Mabuhay! Celebrating 65 years of friendship between Indonesia & The Philippines, Shangri-la Jakarta, Philippine Department of Agriculture and the Embassy of The Philippines to Indonesia, organized Linamnam! Flavours of the Philippines. This year, the feast will be available from 3 - 10 September 2014 at SATOO and features Chef Jam Melchor's contemporary take on Filipino cuisine.
So, are any of you familiar with Filipino food? *suddenly silent...
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| Linamnam! |
I can imagine your heads shaking in front of the screen as you read the first line above. (yeah, me too -_-")
Don't worry, you're not alone, because even as a food blogger who goes around eating all sorts of food at all sorts of places, I'm not that familiar either. The only fleeting experience with Filipino food was when I got some polvorón sweets from my friends. In case you don't know, polvoron is a kind of heavy, sugary and melt-in-the-mouth Spanish candy, the most well known brand from the Philippines is Goldilocks.
Actually, besides polvorón and balut (15 to 18 days fertilized chicken or duck egg), there are a lot more about Filipino cuisine that's not yet well known to the food connoisseurs around the world. But the battle is not lost yet in introducing Filipino food to gourmands and foodies in Indonesia, particularly Jakarta.
Every year, Shangri-la Hotel, Jakarta has been host to Filipino themed buffet spread, at its SATOO dining. The day before the Linamnam! Flavours of The Philippines started, Shangri-la Jakarta hosted a private Media Lunch, which was graced by the presence of Her Excellency Maria Rosario C. Aguinaldo, Ambassador of The Philippines to Indonesia. Sounded like a very serious kind of gig right? It was quite stiff at the beginning, but the charming and convivial HE Maria, broke the ice and cracked some jokes to loosen up the mood.
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| The table set |
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| Her Excellency Maria Rosario C. Aguinaldo, Ambassador of The Philippines to Indonesia |
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| Chef Jam Melchor |
As I skimmed through the 6 course menu, I anticipated nothing short of a pleasant feast ahead of us...
1st Course
Gen san tuna crudo, sriracha, crispy vermicelli, baby rocket & cherry tomatoes
Kinilaw na tuna, pinalutong na bihon, dahon na arugula, seresang kamatis
Was this dish supposed to be a ceviche (raw seafood dish 'cooked' chemically using vinegar or lemon), no one really knew, but the tuna cubes were deliciously marinated in refreshing spicy and slightly sour sriracha, a refreshing start!
2nd Course
Prawn Pineapple Sinigang
Pininyahang sinigang na hipon
Sinigang is the name of sour soup native to the Philippines, which originally uses pork as the main ingredient, but other variations have been known to use other meat such as beef, shrimp, fish, and chicken.
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| 1st Course: Gen san tuna crudo, sriracha, crispy vermicelli, baby rocket & cherry tomatoes |
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| 2nd Course: Prawn Pineapple Sinigang |
3rd Course
Roasted chicken bacolod style, pomelo davao, mixed greens, sinamak annatto vinaigrette
Inasal na manok ng bacolod, suhang davao, litsugas at sarsang sinamak
This is simply masarap! (= yummy!)
4th Course
Grilled milkfish belly tocino crab roe risotto
Inihaw na tiyan ng bangus tocino, taba ng talangka risotto
Milkfish, or known to Indonesians as ikan bandeng, contains a lot of soft but sharp bones, so one might want to be careful when eating it. But aside from the bones, the fish is well grilled, the charred scent seeps all the way through the flesh. The other crucial co-star in this dish is the crab roe risotto, the creamy roe is supposedly painstakingly acquired from small crabs.
5th Course
Angus rib eye bistek, portabello confit biringhe curry ball
Bistek na angus steak, pinais na kabute, kapampangan paella "biringhe"
When I see brown sauce, I will tend to associate it with sweet flavour, but the brown sauce turns out to be quite salty! The correct way to eat this dish is to pop the bistek and sticky rice at one go. The sticky rice with raisins, was a rather interesting alternative to the normal rice, and it neutralizes the salty brown sauce. I cleaned the plate easily within minutes!
6th Course
Lechemon
Dalayap leche flan at mamon
Filipino take on creme de la creme, but with Chef Jam's refreshing lemony cream on top.
BUT you won't get exactly like the above when dining at SATOO, because at SATOO, Chef Jam will prepare a lot more variety of traditional Filipino food and not so much the 'fusion'ized version like what you see above. Will there be lechon (grilled suckling pig) served? I'm not certain, why not call to make sure? ;)
By dining at SATOO during the Linamnam! Festival, guests will stand a chance to winning themselves a return trip to Manila, sponsored by the Philippine Airlines too! Contact the restaurant for more details.
Kain na! (= let's eat!)
Buffet Prices:
Breakfast: IDR 276,000 nett
Lunch: IDR 325,000 (Monday to Friday) | Brunch: IDR 400,000 (Saturday, Sunday)
Dinner: IDR 351,000 (Sunday to Thursday) | IDR 388,000 (Friday to Saturday)
Open Hours:
Breakfast: 6am - 10am (Weekdays) | 6am - 10.30am (Weekends and Public Holidays)
Lunch: 12noon - 2.30pm (Weekdays) | 12noon - 3.00pm (Weekends and Public Holidays)
Dinner: 6pm - 10.30pm (Sunday to Thursday) | 6pm - 11pm (Friday and Saturday)
SATOO
Level 1, Shangri-la Hotel, Jakarta (click to open in Google Maps)
Kota BNI JL. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 1
Central Jakarta
Ph: +6221 29399562
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