THE REAL action was on the fourth floor, one up above the restaurant where we had gathered tonight.
As Libia Chavez, Philippine School of Culinary Arts (PSCA) Executive Director herself escorts me to the kitchen, we were warned at the elevator: “Chef asked to be notified if someone is coming up. He’s in an…” a pause, clearly the messenger was searching for a diplomatic way to phrase the warning. “…irate mood.” True enough,
I could hear someone’s voice raised a decibel higher that the usual din, in the midst of a flurry of action that reached a crescendo just about now, service time.
“Hey, HEYYYY make it quicker, ok?” says a stern-looking Chef Hicham Merouane, who breaks into a smile when he sees me before promptly returning to the serious business on hand.. our dinner! “Otherwise the food will be bugnaw. Hurry.”
AFTER A DEMONSTRATION by Chef Hicham Merouane (center), students John Meynard Ricarte and Emmanuel Roble replicate his plating precisely. The batch prepared three menus: Italian, Greek and South American for their annual International Cuisine class graduation exam.
He peppers barked instructions in accented English (he is Moroccan) with Cebuano phrases he has picked up. He also mixes, quite seamlessly, a stream of admonitions with generous praise. Chef stops at Meynard Ricarte’s risotto (tonight’s examination was on International Cuisine, and featured Italian, Greek and South African menus), pauses for a taste and declares: “A little bit overcooked, eh? But good. Very good.”
With the chef’s approving glance and without skipping a beat, Emmanuel Roble plates my dinner with great care, layering the elements of my main course… grilled chicken supreme with shallots and leek risotto. He puts a dollop of tomato puree at the center of the plate, rolls it around to get a good spread, layers the risotto on top, the chicken, topping it with lacework parmesan, and drops a green liquid (a coulis made from leeks?) and tops each one with a cherry tomato.
“Isn’t that beautiful? Red, green, white!” exclaims Chef Hicham triumphantly, alluding to the colors of the Italian flag. “Italy on a plate!”
Downstairs, tita Aissa dela Cruz and her husband, Dr. Ed dela Cruz munch on the orange and onion salad, which was a party in my mouth even without a dressing. I remember telling tita Aissa that I felt like I was eating something plucked just a few minutes ago from the backyard garden, and she agrees with: “If it’s fresh, it’s always good.”
THE ORANGE and onion salad from the Italian menu.
By the time our velvety smooth chocolate-vanillla panna cotta with a strawberry coulis arrived, served unobtrusively by our handsome waiter Keane Camat, a second-year student at the PSCA who traded wings (he finished a course in flight engineering) for knives… we had reminisced about UP Los Baños days (Ma’am Libia took courses in food nutrition there and Dr. Ed (a veterinarian) has numerous colleagues from the University). We burp inside with those memories, buoyed by the lovely white from Chile.
I am impressed by Batch 27’s cooking tonight to the point of inquiry: “How much does the course here cost?” Ma’am Libie tells me a substantial sum. “But that’s all in. Including uniforms and ingredients.” She asks me to come by again to try our some modules (I’m thinking baking, because I have an oven at home that my friends tease me about, it has remained unused since the day I bought it over three years ago) and I nod excitedly.
But what really sold me was this: “The fee includes a set of knives per student already.” Because a girl’s gotta have her slicers.
(The Philippine School of Culinary Arts is at the 3rd floor of the Maxwell Hotel Anex, Bldg., N. Escario St., Kamputhaw, Cebu City. For inquiries on their courses, call 505 4645, text 0939 357 6425 or email pscachef_psca @yahoo.com.ph or click www.pscaculinary.com)