Iloilo Comes to Café Jeepney
Chef Pauline Banusing.
InterContinental Manila’s iconic Café Jeepney will offer diners a hearty buffet spread of popular dishes from of the province of Iloilo as prepared by seasoned restaurateur-chef, Pauline Goriceta-Banusing, from September 16 to 30, 2009. These Ilonggo specialties will be available for lunch daily and for dinner Monday to Saturday.
A member of the prominent Sarabia clan in the food, hotel and jewelry business, Ms. Gorriceta-Banusing is out to establish her own mark in the food industry. To date she owns and manages Al Dente (Italian), Maki (Japanese) and 101 Luna Steakhouse restaurants as well as a catering services business in Iloilo . She co-owns the Freska Ilonggo Seafood Restaurant whose menu selections she personally drew up. She likewise writes a food column for the Panay News and hosts a culinary show on Sky Cable . Her educational background in the culinary arts includes training at the Culinary Institute of America, Institute of Culinary Education , New York University and in Singapore for US meat and US beef training.
Managat.
She cares a lot about the food that she serves and is dead serious on preserving her home province’s culinary heritage for future generations. She says that she is lucky in the sense that many of her fellow Ilonggos approach her and willingly share family recipes with her. She describes Ilonggo cuisine as “simple and fresh” relying more on the natural flavors of ingredients. A good number of these are soupy or with a lot of sauce as they are usually taken with rice.
For Café Jeepney she will prepare among others old-style fresh lumpiang ubod (heart of palm spring roll) which will be flown fresh from Iloilo , KBL (Kadios. Baboy, Langka), tinu-on (native chicken steam-cooked in bamboo), pinamalhan (pinaksiw na tiyan ng salmon sa sinamak (coconut vinegar)), adobado na alimusan (mudfish cooked in coconut milk and annatto seeds), pancit Molo (extra big dumplings or molo made of ground chicken and shrimps), batchoy, and a fresh seafood station offering managat (mangrove jack), bulgan (local sea bass), blue and black marlin (gindara) and diwal (angel wings).
Chicken Binakol.
Expect the best kakanin or native sweets. Ms. Gorriceta-Banusing sought out the best kakanin maker in Iloilo who gladly taught her how to prepare her specialties for the Café Jeepney promotion. For dessert there will be suman latik, suman sa ibos, bicho-bicho, and puto Manapla which is usually eaten with batchoy. Her delicious butterscotch ice cream is worth a try.
Café Jeepney’s buffet is open for lunch from 12 noon to 2:30 PM Monday to Sunday and for dinner from 7 PM to 10:30 PM Monday to Saturday. As part of the hotel’s 40th anniversary celebration, patrons will have a chance to win trips to dream destinations. Every P 4,000 in a single receipt at restaurant and bar outlets will earn a raffle ticket. Prizes include a Princess Cruise trip for 2 to either the Caribbean OR Alaska OR the Mexican Riviera (the winner can choose one destination from these 3 destinations) and a trip to a European destination of one’s choice onboard KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Raffle period runs until April 16, 2010.
For every group of 4 buffet-paying adults, a 5th person gets a FREE buffet meal. For reservations call 7937000.