I was lucky enough to be invited to the Legacy Dinner of Batch 3 of the Skills Course the Center for Asian Culinary Arts. Aside from getting to eat all those yummy foods they served, I hosted the event. It was a virtually fuss-free gig. 🙂

Oh, you’re more interested in the food?

While waiting for the buffet to open and the other guests to arrive, I munched on a Foccacia served with Chicken Liver Pate and Confit. I’m a fan of liver pate so I thoroughly enjoyed it. The pate had a nice smooth texture and was very flavorful. The focaccia was nothing extraordinary, but it had olives in it so YEY!

They served three types of salads: Ceasar’s, Waldorf, and Salad ala Greca. They also had California Maki, Manhattan Maki, Tekka Maki, and Tuna Sashimi, and Salmon Sashimi. I only got to try the sashimis because well, there was just to many people lining up and they ran out of the makis. The sashimis were fresh. The tuna was kinda cold and iced, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

There were two types of pastas and two types of sauces. I had Spaghetti with the Pomodoro with Italian Sausage. The sauce was kinda bland, but the italian sausage was greeeat! It was spicy but not too spicy and very, very savory. And it was topped with Basil so I was happy. I also tried the Fettucine with the Carbonara Sauce with Pancetta topped with Bacon Bits and Parmesan. Now, that was a winner. The carbonara sauce looked deceivingly thin but was actually creamy and rich. Pancetta + Bacon + Parmesan = YUM!

For the main dish I only tried out the Lapu-lapu Fillet Chiu Chow Style which apparently meant sort of Asian with a soy sauce base and black beans. I loooved it! They also served New England Clam Chowder, Chicken with 40 Cloves Garlic topped with Potato Chips, Lengua Concetas, Bangus Belly with Thai Mango Salad, and Paella.

My favorite dish of the night was the super tender, wonderfully flavored Roast Beef Rib Eye. I had it with the Potato Dauphinoise and the Sauce Perigeux. The sauce was light and complemented the beef well. The potatoes were a bit blah though. They also had Sauce Bernaise which I wasn’t able to try.

They also a a Conchinillo table with Baked Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows, Confit of Dried Fruits, Port Wine Demiglace, and Pork Liver Sauce. I saw the table too late so I wasn’t able to try anything on it.

I saw it on the way to my favorite table… the dessert table. They had an entire spread of yummy sweet goodness that I had a hard time picking anything so I tried almost everything. First, I tasted the French Vanilla Ice Cream. It was creamy, not milky, and had actual vanilla bean bits (I think). The I had the New York Cheese Cake with Blueberry Topping, Strawberry Shortcake, Chocolate Truffles, and Pecan Tartlets. EVERYTHING WAS YUMMY! Nothing was too sweet. It was like I died and went to dessert heaven. There was also Creme Reversee Au Caramel, Mango Cashew Sansrival, and Chocolate Cake which I wasn’t able to try out since I had to emcee already.

It was a gastronomic delight night to remember. 🙂

Congratulations to the CACS Skills Class Batch 3 led by my friend, the Executive Chef Catet Binoya!