Ang Kalatas October 2017 Issue | Page 15

FOOD & DINING Food for the gods ’Twas like Christmas had come early at the fest NOT even home cooking can cure homesickness. Seeing all my favourite dishes laid out as they were at the Philippine Food Festival at the Shangri-La just reminded me to book an island holiday to the Philippines soon. Walking into Cafe Mix at the Shangri- La last Friday was like walking into food heaven. It was like my birthday and Christmas party rolled into one. I didn't know where to look - on my right was the dessert station with leche flan, pichi-pichi, cuchinta, ginata-an, braso de mercedes, turon and palitaw, and further up was the meat carvery filled with slices of crispy lechon, and for those who love their soup - there was a big pot of tinolang manok alongside the sinigang sa miso na lapu-lapu. If I could live in the restaurant, I would. According to recent statistics, there are more than 300,000 Filipinos in Australia, at least 20,000 of whom reside in Western Sydney. This meant that a) the community is big enough to support a handful of local Filipino restaurants and b) Asian food stores are now well-stocked with essential ingredients that you normally wouldn't find outside the Philippines. In short, gone are the days when the only option for migrant Filipino-Australians to partake traditional dishes was to go to the Philippines. Sydney residents are now spoilt for choice. But Shangri-La at the Rocks took Philippine fine dining to another level with its annual food fest this year, now in its fifth year running. Filipinos are a tough crowd - we would have looked at the smorgasboard of dishes and instantly figured out what's missing. Instead I was scratching my head. www.kalatas.com.au By MICHELLE BALTAZAR From the authentic bistek to