There’s a quarter century of tradition behind Dynasty Court’s...
2010-03-23
Mike Baños
Entertainment
Teamwork for a Winning Pinakbet: How Kagay-anon Restaurant does it
By Mike Baños
Kagay-anons are still agog over the
recent selection of Kagay-anon Restaurant as of the Top 10 Restaurants in the
Philippines with the best Pinakbet.
Pinakbet is one of the featured
Filipino dishes in the “Sooo Pinoy” campaign, a joint project of Unilever
Foodsolutions, Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) and Department of Tourism which
bills itself as “The National Search for the Ultimate Pinoy Dish.”
“A team from
Unilever and PDI will go out and nominate food outlets that best serve a
particular dish,” said Jhao Carandang, Unilever sales executive. “For
instance, Kagay-anon was nominated among others in Mindanao and by certain
criteria they bested other nominees across the Philippines.”
Carandang said ‘mystery
judges’ will visit the nominated outlets to judge the particular dish and the
Top 10 restos or hotels judged to be best in a particular dish would
be featured based on these criteria ‘Taste’
(balance of flavor, texture and aroma); ‘Presentation’
(creativity, use of ingredients) and ‘Value
for Money’ (serving size, quality of ingredients and overall dining
experience).
“We didn’t expect to be selected so
we were all happily surprised when the call informing us of our selection came
through,” said Mrs. Francisca Limketkai, owner of Kagay-anon Restaurant.
And it wasn’t just the owners and
workers of Kagay-anon either who were excited over the win.
“All day long, we had a steady
stream of orders for our pinakbet as a result of that announcement posted in
The Philippine Daily Inquirer,” said Russel Awat, restaurant manager.
The unique presentation of Kagay-anon Restaurant's Pinakbet was one of the factors which made it stand out and garner Sooo Pinoy's rating as "One of the Top 10 Restaurants in the Philippines" with the Best Pinakbet.
An Ilokano dish mainly consisting of
ampalaya, eggplant and okra, and
often tossed in sauteed garlic and shallots, ginger and ripe tomatoes, slices
of pork liempo, and crackling pork, Pinakbet has traditionally been spiced with
bagoong na isda (fish paste),
providing the lucky dinner with a wide variety of including salty, sweet and
sour.
Although it’s a dish that has
migrated to practically all corners of the islands, one thing which makes
Kagay-anon’s Pinakbet unique is its presentation inside the half of a fresh
squash gourd. Even renowned chefs from Metro Manila like Myrna Segismundo of
Restaurant 9501 remarked about the dish’s remarkable presentation.
That was the inspiration of Mrs.
Limketkai, who inherited her lifelong zeal for cooking from her father Tan Sing
Liat, who also loved to cook.
Her sister, Mrs. Nena Velasco, also inherited their father’s culinary chops,
being the moving spirit behind Countryside Steakhouse, a fine dining
establishment which shares the same building with Kagay-anon.
Even as an elementary student, Mrs.
Limketkai was already learning to cook, and her favorite dish then was sotanghon guisado (rice vermicelli) that
her aunt, who was her mentor, allowed her to cook on special occasions.
When she took over in 1997 for
brother-in-law Lorenzo who started Kagay-anon at a nearby site in 1991, one of
the first things she did was to expand the menu, one of which was their now
famous Pinakbet.
The grand staircase leading up to a heaven of gustatory delights, Kagay-anon Restaurant.
She said behind the success of their
unique recipe is the teamwork between herself, chief cook Edgar Illanaand resto manager Ms.
Awat. No new menu item enters the Kagay-anon’s list unless these have been
tasted by Mrs. Limketkai.
“She has this unique ability to know
what ingredients have been used to cook the dish and she can tell also what
needs to be enhanced or toned down,” Ms. Awat said. Together, they conduct
random quality control tests on all items coming from the kitchen supervised by
their chief cook.
This exactly is what Austrian Chef Norbert Gandler
said local chefs need to make it
to the next level. During last year’s Kumbira Culinary Competition, Gandler,
who acted as chair of the board of judges, noted how Kumbira chefs, especially
in the professional category, tended to make short-cuts as time went on; thus,
the crying need for more executive chefs who are “experienced, responsible, and
have the right attitude” to control quality and keep on testing new ways to
make things better.
With the tested team of Kagay-anon
Restaurant keeping close tabs on its menu, it’s probably poetic justice that
the process of improving the city’s cuisine has already started in the restaurant
which carries its name.
