What was served at the APEC gala dinner for world leaders

Organizers pulled out all stops for the gala dinner on Wednesday  for the heads of state attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.

They got industrial designer Kenneth Cobonpue to create an indoor garden, musical stars like apl.de.ap and Charice to perform, and chefs Margarita Fores and Glenda Barretto to provide the multicourse meal.

The two chefs wanted to bring very Filipino flavors to the table. “We [presented] what is classic, national in taste,” said Barretto in a release issued by the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson, “like flavors of adobo, tinola, kesong puti, itlog na maalat…”

The chefs talked about the dishes they prepared:

First course (salad): Ensalada Tagala with duck estofado, smoked kesong puti, and red egg flan with rambutan vinaigrette

Soup: Yamang dagat tinola. The chefs ground the lapu-lapu meat and the tiger prawns, and prepare them into quenelles: “That way, even if we reheat it, the texture is still [the same], and the taste is really tinola,” said Barretto.

Seafood course: Inasal na apahap.

Entree: Bistek Manilenya. The chefs sous-vided the beef, or placed them in airtight plastic bags and cooked them in a water bath, sealing in the flavor and juices. “We’re all secure that the 700 guests [got] a wonderful, juicy, tender piece of meat that evening,” said Fores. The dish also had sigarilyas, pink heirloom rice from the Cordilleras, and ubod cooked with Davao blue cheese.

Dessert: Classic maja blanca presented in a “very edgy, modern way,” with smoked coconut merengue and lambanog-poached mango.

The chefs used very Filipino ingredients, like the alugbati and the sigarilyas, to draw out the very Filipino flavors of the dishes. “All these…microgreens and herbs that we’ve taken for granted, that we thought were just weeds in the garden, are things that very important restaurants abroad have highlighted,” said Fores. “It’s great that we realize now that all these [local ingredients]…are actually quite unique for [foreigners], things that they don’t have in their parts of the world.” — BM, GMA News