It was no like other invitations but it was still of gastronomical proportion. Foremost, it wasn’t held in any restaurant nor food shop, albeit the setting was still in a hotel. Then the foods served were one of a kind - you won’t find them in restaurants not just here in Iloilo City but around Visayas and come to think of it, maybe in the whole country. And finally, it was whipped up by a multi-awarded chef and his champion team - right before our eyes!
Held at the showroom of St. Therese College located at La Fiesta Hotel, dinner that night was hosted by Chef Miner del Mundo. It was a few days prior the 2011 Sabor Bisaya Culinary Competition in Bacolod City and it customary for Chef Miner to invite a few of his friends to savour his creations for any contest.
The food prepared were top of the line – the finest quality ingredients and specially prepared for us by an award winning team. I was also in the company of Chef Miguel Cordova (of Afrique's and Esca's fame), designers Bo Parcon, Jor-el Espina and fellow The News Today columnist, Marvin Bana-ag among others.
Chef Miner in actionAt first there were some combination I thought were weird but turned out to be excitingly delicious. With wines (red and sparkling) to go with our food it was one gastronomic night to remember.
To start with, we had an appetizer made Sauteed Prawns and Buttered Poached Salmon on apple and porcini foam. The latter is "sauce" made with porcini (a mushroom), shallots and heavy cream with salt and pepper. The dish was just right and light - rightly seared seafood combined with the light foamy sauce with the apples providing the right crunch.
Then came his students appetizing creations for the Students Category in the Chef Wars competition - a duo or prawn based dishes with some combinations we all thought were just plain weird, at first.
Like the one, Prawn in Langka and Peanut sauce, so weird sounding but it looked very good and finally when we tasted it - all burst into silent claps with nothing much to say but "delicious". The langka-peanut sauce is a discover as I would say since it combines the sweeteness of the jackfruit plus the crunch and the peanut-ty taste into one flavourful concoction. And by the looks of it, the prawns were cooked perfectly - not just for photo ops but in taste. 
Still on prawns but this one is tempura style on a bed of pomelo and apple? with a refreshing dressing of mild sourness and light sweetness - if i remember correctly. As it was served right off the frying pan, the tempura were still hot contrasting the cold bed of salad. A combination of the good taste and texture in contrasting temperature makes this dish a perfect appetizer.
For the main course (yup, those were just appetizers), a duo of rack of lamb and Angus rib-eye on apple balsamic reduction was served. Surprisingly, the lamb didn't have the "smell" (but Chef Miguel insisted he wants one) and the Angus beef was tender and juicy inside with a crisp outside - just perfectly (and freshly) grilled.
Main course galore had just begun and came next were the (sort of) a chicken cordon bleu attractively presented and served with vegetables and potato sauce? that everybody raved about. Then there's the peanut-crusted tuna (was it or salmon?) served with kangkong-bago-ong sauce, that made me instant think of this dish as a seafood kare kare!
Main course galore had just begun and came next were the (sort of) a chicken cordon bleu attractively presented and served with vegetables and potato sauce? that everybody raved about. Then there's the peanut-crusted tuna (was it or salmon?) served with kangkong-bago-ong sauce, that made me instant think of this dish as a seafood kare kare!
A truly homegrown dish came next - Tinu-om na Prawns and Mushroom. But with a twist in the presentation, ingredients and recipe, 'lest foodies would complain "It's not the original tinu-om". Their take had prawns, mushrooms and an assortment vegetables with a creamy coconut milk concoction.
This dish won St. Therese College the first place in the Visayan Cuisine Challenge in Sabor Bisaya Students Category. Then came another eventual winner and it's something you'd be curious about - ube and pork?
For the Organic Cuisine category, the made something "out of this world" - a pork dish with ube, pomelo and apples! The pork was tender with this sweet and savoury sauce- in some ways familiar but there's something different in it. But it's the sides, admittedly they all looked photogenic, that intrigued us all. It's like having appetizers, main course and dessert at all once! But somewhat unexpectedly, the combination tasted really, really good!
The purple yam made the most impact for it is usually a dessert item but being partnered with pork, nonetheless, creates a dish of new dimension. The taste combination of the pork's sauce harmonized the ube's distinct flavour as the pomelo and apple effortlessly blends in. 
The purple yam made the most impact for it is usually a dessert item but being partnered with pork, nonetheless, creates a dish of new dimension. The taste combination of the pork's sauce harmonized the ube's distinct flavour as the pomelo and apple effortlessly blends in. 
Ending our main course galore was a pan seared salmon dish on a bed of grilled watermelon with teriyaki sauce - if my tastebuds were still functioning that time. It was served with a potato ball infused with bits of chorizo and was quite a special dish itself.
Ending our gastronomic preview that night on a sweet note, were some familiar desserts with a twist. First to come was the Maja Blanca? Brulee with Peanut Crusted Banana in caramel sauce (though I'm not really sure of their names). The maja blanca con creme brulee a an uptake on the native dessert with some salt? crystals on top - just to enhance the flavour more. Hmmm, it was salt, was it?
And apple tarte tatin and chocolate soufflé wee the perfect nightcap to that wonderful dinner experience. The former had apple slices cooked like traditional apple pie but made to stay longer in the butter and caramel mix so that it has this burnt taste. It is served on top of a yummy pastry. The souffle, while a good dessert on it's own, was great in the combination on the apple tarte tatin creating a sort of new dessert - all too good.
A preview that indeed ended with a bang as Chef Miner and his team garnered a lot of favorable distinctions during the Sabor Bisaya Culinary Competition last July 15 and 16 in Bacolod City. And it was a new gastronomic experience for me to have been invited to be part of something unexpected on my part. Indeed it was a really great to have savoured the success of Sabor Bisaya, even before it actually happened!Thanks Chef Miner and the rest of the gang.
See results of the competition