Adobo is arguably the quintessential Filipino dish – ask a Filipino how they like their adobo, and you’ll probably get a different answer each time. Such is the nature of this much-loved dinner table staple: it is enjoyed in countless of different ways. This is precisely what Holiday Inn & Suites Makati celebrates this October with Adobo Nation, a festival that brings to light the unique and inventive ways of cooking adobo aside from the classic.

Enlisting the help of no less than the well-loved and popular Adobo Queen, Nancy Reyes-Lumen, and chefs Jen Seranilla and Jaja Andal, who make up Team Adobo, Holiday Inn & Suites Makati takes adobo to a whole new level starting October 1, 2019 , armed with the ladies wealth of knowledge on the dish and the cooking process.

“We chose to cook variants of adobo to show that the dish is neither just a recipe, nor a cooking style, but actually menu of assorted tastes centered on sour and salty, and sometimes also sweet,” Reyes-Lumen asserts. “Adobo reflects the Filipino personality – our abilitiy to create different styles based on a centerpiece dish, ‘strike anywhere’ as they say. The name ‘adobo’ may be borrowed, but the flavors, ingredients, and colors of adobo cover the foodscape of this country and is so much a part of our culture that we truly own it. What other dish can you bring and eat for all occasions, whether you’re at the airport, dorm, beach, wake, party, meeting, or what have you? Only adobo. Every Pinoy has an adobo story, and that is why it’s a part of our lives.

“It was a fun challenge thinking of new ways in which to portray adobo that would still be welcomed by Filipinos and yet, be excited about. I chose familiar recipes, both local and foreign, and levelled it up by adding adobo flavors. It creates a sense of comfort and nostalgia of sorts.” Says Chef Jen Seranilla whose inventive dishes will surely tickle the palate.

Chef Jaja gets her inspiration from regional cuisine “ I decided to create adobo using the regional tastes which I learned in my recent travel around the Philippines. I got inspired with the Mindanao flavors and I want to incorporate the Mindanao cooking techniques & flavors in Adobo”.

The Adobo Queen and Team Adobo’s showcase will be featured in the buffet at Flavors restaurant, which prides itself in having one of the best buffet selections in Makati City, with a curated selection of Filipino, South East Asian, and Western dishes. Among the dishes are Tamales ala Adobo, single serve corn/rice mash topped with Chicken Adobo flakes, wrapped in banana leaves, then steamed; Paella de Adobo, Seafood Adobo Rice garnished with green beans, lemon slices, chilis, and bell peppers;
Rodrigo’s Roast: a whole slab of Adobo-cooked, then baked porked belly with a savory-sweet-umami crust; Adobo Rolls sa Calamansi, Adobo of rolled pork bacon, flavored with calamansi; and Pianggang Adobo with Palapa, burnt coconut adobo sauce on tuba-marinated chicken. Aside from the mains, Adobo will also find its way into salad dressings, pate and the like.

 

“Adobo is such a big part of Filipino cuisine, we want our guests, especially those coming from abroad, to experience it, as well as how it translates to different dishes and not just the classic pork and chicken,” states Holiday Inn & Suites manager Andy Belmonte. “We hope they come to love adobo as much as we Filipinos do.”

Adobo Nation will run for the whole month of October 2019 at Flavors Restaurant for both lunch and dinner. Lunch and dinner buffet starts at Php 1,825 nett.

Holiday Inn & Suites Makati is located at Palm Drive, Ayala Center, Makati City. For more information, please call 909-0888 or visit http://www.holidayinn.com/makati.

Stay hungry,

thehungrychef

Nathaniel Uy