I am not here to brag about my recent 16 course degustation featuring Pepita’s Lechon and Hey Handsome. I am here to actually give you hope!!! Ready???

Here it goes…

Ms. Dedet De la Fuente will be featuring her signature dishes along side Shangri-La at the Fort’s High Street Cafe famous buffet spread on Mothers’ Day weekend!!!

If you’ve missed out on all four sold-out days during her collaboration with Chef Nicco Santos, and Chef Queenie Villar, here is your big chance to satisfy your cravings. Just a block away from Hey Handsome is the new location. 🙂

Just to wet your appetite a little bit more… Here is a little throwback of some highlight dishes we enjoyed at the Hey Hayup dinner.

Like any good mother, our dinner started with a paper bag filled with our “baon” to start of the meal. Our baon was Pancit with Foie Gras stuffed mini Pan de Sal, Adobo with Foie Gras stuffed Pan de Sal, and Kesong Puti with Foie Gras stuffed Pan de Sal.

Like any degustation, the first course gives theme to the entire meal. It will be logical to conclude that our dinner will highlight Filipino cuisine, but leveled up to infinity.

Second course still by the Lechon Diva, was a collage of Street Food. Arroz Caldo with Truffle, Kweyk-Kweyk made out of Balut and Salted Egg, and Tocino & Tapa sticks.

To be completely honest, this was my first time to eat Kwek-Kwek, and I don’t have any intentions to eat the street food version if it is not as good as this one.

Chef Nicco’s first course was Sinantolan Suso with Barley, wrapped in Onion leaf, and drenched in Sea Mantis broth.

Back to Ms. Dedet with her Seafood Surprise, a stuffed-squid dish and topped with her homemade Oyster Sauce.

Next was Hey Handsome’s version of Kropek, served with fresh slivers of Pajo.

The next few dishes by Pepita’s Kitchen I have already tasted through her degustation in Bohol, but had their debut in Singapore with Cross Culture by Cheryl Tiu. The first one was Mixed Greens with Preserved Nata de Coco, Kornik, and Kasuy.

The other one was Gata Bi-Cool, my fave noodle dish and also my fave dish of the night.

The next two dishes by Chef Nicco happens to also be crowd faves, his rendition of Luncheon Meat, made us swoon over to very much licking our plates clean.

A dish that almost made me cry, was Chef Nicco’s Grilled Chicken Heart dish, with Quail Egg. The perfection of balance in cooking, and flavor in this dish is simply divine and god-like. Three pieces is really not enough.

Highlight of the night would be Pepita’s Kitchen and Hey Handsome’s lechon collaboration. What we had was Lechon de Leche stuffed with Burnt Coconut and Sambal Rice, served with Ms. Dedet’s famous Labuyo Sauce, and Chef Nicco’s Mango Relish

The flavors emerged from all components complimented each other, making the fatty rich lechon bow in submission to the acid from the relish, the heat from the sauce, and flavors of the rice. Eating each part is good on its own, but eating all in one bite is a harmonized exploding symphony of deliciousness.

It was indeed a dinner to remember, and can’t wait for her buffet spread at the Shangri-La at the Fort!!! For more information, please call (02) 425 4605 or send her an email (pepitaskitchen@gmail.com), or visit her Facebook Page or Instagram Account.

Stay hungry,

thehungrychef

Nathaniel Uy