A gastronomic night

It was an unforgettable gastronomic night when SM Supermalls COO Steven Tan recently hosted “A Four Hands Collaboration” dinner at Epilogue in S Maison in Pasay City.

The night featured sumptuous dishes by Japanese chefs Yoshiaki Ito of Michelin-starred restaurant L’Archeste in Paris, and Epilogue’s own Hiroyuki Meno.

Yoshiaki has been cooking for more than 30 years, beginning with Restaurant Hiramatsu in Japan. After serving as head chef at Hiramatsu for 10 years, he opened L’Archeste, which earned a Michelin star in just five months.

The exceptional dinner showcased Yoshiaki’s and Hiroyuki’s mastery in both European and Japanese cuisine. With both having years of experience in and outside of their home country, the chefs brought the sophistication of mixed flavors to a nine-course degustation dinner they prepared at Epilogue.

Both chefs worked on each dish, which was presented alternately during the dinner. Served first was St-Jacques-Hokkaido scallops with ginger oil and singkamas (jicama) remoulade, which whetted my appetite. Just by tasting this starter, I knew that delicious dishes would follow, and I was not wrong.

Another favorite of mine that night was the yellowtail and crab hamachi and shelled crab served with eggplant, radish and parsley with liveche mayonnaise. The liveche, also known as perpetual celery, was brought from France by Chef Yoshiaki. I also loved the giant grouper served as bouillabaisse with lemongrass, banana heart, chayote and fennel, as well as the poached foie gras with adlai and malunggay (moringa). The grouper and foie gras dishes were perfectly paired with 2017 Bodegas Aessir Bobal Rosé, a wine distributed by Global Noble Inc. and coincidentally is owned by a Spanish winemaker friend of mine,  Oscar Aessir. It was a pleasant surprise as I didn’t know they were serving his wine.

The Australian Wagyu tenderloin with a 7 marbling grade was served with bearnaise sauce with slivers of fresh summer truffle and served with something that inspired them in the Philippines — the chefs’ version of sisig with Pedro Ximenez sherry.

The dessert was divine! It was vacherin with a Filipino touch — a cafe biscuit combined with mango and calamansi sorbet.

Each guest went home with moist, soft and delicious chocolate chip cookies baked in Epilogue.

A play of ‘Ara Colours’

Actress Ara Mina recently launched her very own makeup line called Ara Colours under Ever Bilena.

Ever Bilena president and chief executive officer Dioceldo Sy and chief operating officer Silliman Sy were present at the event to welcome guests.

“This is the first time that we had a really easy time in product development because of the very heavy involvement of Ara herself. She was very hands on from choosing the shades and trying the products, down to deciding on the color and font of the packaging,” Silliman Sy said.

The launch featured a live makeup demo with Ara, actress Gladys Reyes, beauty blogger Nikki Bonifacio and makeup artist Monique Señeres.

The light and sleek Ara Colours products, which are inspired by its “Effortlessly Beautiful” tag line, include vanilla-scented creamy matte lipsticks that come in seven shades, and the five varieties of lip and cheek tints. Soon, more products will be included in Ara’s makeup line like a two-way foundation, contour and highlighter duo, eyeshadow palette and dual concealer. *

(For more information, visit AraColours on Facebook and @aracoloursph on Instagram.)