BEIJING, China – Some of the best Filipino cuisine were highlighted in the opening ceremony of the “Flavours of the Philippines” in Hilton Hotel Beijing, a 5-star hotel in China’s capital, on July 9.
The Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines in China and Conrad Hotel Manila have forged a partnership with the Hilton Beijing to promote the Filipino cuisine in Makan Kitchen of the hotel for six consecutive days.
Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana warmly welcomed the guests in partaking of the delectable banquet prepared by Filipino chefs from Manila who came all the way to Beijing for the food festival.
“I invite you to savor the well-loved Filipino dishes we are having tonight, and to tell your friends about your experience. I hope you can invite them to visit the food festival in the next few days and enjoy the unique flavors of the Philippine cuisine,” Romana said.
The two Filipino chefs — Michael Vincent Tapiador and Rodelio Dela Cruz Jr. — said they were happy with their experience in sharing the Filipino way of cooking to the in-house Chinese chefs of Hilton.
“It is a pleasure for us to share our Filipino cooking knowledge to the Chinese chefs and I am glad that they are really interested and willing to learn the way we prepare and cook the Filipino food,” Tapiador said in Filipino.
In order to bring out the authentic taste of Filipino dishes, the Pinoy chefs brought with them some of the ingredients and condiments all the way from the Philippines.
At the same time, they said their culinary creativity was put to test because some of the ingredients were not available in China’s capital.
“In order to put the authentic taste of the Filipino viands, we (brought) with us sinigang powder, Mang Tomas (liver sauce) and some (other) Pinoy ingredients. For the deserts, there were a lot of ingredients that cannot be found here in Beijing but we managed to look for an alternative ingredient to bring out the Filipino taste and it turn out well,” Dela Cruz Jr. said in Filipino.
More than 20 dishes and deserts including adobo, sinigang na hipon, lechon, kare-kare, chicken inasal, halo-halo, leche flan, biko, ginataang halo-halo and turon saging were prepared by the two Pinoy chefs and seven other in-house Chinese chefs to relish in a night of gastronomic treat.
The Flavours of the Philippines started July 10 and will run until July 16.
The price is 296 RMB (PHP2,368) for buffet lunch and 342 RMB (PHP5,104) for buffet dinner. (PNA)
