavors.

This was followed by the Supreme seared Wagyu medallion. All my beloved loyal followers know Wagyu beef and can even differentiate it from Kobe beef. Red meat needs to be paired with red wine and a good wine connoisseur knows this. And when you have a guest like HRH Prince Willem, you have got to serve one of the better wines in your collection like the Château Pétrus Pomerol 1992. As a collector, you have to replenish this particular wine and because of the financial meltdown, this wine which used to be pricey at US$ 1,499.00 is now selling at a mere US$ 999.99!

Seafood dishes followed like the Essence of Seafood with Parmesan Wafers and the a Live Pacific Lobster Cassoulet, Enoki Mushrooms & Caviar Pearls that was paired with a 1998 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle (France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage). A nice dessert like the Double Chocolate Decadence paired with Moelluex Sweet Clos Lapeyre was a fine ending to this royal banquet.

For some, hosting a royal guest can occur once in a lifetime and you feel honored when your guest (the man who will one day be the King of Netherlands) says, “Thank you, I feel I have found a home in this country. I have told my wife about this and the first chance we get, we’ll be coming back here.”

For ordinary mortals like us to be host? Well, maybe in our next lifetime na lang!