It seemed like another wedding reception was to take place on the grounds of Taal Vista Hotel. A long tent had been set up, with a long table dressed in white with beautiful flowers lining the center.
But the preparation was for the tasting of dishes from six chefs who would be taking turns cooking for weekends, leading to the 75th anniversary this October of the hotel with the best view of Taal volcano and lake.
The volcano within a lake was shrouded in mist that day, and the wind swept through, nice and cool but hairdo-unfriendly.
At the hotel lobby, we were welcomed by SM Hotels and Conventions president Elizabeth Sy, general manager Walid Wafik, and trays of amuse-bouche of adobo, small hamburgers and turrón made by executive chef Edwin Santos, who has worked at several luxury hotels abroad.
Lunch involved two long lines of service crew serving the dishes and clearing the table. Berringer wines were served throughout.
Seafood fare
First course was a lapu-lapu rillette, a creation of Sau del Rosario, executive chef of F1 Hotel and A Taste of France of Alphaland. The dish is French in technique but draws from Del Rosario’s roots in Pampanga. It was formed as a small rectangle, lined with thin cucumber slices, then topped with thin radish rounds. But the flavor was really steamed lapu-lapu with mayonnaise, which Del Rosario said was the centerpiece of his family’s Kapampangan fiesta table.
The food was paired with a Chenin Blanc, perfectly light with a bit of citrusy aroma.
The second course was done by Babes Austria, former executive chef of Taal Vista Hotel and the Malacañang kitchen. She now teaches and owns the Garden Family Restaurant. She presented two phyllo dough wrappers with different stuffing. A crisp triangle had pako (fern), prawn, kesong puti (white carabao milk cheese) and salted egg.
The other was a crisp pouch with green mango, smoked fish and kesong puti, both taken with Chardonnay.
Fernando Aracama, the chef at his own restaurant and a judge of the Philippine versions of “Master Chef” and “Junior Master Chef,” did a sinanglay. But instead of using tilapia wrapped in pechay which is the traditional way, he used parrot fish fillet wrapped in paper (en papillote) with the coconut cream poured over the fish.
A refreshing Pinot Grigio accompanied the fish.
‘Laing’ and ‘adobo’
Bruce Lim, Asian Food Channel host, called his layered dish a napoleon, but it was made of pork adobo slivers with laing underneath, some kamote gnocchi on the side and an aligue (crab fat) cream sauce.
His laing was creamy and good, but the Zindfandel didn’t seem like a good pairing.
The dessert—made by the couple Jackie and Rolando Laudico, who have several restaurants and a catering company—was a square-shaped suman with a coconut cream panna cotta on top and sliced mangoes served with a latik sauce. It was light enough to be dessert (most rice cakes are heavy), paired with chilled white Zinfandel, the ending wine which also accompanied the amuse-bouche in the beginning.
The chefs will be cooking, each for two weekends, July 26 up to Oct. 12. Venue is the Grand Veranda where the buffet is the main attraction.
Someone mentioned that the place could get very crowded even on non-anniversary weekends, so we hope the hotel would make provisions to handle the expected overflow.
The anniversary may be another occasion for visitors and guests to have their pictures taken with the volcano in the background—a must for everyone who has been there from the time it was known as Taal Vista Lodge when it first opened in 1939. Even SM founder Henry Sy has a photo on display. He must have liked going there so much because he eventually bought the place.
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