By Jt Nisay
Good food delights but special food transports through space and time.
Snack on some fried ibos with muscavado sugar and be a kid once again, enjoying a sylvan afternoon in the Visayas at your lola’s dining table. Also, there’s no quicker trip home to Mindanao for lunch than with some halabos na hipon and crispy calamares.
In celebration of the recent Philippine Independence Day, F1 Hotel Manila in Bonifacio Global City is staging the fourth installment of its annual Filipino Food Festival, which serves offerings that are in equal parts good and special. Titled “LuzViMinda 4: Heirloom Recipes,” this gastronomic feast features the culinary treasures of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.
“F1 Hotel is an all-Filipino management group, and Independence Day is a big event for us because it’s where we can contribute to nationalism by highlighting dishes
from the different regions of the country,” Director of Sales and Marketing Cindy Brual said during the recent launch of the festival, which runs through June 25 at the F1 All Day Dining Restaurant at P1,499.
Brual added that aside from showcasing heirloom recipes, this year’s festival is made special by an unprecedented lineup of all-female chefs. Responsible for the cuisine of Luzon is Chef Nancy Reyes Lumen, while Chef Pauline Gorriceta Banusing handles the Visayas and Chef Maria Kristina Collantes, Mindanao.
According to Chef Banusing, who hails from Iloilo, she kept the heirloom recipes as honest as possible, but tweaked some dishes to accommodate hotel standards. She prepares the Kadyos Baboy Langka, Chicken Inasal and Batchoy, to name a few, using traditional methods and ingredients.
“What if someone from Iloilo look for those? Or someone who grew up with those dishes? I have to do it right,” she said. “But for some like the Pinalmahan, we used a salmon instead of an ordinary fish.”
Tasked to present Visayan delights, Banusing said the defining characteristic of her region’s cuisine is the flavor of sweetness. “We put sugar in almost everything that we cook; we are known as the sugar capital of the Philippines. And just like how we like our food, we, too, are sweet.”
Meanwhile, “richer” and “creamier” is how Chef Lumen describes the general taste of Luzon dishes. With emphasis on the former trait, her creation of Rodrigo’s Roast is one highlight of this food fest.
The self-proclaimed “Adobo Queen,” who believes that the dish should be the national food of the country, said the succulent pork is not in any way inspired by the president-elect or his temperament. In any case, it makes for an entertaining side note for a genuinely fulfilling selection.
Seafood is aplenty for those looking for their favorite Mindanao flavors and none of the offers disappoint. What to look for in this section is the Tuna Tail Stuffed with Yellow Rice and the Grilled Tuna Belly with Native Sauce.
For what it’s worth, the LuzViMinda Heirloom Recipes deliver on the promise of top-class heirloom recipes, from the appetizers to the mains to the desserts. Each dish, of course, is made more memorable with the priceless and unmatched flavor of nostalgia.