by Kenneth K. Ong
What I love about Davao City is the fusion of many diverse cultures and sub-cultures, each coexisting beside and with each other forming what people call a multi-cultural society. And it is this confluence of ideas, cultures, and concepts that the Cultural Confluence Art Exhibit at the Davao Museum of History and Ethnography was born. Now on it’s second outing, Cultural Confluence II gathers ten artists from Cebu, Davao, Manila and France and aims to cross boundaries in artistic expression and cultures.
Featured artists are Lito Pepito, Arnel Villegas, Josie Tionko and Jurie Jaime from Davao; Cesar Duazo-Pepito and Darby Alcoseba from Cebu; Seb Chua, Armida Francisco and Louie Ignacio from Manila; and Remy Rault from France.
The exhibit is at the Davao Museum’s Don Antonio O. Floirendo Gallery and will run until May 28, 2011.
Talking about mixing things up, I was so fortunate to be able to taste the culinary masterpieces dreamed up by dynamic and creative executive chef Josephine Yu Tanganco-Candelaria of Manila Hotel’s Mabuhay Palace at the Marco Polo Davao’s Lotus Court. Chef Josephine was once a computer science graduate but decided to take up the culinary arts. Training in Singapore and Chinoi roots exposed her to multi-cultural tastes and flavors thus her dishes are a fusion of Asian ingredients married with regional influences and western techniques.
Case in point Chef Josephine’s Long Life Prawns which are prawns that are wrapped in egg noodles and fried like tempura. The egg noodles of course, taking the place of the typical frying batter. Another personal favorite of mine is her Honey-Glazed Chicken Fillet in Crispy Young Ginger, I loved the way the crispy ginger chips add texture and a spicy flavor to the rich and sweet chicken dish much like when you add chili flakes to an already good pizza. It elevated the good dish into something great.
And to end the wonderfully dreamy Chinese fusion dinner, Chef Josephine presented us the dish that came from her dreams, her Mabuhay Palace Golden Egg Ice Cream. A fusion of savory and sweet, the Golden Egg Ice Cream is actually made of home-made salted egg and accented with black sesame paste. A heavenly union of opposites in a precious dessert. No wonder, the Mabuhay Palace won over the palates and hearts of Manila’s foodies and food writers, this writer included.
You can sample all these unique fusion dishes from Mabuhay Palace and more at the Lotus Court today until the 15th of May. You may order the dishes a la carte or in sumptuous buffets every Sunday for lunch at Php850 net per person. Payday dinner buffets with Mabuhay palace menu highlights are at Php600 net per person on the 30th of April and 15th of May.
