How 7 Chefs Worked Together on a 9-Course Culinary Journey

The Epicurious event wasn’t your usual dinner invitation. Besides being held for one night only at Clark Marriott, which is quite a ways off from the usual venues in Manila, it was a nine-course meal prepared by seven acclaimed chefs from within and around the Marriott network in the Philippines, promising a unique dining experience.

The idea was a culinary journey across oceans and cultures, finding inspiration in the landscapes and traditions of the people in these locations. This was reflected in a short film broken up into chapters to introduce each course, featuring a flame borne from a lightning strike. In its travels, the flame encounters the different chefs as they prepped and cooked each course, demonstrating not just the character of each one's own restaurant and his own approach to cooking, but his own personality as well.

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The meal opened with Marriott Hotel Manila’s executive chef Meik Brammer and his Sustainable Shrimp Salad, a relatively light introduction before the richer courses that followed. The longtime culinary leader of Manila Marriott known affectionately as “The Big Chef,” has been with Marriott for more than 25 years and currently serves as Marriott Manila's Director of Culinary Operations. His career has taken him through different kitchens and cuisines around the world, while his current role involves overseeing the hotel's multiple dining concepts and culinary teams.

The next was Foie Mousse Over Sobao Glazed Torrija, from Chef Alvaro Romero-abreu Raya of Cantabria by Chele Gonzalez at Westin Manila. It was followed by Chinese-Style Sweet Pumpkin Soup, from Chef Lucas Zhou of Wu Xing at Clark Marriott. As the hotel's Executive Chinese Chef, Zhou specializes in Cantonese cooking, with Wu Xing known for traditional and modern Chinese dishes presented with a more contemporary sensibility.

In between the courses, there were special performances from Kammerchor Manila, a non-profit choral organization, who was scheduled to fly the very next day to represent the country in choral competitions in Europe.

The fourth course brought the dinner firmly into steakhouse territory. Chef Erwin Marquez of Cru Steakhouse at Manila Marriott Hotel prepared the Seared Portoro Beef, served with potato pave, kesong puti cream, pumpkin Parmesan purée and foie butter sweet onion sauce. Marquez's approach made sense within the larger narrative of Epicurious. His cooking at Cru combines the precision expected of a steakhouse with a distinctly Filipino sensibility.

The fifth course went back to Filipino cooking with Humba Thrice-Cooked Heritage Pork Belly, featuring Ilocos black garlic, banana confit, reduced cola and anise jus. This was the contribution of Chef Bong Sagmit of Tito Boy restaurant in Pampanga, who said that he got the recipe from another Pampanga institution, Apag Marangle.

The sixth course took the dinner across the Pacific. Chef Rodrigo Serrano of DIP Nikkei at Sheraton Cebu Mactan Resort prepared Black Cod Aïi-Miso, combining shiro miso, lemon-beetroot purée, bokchoy and garlic quinoa crumble. A definite highlight of the evening, Serrano's specialty was particularly appropriate for an evening built around culinary crossover: DIP Nikkei is centered on the meeting of Peruvian and Japanese cuisines and is described as Cebu's first Peruvian-Nikkei restaurant.

A Lime Soju Sorbet served as a palate cleanser, before Chef Simon Moon of Smoki Moto at Clark Marriott served the evening's eighth course, Korean-Style Braised Short Ribs. The beef came with sea urchin risotto, ginger pumpkin purée and butter kimchi. Smoki Moto's menu draws heavily from Korean flavors while incorporating Japanese and American influences, making Moon's course another natural fit for the dinner's cross-cultural approach.

Bringing the meal to a close was Black Sesame Panna Cotta, which paired an Italian-style dessert with the distinctly Asian flavor of roasted black sesame. Judging by the satisfied sighs from the diners, it was a definite hit.

The dinner highlighted what has become an increasingly important part of Marriott's hospitality business in the Philippines: how dining itself is a destination unto itself. And instead of asking diners to choose between the different restaurants, Epicurious allowed them to experience several of the chefs’ culinary identities in a single evening.

Dinner invitations have become a dime-a-dozen in recent months as restaurants and chefs flex their culinary muscles in an increasingly dynamic Manila food scene, but what made Epicurious special was the fact that the chefs did not have to cook within the confines of their own restaurants. Instead, their individual identities became components of one larger meal. And it was one that seemed to resonate with everyone who was lucky enough to be part of the journey.