Food Safaris

Manila Bulletin – Sat, Jul 28, 2012

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Explore the Philippines' natural, cultural, and gustatory treasures with Tour Flair's series of Food Safaris while feasting on delectable dishes personally prepared by Sau del Rosario, Tour Flair's signature chef.

"From Manila, we travel out of town to experience the beautiful cultural sites of the region and savor the delicious local dishes - specially demonstrated and presented by Chef Sau, who travels with the group," says Teresa "Dinty" Barredo-Keating, Tour Flair's co-managing director.

"Our exotic Food Safaris feature scrumptious local regional cuisine. Guests are treated to a fabulous six- course lunch of inspirational, traditional Filipino fare by Chef Sau with each dish plated individually and beautifully presented-truly top-of-the-line, world-class cuisine."

Culinary capital

The Pampanga Food Safari will be held on Aug. 15 and Sept. 19. Located north of Manila, Pampanga is considered as the culinary capital of the Philippines.

The day tour covers a visit to the 19th century-styled kitchen of Lilian Borromeo, a renowned cook in Pampanga who will demonstrate how traditional tsokolate and San Nicolas cookies were prepared in the olden days. Guests will also witness the making of local Pampango kakanin (sweets).

"We will visit the beautifully frescoed St. James the Apostle Church in Betis and the sunken San Guillermo Church in Bacolor. Lunch will be served at Bale Betis (Betis House), the charming Filipino-inspired house of Myrna Bituin, after which a tour of the Betis Crafts factory can be arranged. The skilled craftsmen of Betis Crafts produce beautifully designed pieces for the home that showcase Filipino talent."

While actual items in the menu usually change depending on the freshest ingredients available on the day of the tour, samples of what guests can partake of include burong isda (fish marinated in vinegar and deep fried to perfection), bulanglang (guava stew with pork ribs), morcon (beef roll), and rellenong bangus (milkfish with special stuffing).

Of course, no Filipino meal is complete without desserts. Some featured treats include tibok-tibok (Pampango-style maja blanca or coconut pudding), jalea de ube (purple yam with carabao milk), and native flan (carabao milk custard). There is also the famous Pampango halo-halo (sweet beans and fruits topped with crushed ice, milk and custard).

Homegrown

Born in Angeles City, Pampanga, Del Rosario trained at Culinary Institute of America and worked in France with Michelin star Chef Christian Plumai (L'Univers restaurant, Nice), and three-Michelin star Chef Jacques Le Divelec (Le Divelec restaurant, Paris).

He then ran the Mediterranean themed restaurant Luna in Shanghai; Equinox, Jaan, and New Asia Bar and Grill-three Swisshotel restaurants; as well as the Stamford, Raffles, and The Plaza, in Singapore.

He returned to Manila and opened several restaurants, including Museum Café and Chelsea Market and Café. He has worked with some of Manila's leading hotels, including Sofitel Philippine Plaza), Shangri-la Edsa, New World Hotel, and Peninsula Manila.

Northern exposure

On Oct. 20-22, Tour Flair will have a Vigan /Ilocos Norte Food Safari where guests will explore this region in northern Luzon by flying to Laoag and staying at the restored 19th-century Filipino-Spanish village of Sitio Remedios by the South China Sea in Currimao.

Guests will get to see sites such as the famous Paoay Church and Bell Tower and Batac. A tour of the heritage city of Vigan will include lunch at an ancestral home and a superb colonial dinner.

"Chef Sau will be with us and will prepare his version of Ilocano cuisine with local chefs for a fabulous dinner at Sitio Remedios, she says.

Future Food Safari tours are being planned for Tagaytay, Bulacan, and the Bicol Region. Tour Flair has tours to Baguio and Banaue Rice Terraces; Amanpulo; Batanes; El Nido, Palawan; Boracay; and Bataan. Tour Flair is managed by sisters Teresa "Dinty" Barredo-Keating and Mindy Barredo Perez-Rubio with Lory Vi Valdes.

Tour Flair's Pampanga Food Safari is on Aug. 15 and Sept. 19; its Vigan Food Safari will be on Oct. 20-22. Contact +632-736-3883 or +63917-530-6090 (Philippines), +1-650-366-4869(USA) and +1-300-104-174 (Australia) or email tourflair@gmail.com or visit tourflair.com.

