Ahead of Chinese New Year: An 8-course degustación that highlights Chinoy flavors

If there's one similarity between Filipino and Chinese cuisines, it's the play on irresistible umami flavors. When the two cuisines merge together, it's safe to say that you can expect nothing less than a gastronomic journey.

Ahead of the Chinese New Year on February 10, The Westin Manila brings a farm-to-table contemporary Chinese tasting menu with loud and proud Chinoy chef Sharwin Tee and The Westin Manila's Executive Chef Rej Casanova at the helm.

The 8-course degustacion will take place for two nights only, on January 31 and February 7, at Seasonal Taste, the all-day dining outlet of the newly opened hotel in Ortigas.

To bring the degustacion to life, Chef Tee and Chef Casanova created an eight-course Chinese-inspired vegetable and meat pairing, each coming up with four dishes that highlights farm-sourced ingredients in partnership with Agribusiness and Countryside Development Foundation.

Chef Tee's offerings begins with Lettuce & Kiniing, which presents three different variants of lettuce (romaine, iceberg, and lolo rosa lettuce) poached and dipped in garlicky and savory Kiniing XO sauce sourced from Benguet. 

He also reimagined Tofu & Mushrooms through twice-cooked tofu filled with creative mushroom tofu mousse and topped with fried oyster mushrooms with shiitake mapo sauce.

Then Chef Tee came up with two mains. He first redefined the Chinese Beef & Brocolli by grilling Angus ribeye steak to perfection and roasting broccoli pieces to achieve a crisp and smoky texture. Making the dish even more earthy is the cauliflower purée served on the side. 

Then came Chef Tee's artistic Carrot & Egg. On this plate, the handmade noodles include carrot peelings, which are then tossed in a carrot-ginger sauce and then topped with a 63°C sous vide egg served with grilled crunchy carrot sticks drenched in cumin-spiced BBQ sauce. 

Chef Casanova meanwhile brings four additional dishes that champion meat and vegetable pairings.

For the first course, the executive chef pays homage to traditional Chinese cuisine with his Handcrafted Dimsum, a triple treat with pork siomai with seared goose liver and black vinegar glaze, mushroom and peas with truffle essence, and lobster and chives.

This will be followed by Chicken & Corn, a poached chicken terrine in sesame sweet corn glaze, marinated cucumber, and cabbage salad with sesame dressing.

The Fish & Kale, on the other hand, is a light and refreshing plate highlighting soft sous vide Asian sea bass dressed in organic kale XO sauce and topped with crispy rice crackers. 

Last but not least is a plate of Mango Sago in different textures for dessert: Mango parfait, Pomelo salad, tapioca crisp, Mango caviar, and Mango cream. 

As part of a Chinese dining tradition, The Westin Manila's Seasonal Taste will give out homemade fortune cookies for diners bearing well wishes and messages.

The farm-to-table contemporary Chinese degustación menu at Seasonal Taste is priced at P4,800 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on January 31 and February 7.

— LA, GMA Integrated News