HAD a delightful lunch today (May 28, 2013) at in a private function room of Café Eight at Crimson Hotel Filinvest City Manila in Alabang, Muntinlupa. It was the media launch cum lunch of Crimson Hotel’s Ciao Italia, a month-long food festival highlighting authentic gourmet dishes from South Italy which will take place the whole month of June. In case you haven’t realized yet, it’s already June 1 this Saturday. How time flies!
Anyway, Ciao Italia was conceptualized as both an exciting food promotion to drum up interest in Crimson Hotel’s Café Eight and get people to come and try the food in the newest 5-star hotel South of the metro as well as a good way to introduce the native cuisine of the hotel’s executive chef, Chef Alessio Loddo, a certified, true-blooded native of South Italy. The food promotion comes at a good time, too, because Italy celebrates its Republic Day, also known as Festa della Repubblica, in June, specifically on June 2. It’s a national holiday in Italy which commemorates June 2, 1946, when Italians voted in a referendum to rid the country of the monarchy and for the country to become a republic. Aside from that, Italy also observes two important feasts in the month of June – the Feast of St. John in Florence, Genoa and Turin on June 24; and the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul in Rome on June 29.
Apart from the historical significance of staging an Italian food festival at this time of the year, Italian food is always a welcome treat for Filipinos, who have grown to love pizza, pasta, antipasto (the first course of a formal Italian meal which is often composed of cured meats, cheeses and pickled vegetables, and is collectively known as appetizers), tiramisu, panna cotta, and other Italian main entrées and desserts.
For the duration of Crimson Hotel’s Ciao Italia, the buffet spread at Café Eight will have a diverse spread of Italian dishes created by Chef Alesso Loddo and his kitchen team. Besides the Italian appetizers, hot dishes, pasta and desserts, there will also be live cooking stations, such as the risotto station, where diners can indulge in generous servings of risotto that has been freshly cooked – a la minute!
More than just the food, however, the food fest promises to be a well-rounded feast for the senses, with soothing Italian music plus live entertainment numbers performed by talented singer Jeannelle Bihag-Roldan during dinner every Friday and Saturday. Guests will also feel like being transported to Italy, as they are surrounded by Italian artworks and the hotel staff dressed in Italian festive costumes while they indulge in their favorite Italian comfort foods. Crimson Hotel’s partnership with Il Mercante Di Venezia made this possible.
For today’s lunch, Chef Alessio had food prepared family style but served by the wait staff to each guest. Appetizers included Prosciutto San Daniele con Melone (Italian prosciutto ham paired with melon slices), Carpaccio di Tonno alla Carlofortina (thinly sliced tuna carpaccio), Insalata Caprese di Bufala (salad of tomato and buffalo cheese slices), Aragosta alla Catalana (Catalan style lobster), and Frittura di Calamari (deep-fried squid rings).
Partial to seafood over red meat, I liked the Aragosta alla Catalana and Carpaccio di Tonno alla Carlofortina, but my favorite was the Frittura di Calamari.
For the pasta and main dishes, we had a taste of Malloreddus alla Campidanese (gnocchi pasta with tomato-based sauce), Risotto alle Cozze e Limone (risotto or Italian rice with mussels and lemon), Agnello e Carciofi (baked lamb with artichokes and peas), and Tagliata di Manzo con Rucola e Grana (sliced beef with arugula).
I loved both pasta dishes, but the Risotto alle Cozze e Limone, I should say, was outstanding. It had subtle seafood flavors and just the right hint of lemon to give it a refreshing finish.
Then came my favorite part of the meal – dessert – and it came in the form of Tiramisu (coffee flavored mascarpone cheese and chocolate refrigerated cake), Panna Cotta (custard-like pudding topped with fruit slices and served with fruit coulis), Pardulas (Sardinian sweets with a base of pasta and a filling of ricotta cheese with eggs and sugar), and Cannoli Siciliani (Sicilian tube-shaped pastry filled with sweet and creamy ricotta cheese and sprinkled with powdered sugar).
My Panna Cotta had a slice of fresh strawberry on top and was served with strawberry coulis, while my husband Raff’s had a mango ball on top and mango coulis around his Panna Cotta. It was the first thing that I ate among the desserts, and it was so good that I finished the whole thing. Next, I forked my Tiramisu with no intention of finishing it, but it was so moist and flavorful that – again – it disappeared before me. I tried the Pardulas and the Cannoli, too, but I was too stuffed with Panna Cotta and Tiramisu to still finish them. Of the four desserts, Pardulas was the only thing I had not encountered before. I washed down my desserts with a pot of Peppermint Tea.
To everyone’s delight, Crimson Hotel’s marketing and communications team, led by Francis de Leon, sent us off with a mini jar of Panna Cotta giveaway to enjoy at home.
To have a taste of exquisite Italian cuisine, the buffet price at Crimson Hotel’s Café Eight is Php1,100 nett for lunch and Php1,400 nett for dinner. A Buy One Get One offer is also available on Italian wines priced at Php1,500 nett for Romio Sangiovese and Chardonnay.
(Crimson Hotel Filinvest City Manila is located at the Entrata Urban Complex, 2609 Civic Drive, Filinvest City, Alabang, Muntinlupa city. For inquiries and reservations, call 863-2222.)
