TWO of the country’s top chefs are featured in Diamond Hotel Philippines’ Filipino food festival, Culinaria Filipina, which is ongoing at Corniche restaurant until Sunday (May 29, 2016): Chef Myrna Segismundo and Chef Jill Sandique.
Chef Myrna Segismundo, who takes care of the culinary side of the food promotion, was managing director of Restaurant 9501, the exclusive executive dining restaurant of ABS-CBN Corporation. Now she does consultancy and recipe development for food companies and restaurants, and takes on a lot of guest chef stints in hotels and resorts both in the country and abroad.
For Culinaria Filipina, Chef Myrna features a wide array of traditional and contemporary Filipino dishes ranging from appetizers and soups to main dishes and carvings. Appetizers include Kesong Puti, Cherry Tomato and Pako-Lato Salad; Trio of Kinilaw (Salmon, Oysters on Half Shell, and Shrimps); Silken Tokwa’t Baboy; Nilasing na Hipon; and Crispy Kangkong. Chef Myrna’s most popular main dishes are Boneless Chicken Inasal, Pork Barbecue, U.S. Beef Ribs Kaldereta, Rellenong Alimasag with Coco-Aligue Sauce, Crispy Binagoongan with Burong Mangga, U.S. Beef Tenderloin Morcon a la Emilia, and Pork Estofado.
For the carving of her Cycle 1 menu, Chef Myrna featured Prime Roast Beef Tagalog, Caramelized Onions and Basi Wine Sauce, which is a Filipinized version of the classic Roast Beef. For Cycle 2, she used rack of lamb, yes, but gave it a Filipino glaze and garlicky taste with her Roast Rack of Lamb, Calamansi-Guava Glaze, Garlic Smear and Stewed Tomatoes.
Chef Jill Sandique, who fills up the dessert buffet spread with yummy cakes, mousses, desserts and other sweets, owns Delize, whose specialties include Pistachio Sans Rival, Concorde and Pavlova. She is trained in different cuisines, including Filipino, Thai, Malaysian and Moroccan, but it is in the pastry world that she is hailed as one of the best. She also does culinary consultancy and conducts a lot of cooking demonstrations as well as cooking and baking classes for client companies.
Every day at the Culinaria Filipina lunch and dinner buffets, Chef Jill’s Tableya Cake, Ube Mousse Cake, Dulce de Leche Cheesecake, Crepes Samurai (mango crepes casserole), Mango Panna Cotta, Brazo de Mercedes, Malagos Dark Chocolate Panna Cotta—Single Origin 65%, Suspiros de Macapuno (or Langka) con Natilla, and Peanut Chocolate and Muscovado Coconut Masi were constantly replenished because they disappeared so fast.
Lunch and dinner buffet at Diamond Hotel Philippines’ Corniche is priced at Php2,288 nett per person. For reservations, call 528-3000 extension 1121 or email restaurant_rsvn@diamondhotel.com.
(Diamond Hotel Philippines is located at Roxas Blvd. corner Dr. J. Quintos St., Manila 1000; with telephone numbers (632) 528-3000 and 305-3000.)
