MAKING an entrance in one of the most secretive corners of Prague is a privilege not accorded to everyone. In a little known bistro with vaulted ceilings, once visited by the remnants of the Habsburg family and their minions who ruled an empire, a sort of renewal is taking place. Here at the secret location are the fresh faces of today’s zeitgeist who may be royals in their own right—a hotshot fashion designer, an artist-painter of the catatonic Brno School, a prize-winning novelist and a slew of models and socialites only seen in photographs, private fashion functions and A-list parties in Paris, Milan, Tokyo and New York. All are dining with an acknowledged master of Bohemian haute cuisine. He is Prague’s very own pride, award-winning Chef Vladimir Salansky at the head of the table.
In Prague Chef Salansky prefers not to be photographed by the local paparazzi, but when he arrived in Manila a few days ago, courtesy of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the only airline with direct flights from Manila to Europe, he averred to pose for a cause. He wanted to do his part in the flourishing campaign to spread chi-chi Czech culture and blustery Bohemian appetites to the ends of the earth, even in Manila.
Thus, as part of his 2011 world tour, also sponsored by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (a brand under Air France-KLM, a member of the global SkyTeam alliance), Chef Salansky has agreed to commandeer the modern kitchen of Basix All-Day Dining Restaurant in local Dusit Thani. Why choose Dusit Thani?
He says, “Because aside from my love of Filipinos and their warm hospitality, I also love the service and the compassion of the Thai.”
It is with a passion for perfection that Chef Salansky has inhibited his need for his most beloved luxuries—the privacy and the comforts of his infamous kitchen in Prague—in order to give Manila’s foodies a rare taste of his oeuvre ranging from the royally-decadent Beef Medallion in Cream Sauce with Bread Dumplings and Cranberries to the peasant-inspired Old Bohemian Potato Soup with Forest Mushrooms.
If you think Czech food is dour and glum, you’re wrong. Based on a meaty appetite, their traditional fare exudes an esprit of down-to-earth complexity borne of the people’s long history that predates the Roman Empire. Ongoing till October 27, the Czech Culinary and Cultural Festival at Basix All-Day Dining Restaurant occurs daily from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm and 6 pm to 10 pm.
While in Manila, Chef Salansky will be billeted at the official residence of Czech Republic Ambassador Josef Rychtar, whipping dishes nightly for the pleasure of one of Manila’s most-hardworking diplomats who is also a connoisseur of fine wines, homegrown brandies and premium beer brands. (This was noted when Ambassador Rychtar correctly answered the name of the ancient slivovice, a strong 70-percent proof made from the finest plums. Slivovice is a treasured keepsake since its refining process is a closely guarded secret meant only for the next generation or intimate friends.
Of course, we know parts of its manufacture, especially the use of containers of a distinct molecular structure, but secrets are something never given away, especially when first whispered to us during a recent Czech-Filipino wedding.) Meanwhile, Amb. Rychtar was last seen cutting the ribbon to the much-awaited Czech foodfest at Dusit Thani Manila.
Here’s a selection, or rather a roving romp, of current dishes to put on your plate at Basix All-Day Dining Restaurant today.
For starters, forgo with the usual dispensable edicts that dessert cannot be the first course. Although the Czechs start their meals with soup, head directly to the confectioned tableau and consider Strawberry Dumplings with Cottage Cheese and Cream. The Czech have a different method of producing cottage cheese, and for the sake of education, one must try the cheese—called tvaroh in Bohemia, the older name of the lands currently occupied by the Czech Republic. Tvaroh cheese is a sort that has an abundance of curds with a tarty resonance on the tongue. Try it before taking your soup. Best advice: Sprinkle generous amounts of tvaroh atop Old Bohemian Potato Soup with Forest Mushrooms or Piquant Beef Goulash with Carlsbad Dumplings and agree that you have tasted heaven reeking of tarty vinegar, ah!
The latter dish incorporates a Hungarian influence, as goulash is very typical of Hungary. The dumplings, however, are typical of the Czech and may be found sold almost anywhere in Prague. Called knedlíky, they are sponge-like apparatuses able to absorb a vast amount of sauces that have made Czech cuisine the insider’s secret culinary pleasure.
The Czechs have a fanaticism for sauces. And for this, they may rival the French in terms of naturalisme, their fidélité au naturel (love of the natural), or to quote Rousseau: “I purpose to show my fellows a man as nature made him, and this man shall be myself” (from Les Confessions, 1781-88). And man shall want the treasures of the earth, even the spices of the Orient and the East that add flavor and differentiate Czech sauces from the established schools in the continent and the British Isles.
Next, get slivers of South Bohemian Headcheese with Spring Onion and Czech Vinegar. Although the dish mentions the word cheese, the cuts of pork fused into coins of gelatin will change your mind with its spring-y softness and vinegary taste (no cheese here), quite a big difference from other meat roll varieties that tend to be hard, dry and—for lack of a better term—sebaceous.
Now that your appetite is whipped: go dive into Beef Medallion in Cream Sauce with Bread Dumplings and Cranberries. With the softest sirloin, the meat packer speaks oodles of the sauce laden with a secret ingredient. If you can name that ingredient, then you get one point worthy of the title tastemaker of the year.
