By Joseph L. Garcia, Senior Reporter
FIRE and the Philippines are in the spotlight on Nov. 24 for a four-hands dinner at Solaire Resort Entertainment City’s Waterside restaurant. The special collaborative dinner will be helmed by Solaire’s own Alfred Santiago, and Kása Palma’s Aaron Isip.
Both chefs have received training from Michelin-starred restaurants. Mr. Santiago spent time at Singapore’s Burnt Ends, rated No. 15 at Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants and No. 68 worldwide. Mr. Isip spent more time abroad, leaving the Philippines for culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, climbing up the ladder (with a tenure at Apicius) and spending more than 10 years in some of the top kitchens in Paris. In 2015, he was awarded the Trophée Espoir of Ile de France by Gault & Millau. The bar, therefore, is set high, and the chefs hurdled it with ease during a Nov. 7 tasting.
The meal kicked off with amuse bouches of yellowtail scad, ube tapioca, and dragonfruit aguachile by Mr. Isip, and one with a meringue of tuna and crab fat by Mr. Santiago.
The next course was a raw bar filled with shellfish: we praise the scallops, with just a hint of a buttery flavor and a strong umami flavor with a sweetish sweep (this was achieved through brushing it with tamarind brown butter kosho), while the oysters with torched bone marrow and green mango relish had an oceanic flavor that merely served as a background to the mastery in its relish. Mr. Isip placed these (including a serving of razor clams on singed beans and lambanog) on a bed of kansi ice (kansi, a soured broth, frozen then crushed), which served as a palate cleanser. While one may be familiar with the possible permutations of seafood, we highly doubt most people have had it served that way.
A lot of the dishes were from Mr. Isip’s tasting menu at Kása Palma. We then got a taste of one his signatures, a tupig (rice cake) with tinapa (smoked fish) mascarpone with smoked caviar. What a treat: with the sticky and dense tupig, it was like chewing on the idea of smoke made solid.
He also brought out their signature Pulpo with Cherry Tomatoes and smoked yoghurt, and there’s a great contrast with the bouncy octopus and the sauce, which had a hidden element of spice not felt until the last swallow. Mr. Santiago’s crab pinangat with smoked gata, along with Mr. Isip’s red snapper (with the crispy skin of the fish fanning out with flair), were very indulgent. We also give this praise for Mr. Isip’s beef short ribs confit with a peanut sauce (calling to mind a kare-kare), and his lovely freak of nature, Lechon de Lobster Kurobota — suckling pig wrapped around lobster.
However, if we’re going for an otherworldly dining experience, we’d give this to the freaky-looking Mantis Shrimp by Mr. Santiago, with spiced buro (fermented rice), crab bisque, and curry leaves. The chatter died down as diners carefully picked through the crustacean, looking and feeling like alien flesh, brought down back home with a sweetish and oceanic taste hitting the tongue at the same time.
Dessert was relatively mild: Mr. Santiago presented a Bombe named after Waterside, with a white chocolate dome looking like a coconut husk, toasted rice ice cream, calamansi meringue, dark chocolate rum sauce, and a final flambé with lambanog. Mr. Isip’s dessert was a homage to corn: a corn madeleine stuffed with corn custard (then shaped like corn), sweet corn ice cream, and corn puffs.
The dishes all had the flavor of flame and smoke in them: that’s because of Mr. Isip’s own predilection for firewood cooking. “In our restaurant, we have a firewood kitchen,” he explained, saying that they’re trying to bring that taste to a bigger audience by collaborating with Solaire.
Mr. Isip praises fire, and the flavors it imparts: “It’s really the essence of cooking. This is how we differentiated ourselves from animals. We learned how to cook with fire.”
The dinner (price available upon request) will be held on Nov. 24 at 6:30 p.m. Seats at Waterside in Solaire Resort Entertainment City can be reserved by calling 8888-8888 or e-mailing restaurantevents@solaireresort.com.
Christmas comes to Solaire
SOLAIRE recently kicked off the holiday festivities with a bang as it hosted tree lighting ceremonies at Solaire Resort Entertainment City and Solaire Resort North with both boasting 20-foot Christmas trees placed around the property. Solaire Resort Entertainment City in Paranaque City’s tree lighting event featured a performance by Lea Salonga and Clay Aiken. Meanwhile, Solaire Resort North welcomed the holiday season with its first tree lighting ceremony with a performance by Ballet Philippines along with a serenade by Martin Nievera. Guests at the Solaire Resort North Tree Lighting event included (L-R) Gregory Hawkins, chief operating officer of Solaire Resort North; Donato Almeda, vice-chairman for Construction & Regulatory Affairs of Bloomberry Resort Corp.; Joy Belmonte, mayor of Quezon City; Congressman Arjo Atayde; and Assistant Vice-President Vina Oca, PAGCOR-GLD.