Cheese, Wine… and Art

CEBU, Philippines — It was a lovely evening at a restaurant that effuses an upper class and charming ambiance in Nivel Hills, L:ahug, Cebu City – Anzani.

The restaurant is owned by couple Chef Marco and Kate Anzani. It serves a unique blend of Mediterranean cuisine. It also has an open-air bar that has already hosted many gastronomic and wine experiences – Bellini.

Interestingly, on the recent night I was there the art collection of international artist and printmaker Charles Lathi – consisting of acrylic on canvas, linen, antique Italian paper, etc. – were featured at the restaurant. Mr. Lathi has been in the forefront of a number of emerging creative mediums and his works are exhibited worldwide.

On that same night, the Cheese and Cheese website, distribution and social media shop for classic dairy and yogurt aficionados was also launched. The Lebanese artisanal selection of yogurts and cheeses were used in preparing the hors d’oeuvres which was paired with the wines from Anzani’s vineyard partner, Enio Ottaviani.

They served Lebanese Cold Soup made with yogurt, cucumber, dried mint and garlic. Soup being served cold is alien to Filipino cuisine, although trickles of Gazpacho (Spanish cold soup) and Japanese chilled udon noodles are seen now and then. I have yet to taste the Tarator (Bulgarian Cold Cucumber Soup), Vichyssoise (French Cold Soup with potatoes) and Borscht (Ukrainian Cold Soup).

Manteh or Baked Meat Dumplings (tomato sauce, yogurt seasoned with sumac, cayenne pepper & dried mint) were also served, including Kebbe (Fried Meat Balls filled with yogurt) and Katayef (Lebanese Pancake with clotted cheese and rose sugar syrup) and Shanklish (cheese with tomato, onion and olive oil).

The center of the culinary campaign were the wines that came from the family estate of Enio Ottaviani in Emilia Romagna and managed today by four grandchildren: Davide, Milena, Marco and Massimo. A total of nine wines were featured; four white wines (168 Bianco Trebbiano, Mada Chardonnay, Sinfonia Sparkling Brut Chardonnay Rubicone and Clemente Primo Bianco Rubicone) and five red wines (Caciara Romagna, Filare 15 Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, 928 Rosso Rubico IGP and 168 Rosso Sangiovese).

It is a difficult task to taste the nuances of nine wines and pairing it with those Lebanese delicacies, while standing up in a cocktail party. I have my own sequence of doing things so that there will be accuracy in writing about an event. (One lifestyle writer wrote that she saw only seven wines, but I have the photos to show that nine wines were served.)

I’s usually start tasting the white wines first, followed by the red wines. In this event at Anzani, I started with a glass of Sinfonia Sparkling Brut Chardonnay Rubicone. Nice start! But the service altered the bottles I had lined up, I could no longer remember from which bottle my fourth wine came from. I did enjoy pairing the 168 Rosso Sangiovese and Filare 15 with the Kebbe Meatballs, Manteh and the Shanklish. It was lovely!