To celebrate Filipino Food Month, guests of the idyllic Palawan destination were treated to dinners prepared for them by some of the Philippine food scene’s brightest talents
Sunlight Eco-Tourism Island Resort (SETIR) collaborated with chef, cookbook author, and lifestyle columnist Angelo Comsti to celebrate Filipino Food Month by organising a three-night culinary event called “Gastronomic Wonders,” showcasing exactly how exciting Filipino cuisine is and how far we have gone in pushing the boundaries of our food. Choosing to hold this in beautiful yet relatively far-flung Culion, Palawan was not accidental: “The pandemic has made it somewhat essential to provide a memorable dining experience to make people’s trips worthwhile and so I thought hosting dinners by the beach would do just that. And SETIR, with its prime location and picturesque surroundings, makes for a great setting,” says Comsti.
His chosen collaborators, too, were picked with careful intention. “I wanted young chefs who creatively played with Filipino cuisine,” explains Comsti. “I have tried all their food and know them well enough that they can deliver what I was looking for. They proved me right.”
The travellers that took advantage of the three-nights, four-days “Gastronomic Wonders” package can enjoy one dinner of their choosing from the three in-store. Or, for a fee, they can attend all. Frankly, it must have been very difficult to pick one considering that all three participating establishments are currently buzzing.
See also: Filipino Food—How Can We Go Further? Margarita Forés, Chele Gonzàlez, And More Speak Out
Take chef Don Patrick Baldosano’s Linamnam MNL, which is the 23-year-old’s private dining venue within his family home in Parañaque where he serves what he calls “progressive Filipino food.” Baldosano explores the far reaches of the country seeking ingredients that have yet to be discovered. He shares how he tastes everything he forages, first conducting allergy tests on different parts of his body, after which he finally tastes them when deemed safe enough for consumption. He has had plenty of “eureka” moments, and also some occasions when he ended up with a bad stomach. All this he happily endures for the love of Filipino food and cooking.
For his five-course dinne, Baldosano wanted to showcase the philosophy and flavour profiles that they usually present in Linamnam MNL. “I also tried to feature one thing that we do,” he continues, “which is to present different produce from different parts of the Philippines. We started with tapsilog which featured Inuma rice from Sagdanga in Mt Province and smoked lamayo tea from Palawan. We also had sinigang, which shows the diversity of our cuisine by using souring agents from different regions like pingol bato from Subic and alibambang from Pampanga.”
See also: Meet Don Baldosano, the 23-Year-Old Chef Behind Modern Filipino Restaurant 'Linamnam'
