Almost everything was done in-house except for the croutons, said Dulce Magat Gibb, as she laid out the appetizers at the sala section of her penthouse unit. She was giving a taste of her “gourmet-to-go” business, “À Table,” the French way of calling diners to the table (“ah tab”).
In a way, it marks Dulce’s return to the kitchen; she had worked at Via Mare before marrying Michael Gibb and giving birth to a daughter, Tamara.
She baked the cheddar crackers and made the cheeses as well. There was also carabao’s milk ricotta with sun-dried tomato, pesto and the labne or Greek yogurt cheese made reddish with piquillo peppers.
What caught our attention was a different presentation of sushi. It was like a trifle or a punch bowl cake in which the rice, shrimps and avocado were layered in the bowl and tobiko (flying fish roe) strewn on top. We had to dig deep into the bowl to get to all the layers; then uni (sea urchin) and/or spicy tuna were added, flavored with kecap manis (an Indonesian soy sauce) plus a yogurt dressing. We could have stayed with the appetizer forever had Dulce not called us to proceed to the dining room: “À table!”
And so we ate under the subdued lighting of Middle Eastern lamps. It proved once more how Dulce could create a theme and enhance the mood with a collection of tableware and décor from countries she had lived in or visited, and some herbs from her balcony garden.
Instead of being served, her guests went straight to a table where Dulce had apportioned the courses. The bouillabaisse went into individual bowls that we brought from the table; we served ourselves with the potato saffron rouille and croutons.
Dulce expertly cut out the salt crust from the whole baked salmon that really didn’t need the four kinds of sauces it came with. The braised lamb shanks with mushrooms had spaetzle, our favorite noodle.
The last main course was a whole slab of pork roasted to a crisp, much like lechon kawali, with mashed potato and baked cauliflower and cheese, sauces of lingonberry and apple, gravy and Dijon mustard.
The number of dishes were already heavy, but then we were told there were four desserts to taste. Two of them were familiar, like the classic chocolate mousse with orange salad and strawberry coulis, and the honey layer cake, the best version of crepe layers we’ve had. We were introduced to the salami cake from either Italy or Greece, an ice cream cake of mango and chocolate.
And to our new favorite, the kransekake, rings of cake like marzipan pieces made of almonds, egg white and sugar on top of each other to form like a Christmas tree. It’s of Danish and Norwegian origin, served at special events.
Well, this special event lasted until the wee hours.
For À Table orders, call 0917-8621800, e-mail [email protected].
Cowboy beef
At the Hyatt Café in City of Dreams Manila, the various buffet choices were skipped for the grill section since the festival called “Land of the Free to the Pearl of the Orient” was about American food. Huge slabs of beef spoke of the US, Land of Plenty. The Omaha Tomahawk had gigantic bones sticking out and the cut itself needed four people to finish. The meat, as expected of first-grade beef, was juicy and super-tender cooked just right.
Guest chefs Jay McCarthy and Pete Geoghegan cooked for nine days (till Sept. 20), highlighting US agricultural products—premium meats, grain and wines. Both are corporate chefs, McCarthy is with Group 970 with restaurants in Colorado and Texas; and Geoghegan with Cargill Meat Solutions, a huge food conglomerate handling restaurants, catering and supermarkets.
McCarthy and Hyatt Hotel executive chef Michael Luedkte looked amused as guests ogled at the big piece of Omaha Tomahawk. McCarthy said that, much as he wants the servings to be less the current size for health reasons and for less waste, he knows his American customers still expect the usual—otherwise no one will want to go to his restaurants.
Apart from the cowboy rib-eye, there was barbecued brisket, sugar-cured beef tenderloin, grilled striploin, braised beef short ribs, T-bone or porterhouse and the London Broil—an American way of cooking, not British or even from London, doesn’t involve a particular cut though flank is often used, marinated then grilled to about medium rare at the most.
US Ambassador Philip Goldberg opened the food fest and later informed us that his country’s biggest food export to the Philippines is wheat. Maybe that’s why we can have our “daily bread” of pan de sal and pan Americano.
He also cited America’s diverse cuisine (from sea to shining sea).
The next day, the ambassador invited us to his residence at North Forbes Park for an American barbecue, catered by The Plaza of Millie and Karla Reyes. Ribs, ham and turkey dominated our plate with a siding of mac and cheese.
When the man in a white cowboy hat appeared, everyone who was at the Hyatt the day before knew that it was chef McCarthy looking every bit the Texas beef man part. As expected he completed the look with cowboy boots that he said fit like a glove.
McCarthy asked the name of small fish, salted and dried and cut butterfly-style that he said was his delicious breakfast the Hyatt cooks gave him. We guessed that it was danggit. He tried to pronounce it, and to help him, our seatmate suggested to just say “dang it”!
E-mail the author at [email protected].
