Millennium Seoul Hilton holds 'Filipino culinary festival'

A dish of kare-kare or oxtail and peanut sauce

By Park Jin-hai

Celebrity chef Sau Del Rosario, brings traditional Filipino foods to the Millennium Seoul Hilton during the Filipino Culinary Festival in June.

Kaldereta or a traditional Filipino pork stew, made with tomato sauce, potatoes, spices, liver pate, olives, and bell and hot peppers. / Courtesy of Millennium Seoul Hilton

To commemorate the Independence Day of the Philippines, the Millennium Seoul Hilton’s international buffet restaurant is devoting the month of June to introducing Koreans to Filipino cuisine.

The Orangerie buffet tapped renowned Filipino chef Sau Del Rosario to showcase taste-bud tingling traditional Filipino dishes during the “Philippine cultural and food festival.”

Chef Rosario spent seven years in France as a protégé of several Michelin chefs including Christian Plumail and is entering the 20th year of his career. “I want to promote Filipino cuisine because I owe my country for being Filipino. I want to leave a legacy that the next generation would learn from it and be proud of our own cuisine,” he said.

Though not as well-known as its Asian counterparts, the cuisine of the Philippines is popular among gastronomes worldwide. Its cuisine is a little bit of everything but yet unique because it has been influenced by Malaysia, Spain, China and India, due to many years of colonization as well as its strategic location in the Asian-Pacific Rim.

Its traditional cuisine under the touches of Chef Rosario, who calls Paris his second home and believes cooking is an art, is reborn as haut cuisine.

After gaining expertise and recognition in France, the flamboyant chef worked in China, Singapore and Thailand. All these global experiences were infused in his dishes with special local flavours.

Aside from his chef’s hat, he wears several others, too. He is a restaurateur, television show host, consultant and teacher, to name a few.

He even owns five restaurants in his country, which earned nominations from Manila’s Best Kept Restaurant Secrets (MBKRS) Awards as best restaurants and Rosario himself was also nominated as the Best Chef of the Year in 2012.

He is the executive chef of the Hotel F1 Manila and is waiting to see his cook book “Chef Sau’s 20,” marking his 20th year as chef, come out in August this year.

The lean chef with a friendly smile says the essence of his dishes is about his “life and love in the family.” He wishes that all customers visiting the buffet will enjoy the benefit of his life as a chef of 20 years.

Some 35 popular dishes to be served during the month include lechon (whole roasted pig), adobo (pork or chicken simmered in a vinegar and soy sauce), pancit (fried noodles with meat and vegetables), kaldereta (port stew with tomato sauce), kare-kare (oxtail and peanut sauce) and lumpia (fresh or fried spring rolls). As in most Asian countries, rice is a staple part of the Filipino diet. It is usually accompanied by boldly flavoured dishes.

A variety of desserts made with sticky rice, coconut, condensed milk and other local ingredients and flavours are also served during the festival.

The buffet is priced at 64,000 won ($57) for adults and 38,400 won for children aged 12 and under. The dinner buffet is priced at 69,000 won for adults and 41,400 won for children aged 12 and under. Tax and service charges are included.

Monday is Kid’s Day at Orangerie, so children 12 years and younger can eat for free when accompanied by an adult (1 child per adult).

The French-trained chef also presents a collaboration menu for Hilton’s French restaurant, Seasons. The five course set menu includes; pan-fried foie gras, caramelized pineapple fried ravioli, old port sauce; sea urchin and oscietra caviar vichyssoise, green tea and micro greens; white miso rubbed and roasted sea bass, braised white asparagus, ginger lemongrass lobster sauce; sous-vide US angus tenderloin beef, smoked fleur de sel, porcini confits, salted butter potato, truffle sauce; and Chocolate Soufflé, Grand Marnier Sabayon and Chocolate Ice Cream.

The whole meal is priced at 145,000 won, including tax. For more information, call (02) 317-3143.