PAMPANGA FEAST

MAGICAL!

You couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.  Although the weather report predicted rain and thunderstorms, the day dawned a sunny, cloudless blue.  A group of 13 met at the Makati Garden Club bright and early and by 8:30 we were on our way to Pampanga.  We exited San Fernando and took the road to Mexico, the town right next to bustling San Fernando.  We stopped at the home of Lillian Borromeo, famed Pampanga cook, noted for her authentic turn-of-the-century kitchen.  She had a mid-morning snack laid out for the guests, including different types of native bibingka, her famous San Nicolas cookies, and many other delicacies.  Guests enjoyed the "almusal", washed down with her refreshing concoction of pandan juice.  Lillian then gave a demonstration on how to make San Nicolas cookies, and tibok-tibok, which is a Pampangueño coconut milk pudding.  She showed guests how women in the19th century used utensils and ovens for cooking and baking. Visitors then heaped themselves with purchased boxes of cookies before proceeding to the churches.

       Guest, Jill Sparks, shows off how to make San Nicolas cookies, as Lillian Borromeo looks on

We visited San Guillermo Church, better known as Bacolor Church, in Bacolor, Pampanga, one of the oldest towns in the Philippines.  This beautiful church was completely buried by volcanic ash and lahar during the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption.  The townsfolk rallied behind the parish and dug up the altar.  They set it beneath the high dome as it was the only way it could fit, since the church was under ash and sand.  Today, with the main door completely buried, entry into the church is through what was once the second floor choir balcony.  We then visited Betis Church, in Guagua, the town next-door, but it being 1PM, the building was closed for lunch.  We decided to head on to the home of Myrna Bituin, the owner of Betis Crafts, whose daughter, Leslie joined us as hostess.   She owns a 3 hectare property along the highway, and has beautiful houses built behind her furniture factory, where our gourmet lunch was prepared.

The sunken San Guillermo Church in Bacolor

                     Chef Sau del Rosario chats with Leslie Bituin of Betis Crafts, at whose home we had lunch in.

Chef Sau del Rosario was a-waiting. There was a lady making home-made barquillos, that were absolutely delicious!  Many of us tried our hand at making these rolled wafers.

                                      Tour director, Lory-vi Valdes tries her hand at making barquillos

Guests sipped on a cool lychee drink as they watched Chef Sau give a demo on a mince meat roll wrapped in lettuce.  Fabulous!  Everyone soon sat at a long wood table creatively decorated for lunch.

  First dish was a very light morcon, a meat roll garnished with flower petals (edible, of course!) followed by tangy bulanglang, which is a sinigang of guava, but with lamb versus pork.  A crisp paco (fern) and watermelon salad followed.  Then a hearty crab and corn soup, finished off with his piece de resistance -- rellenong bangus, stuffed milkfish.  Dessert was sans rival na langka, with jalea de ube, garnished with a barquillo.  Although it was a six-course meal, guests did not walk away full.  Chef Sau has perfected the art of creating a menu that segues one into the other with precision, timing and quantity.  It was getting quite warm, and just then, gusts of wind blew and clouds came and poured rain.  We cooled off instantly!  As lunch concluded, so did the rains.  Everyone went for a stroll in the gardens, others visited the furniture and craft showroom.

                                                                         Morcon garnished with flower petals

                                                                                 Paco Salad with Watermelon

                                                                                           Rellenong Bangus

                                                                          Bulanglang

                                                                             Sans Rival na Langka and Jalea de Ube

Then it was off again to Betis Church, a few minutes away, to visit the stunningly frescoed church, known as the Sistine Chapel of the Philippines.  This baroque-inspired church was built in the mid-17th century, and is filled with statues, frescoes and beautifully carved doors and altars.  Breathtaking.  We headed on back to Manila at 4PM.  Traffic along EDSA was pretty bad, but despite that, everyone reached their destination by 6PM, quite satisfied with all the good food, good wine, pastries, demos and photographs that we took, with a touch of history to boot!

Betis Church 

                                                   Some guests pose in front of Bacolor Church