From truffle ‘lechon’ to ‘latik’ sans rival: Chefs collab for wheelchairs anew
+6 From truffle ‘lechon’ to ‘latik’ sans rival: Chefs collab for wheelchairs anew
From truffle ‘lechon’ to ‘latik’ sans rival: Chefs collab for wheelchairs anew
From truffle ‘lechon’ to ‘latik’ sans rival: Chefs collab for wheelchairs anew
From truffle ‘lechon’ to ‘latik’ sans rival: Chefs collab for wheelchairs anew
From truffle ‘lechon’ to ‘latik’ sans rival: Chefs collab for wheelchairs anew
From truffle ‘lechon’ to ‘latik’ sans rival: Chefs collab for wheelchairs anew
From truffle ‘lechon’ to ‘latik’ sans rival: Chefs collab for wheelchairs anew
Project Wheelchair has evolved from selling Harry Potter’s Butterbeer in bazaars to a charity dinner in Manila Hotel’s Champagne Room where over 200 guests got to enjoy a multicourse meal prepared by an ensemble of generous chefs.
It was 12 years ago when Dedet dela Fuente’s daughters Lileya and Liyora wanted to honor their sister Lauren who died at age 13 due to cerebral palsy. They did so by selling a trendy beverage in a holiday bazaar in Rockwell. Their sales allowed them to purchase a single wheelchair.
From there, Dela Fuente aka the Lechon Diva (she roasts pigs stuffed with flavored rice) thought of doing something bigger and so she started hosting dinners at home, with the help of close friends. This allowed her to buy more than a dozen chairs and distribute them to those in need.
A hundred wheelchairs
In 2017, after realizing so many people can benefit from the mobility, she staged the dinner in Manila Hotel. And they were able to raise funds enough to acquire over a hundred wheelchairs, which she and her daughters got to distribute in places such as Tacloban and Palo, Leyte, after Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” as well as in Marawi after it was devastated by the siege. Many lives were changed because of this latter donation, including a kid who was moved around on a dilapidated monobloc chair, and also some wounded soldiers.
Last Nov. 19, after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the event returned at the Manila Hotel with the same set of chefs from the 2019 dinner. “They are my friends, and I made sure they come from different provinces so that there a variety in flavors in the degustacion,” said Dela Fuente.
Glenda Barretto of Via Mare fame opened the event with a trio of small bites—Samar-style kinilaw in mini skewers, lumpiang ubod in a potato vessel akin to pani puri and a disc of dinuguan that sat on puto.
Then came Myke “Tatung” Sarthou’s charcuterie plate composed of morcilla, smoked chorizo, chicken liver pate and chicken galantina with raisin jam. Mini pan de sal was served with it.
It was followed by a nostalgic dish from Margarita Fores, who said, “I did a very homey dish that I grew up eating on the summers that I would go back to Bacolod as a young girl. It’s called kasag, tambo, gata at mais.” It came as a panna cotta of coconut milk and corn, topped with baby blue crab and bamboo shoot. It sat on a pool of crab fat and ginger-spiced coconut milk and was finished with a drizzle of 25-year-old Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena.
After taking delight in that dish from Negros, Datu Shariff Pendatun took guests to his region down south, specifically to Cotobato, where his spicy number is from. His dish is called linigil and it’s chicken that’s braised in palapa-seasoned coconut milk.
Great cause
Sau del Rosario’s plate then brought guests to a time when Pampanga was home to generals during the Spanish era. Whenever they feasted, lengua Sulipeña laid out on silver platters was the main attraction on the table. The cuts-like-butter ox tongue was cooked sous vide for 24 hours then served with a velvety cream sauce, mushroom confit and liberal shavings of manchego cheese.
For her turn, Dedet served lechon de leche with truffle rice and her signature divalicious chili sauce. This particular variant of roast pig, her brand’s bestseller, was heralded in London as the best dish in Asia at the Chowtzer Fast Feasts Awards back in 2014.
Desserts were served by Roselyn Tiangco who made a salted latik sans rival and calamansi tart; Tanya Dizon who did a trio—champorado eh, ube haleya with leche flan, and sapin-sapin bahaghari; and the Karabella Gelato, which handed out scoops of their guava cheese gelato.
Destileria Limtuaco served cocktails before dinner, while Pearl de Guzman distributed her ube ensaymada for guests to bring home.
The chefs were quick to confirm their participation to the dinner, knowing it’s for charity. “My worth as a chef becomes more impactful when I am able to help people who are in need. It was so easy to say yes to the dinner event because it was the right thing to do,” said Del Rosario.
“Firstly, it’s for a great cause. Secondly, it’s rare that you get to share the kitchen with amazing chefs. And lastly, it’s really about supporting friends,” added Sarthou. “I also feel that, through the years, it has become like a family affair of sorts.”
Follow the author @fooddudeph on Instagram.
