DEDETH dela Fuente is currently one of Manila’s talk-of-the-town food personalities, and her creativity and love for Filipino food, particularly for lechon, is generating a lot of excitement.
Her title “Lechon Diva” is richly deserved after her Truffle Rice Stuffed Lechon de Leche was awarded “Tastiest Dish in Asia” in London by Chowtzer group and her “Hayop sa Sarap Na Degustacion” lauded by Lifestyle Asia as the best dining experience in Asia.
With her creativity, resourcefulness and natural cooking skills, the mother of three girls is elevating the concept of dining to a new high. Her theme is truly Pinoy and it amazes everyone with how she can do magic with locally sourced ingredients.
Perhaps, it is the artist in her (she is a Fine Arts graduate) and her passion for cooking since she was a child, polished with summer cooking classes with the Sylvia Reynoso Gala.
Her love for lechon, which she started stuffing with rice, gave rise to her private “Pepita’s Kitchen” Degustacion Dinners in her Magallanes home in Makati. Her first creation was Lechon de Leche stuffed with Binagoongan Rice, which was an instant hit with foodie friends.
The Lechon Diva has 21 variants of stuffed lechon using Dinorado rice.
I had the pleasure of enjoying her now internationally renowned Degustacion Dinner at Bluewater Maribago Resort, a highlight of the “Pasko sa Bluewater” offerings. And just like that, we were talking like old friends about her “lechon stories.”
Her “Hayop sa Sarap” menu includes the best 12 from her degustacion dinners. Guests were bewitched with her opening drink “Gayuma ni Pepita”, pink cotton candy on a glass of martini with calamansi juice with lambanog or coconut vodka we poured on the cotton candy.
The tiny kick stimulated our senses as we were served a plate of finger food from all over “Pica-Pica ng Pepitas”–Lucban Kiping (thin rice cracker) with squid ink aioli and Tarlac dilis, Balut Salpicao and the Lechon Scone with Mr. Thomas Butter (Mang Tomas lechon sauce whipped with butter).
Her salad has Nata de Coco from Pampanga; her Bicol Express has pork with noodles. Her “Hiplog” or plump shrimps were flavored with itlog na maalat, Sipit Sarap or Crab Claws with Gulong-gulong sauce made with taba ng talangka, coconut milk and pig’s brain that will make one roll with delight (gugulong ka sa sarap!).
The Sisig was served on camote chips. And to prepare our palates for the Lechon de Leche dishes, Ginger and Calamansi Sorbet were very refreshing served like street iced candy that we sucked.
The degustacion is actually a prelude to her piéce de résistance, the award winning Truffle Rice Stuffed Lechon de Leche. Dedeth says she always serves her lechon with a mini Philippine flag.
The skin was thin and delicately crispy with tender, succulent meat dipped in her special sweet and spicy sauce, finger-licking goodness, paired with the flavorful truffle rice. The other Lechon de Leche was herb-stuffed and paired with roasted whole garlic and marble potatoes. For a dramatic effect, Dedeth serves her lechon with gold dust.
And to lessen the guilt, we had a Cholesterol Sweeper of oatmeal with white chocolate. Her desserts are classic Filipino favorites with her touch – Super Suman with yema, ube, pastillas de leche, chocnut, which made it to the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Best Dessert List, Guinataang Brulee and Buko-Pandan Macaroon. Hayop sa sarap talaga!
