Kitchen MIshaps and Victories, Restaurant Rants and Raves and a whole lotta wanderlust!

Friday, October 22, 2010

GOURMET KITSCHEN Urban Dinner 1 : The aftermath

My last post was about the upcoming Urban Dinner that Banj Albano and I had been talking about for months, and well, it finally happened last night! After figuring out the menu and deciding who to invite, we settled on the October 21st date and waited for the invitees to respond. Aside from a few who had to decline due to schedule conflicts, most people said yes.

The menu revolved around the Filipino Fusion theme. More than anything, I think the food was Filipino served in an unexpected way. Instead of regular kare kare, I fried veggies and served it with a spicy peanut "kare kare" dip, Sinigang had no soup and was instead served as a roast with tangy sinigang gravy. I made adobo but twisted it up with maple and thyme-flavors I usually add when I'm roasting pork. Also, I did bangus belly ala pobre but added an extra dimension with a sage butter Teriyaki sauce. Lastly, I made longanisa and quezo de bola spring rolls drizzled with Balsamic vinegar reduction, as well as champorado ala mode ( with queso or ube ice cream) for dessert.

The guests included Cesca Litton, Shawn Yao, Gabe Mercado, Don Puno, Erika Aquino, Pat Malay, Sarah Meier and Rev Naval. It was intimate enough that everyone got to talk but the cool thing was that not everyone in the group knew each other. Some did, some had met once or just knew of each other prior to the dinner.

Here are a few photos of the night :)


Starter: Fried eggplant and Sweet Potato with Spicy Kare Kare Dip


Longanisa and quezo de bola spring rolls with balsamic vinegar reduction


Sinigang Roast Chicken w/ Tangy Sinigang Gravy


Bangus Belly ala pobre with Sage Butter Teriyaki Sauce


Slow cooked, twice fried maple thyme adobo


Champorado with Queso Ice cream (sorry kinda melted shot!)


Gabe Mercado, Shawn Yao (with their take home Birthday Cafe cupcakes) and yours truly!


Erika Aquino enjoying the fare


nomnomnom!


We're definitely looking forward to the next one! Let me know if this is something you are interested in being part of!

Cheers!

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