Philippine Food Festival in Cafe Mix @ Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney

October - Good Food Month is the best yet worst month for a foodie. With an influx in food deals and events, it is hard to choose which events you want to go to. As part of Good Food Month myself and a few bloggers were invited to the launch of the Philippine Food Festival. 

The Philippine Food Festival involves a lunch ($48 pp, 12-230pm) or dinner ($75pp, 6-10.30pm)  buffet option at Cafe Mix inside the Shangri-La Hotel. Bringing the tastes of Philippines to Australian shores, by actually have 2 chefs from the Philippines cooking up a storm. The buffet has a salad bar, dessert bar, bain maries filled with food (mostly meat based), and a halo halo station! Available from the 1st - 15th October 2013.

Roasted meats

Banana leaf grilled fish

Pork knuckle cooked in sweet soy sauce

Crispy pork Belly

Seared ox tail in peanut sauce

Bain Maries!

Rice noodle with smoked fish and shrimp sauce

Seared mussles in ginger broth

Chef making pork sisig

Ox Tripe & ox feet menudo

Pork with tomato based sauce and capsicums

Grouper sour broth with miso

Grilled blue marlin with anatto oil

Squid with chilli and coconut milk

Salad bar

Salad bar

Plate 1: All meats, no greens

Plate 2

My aim was to try as many components as possible, yet still have room for dessert! As you can see from the photos, Filipino food isn't very vegetarian friendly. However, for all the non vegetarians our there, Philippine Food Festival is a great way to taste the flavours of the Philippines. 

My favourite of all the dishes was the mussels and pork sisig. The pork sisig had amazing fresh flavours, with a kick of spice. It was also topped with a bit of Japanese mayonnaise, which finished it perfectly. This was my first time eating Filipino food, and I find it extremely hard to describe the flavours of Philippines. It doesn't have the distinct spice of thai food or nuttiness of Malaysian food. Filipino food is filled with flavour, sauciness and overall delicious. I know that lacks description, but hopefully the photos do it justice. Now onto desserts!

Meringue Roulade filled with vanilla custard

Vanilla sponge layered with cream and mixed fruit

Glutinous rice topped with raw sugar

Glutinous rice with chocolate

Leche Flan

Ube pudding

Young coconut with pine jelly, fresh fruit and 

mixed fruit with cream and condensed milk

Halo Halo station

Desserts!

Halo Halo with fruit, jellies and ice cream!

All the desserts were delicious! The various glutinous rice dishes were unique in there own way. The leche flan was fantastic, it had a perfect balance of egginess and sweetness. The meringue roulande with vanilla custard was delectable. A soft meringue texture, with vanilla custard yet a crisp top layer, need to find out how to replicate such a dessert. Ube pudding was pefect,  I wish I wasn't so full so I could have gone for another plate of that alone.

Halo halo is a popular Filipino dessert consisting of shaved ice, evaporated milk and other toppings of your choice (as if you are picking toppings for froyo). It is traditionally presented in a cup, but I wanted a bowl to fill it up. It can be an acquired concept, but delicious in every way.

The Philippine Food Festival was a great way to experience the flavours of Philippines. The buffet means a fulfilling dining experience, and the desserts alone are a reason to have a taste. 

Good food, good times!

Sugar Hit 2011 @ Shangri-la Hotel, Sydney

As a part of the Crave Sydney International Food Festival a few restaurants are providing late night (after 9pm) sugar hits, each for $20, and each providing a different experience. For more information on different Sugar Hit events check out Crave Sydney Sugar Hit.

On Thursday night I was invited by a friend to attend Sugar Hit at the Shangri-la hotel and had a very interesting food journey. The outside of the Shangri-la hotel doesn't look like much but once you walk in you can engage in all the glamour behind the name (and that was just the lobby).

We were all seated on luscious sofas in the lobby lounge and provided with our desserts with a side of Brown Brothers Dessert wine.

Everyone enjoying their sugar hits!

Some of the desserts were really good, as others not to much. Starting from the top right and going clockwise.

Tart: The little tart was filled with chocolate ganache with a glazed cherry. The cherry was glazed in some sort of red wine which gave it a distinct taste. I prefer white wine over red, so the cherry was not my cup of tea.

Chocolate macaron: It was too chewy for a macaron but the chocolate taste was there.

Pistachio slice: One of the best pistachio cakes I have tried. It had a great nutty taste and in the cream there were little jelly type balls which added lightness to the dessert. It was a great tongue cleanser after all the chocolate.

Opera cake: I am pretty sure it was opera cake, and if it wasn't, than no matter what it was it tasted good. With layers of ganache, sponge and a layer of crunch it tasted extraordinary. After each bite there was a new flavour tasted.

Chocolate mousse cake: As you can see there was a little pipette with raspberry sauce in it. It reminded of me a little Heston Blumenthal dining experience where you mix science with food. You squeeze the raspberry sauce inside and when you break through it, the sauce starts to ooze out. The dessert was fun to play with and had an exceptional taste. I like to believe that any dessert revolving around mousse can never fail to please.

Nutella cake: One of my favourites of them all. It seemed to be hazelnut (or nutella) ganache on top of a crispy wafer base. I loved the crunch of the base, it had a texture of layered crispy wafer which was a perfect balance to the soft hazelnut ganache. I think this was most people's favourite dessert, a definite crowd pleaser.

Delectable desserts

Cross section of chocolate mousse cake

Good food, good times!