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