Ed Quimson @ The Mandarin Hotel
No, he won’t have a concert there. But he will just have a limited food engagement with the Mandarin Hotel.
Pasos del Tiempo (A Walk Through Time) at Paseo De Uno at Mandarin Hotel — May 26 to 31. A Filipino-Spanish dishes from Chef Ed Quimson’s kitchen.
Are you wanting to see what we had? I’m sure you’ve seen them on my HB’s blog already so I might bore you to death. Anyway, this is my take on the food we had and I want to write it down as I can still remember it now.
I love preserved mango especially the liquid that comes with it. My mom would usually make one at home and I always sip the soup after munching all those preserved mangoes. So when Chef Ed was explaining what the Dulce de Santol was, I immediately missed having those preserved mangoes and can’t wait to have a taste of the santol. Another food that reminded me was the preserved santol we buy in Ongpin. Hmmm….I missed those crunchy bites! So, I just can’t wait to have this treat.
Upon seeing the Dulce de Santol, I can’t help but be disappointed because I was expecting the exact opposite (light colored and chunky santol) of what I just saw on the table. So, I took a spoon of this santol treat and yay! Too sweet for my tooth! But that didn’t stop me from taking one spoon after another…trying to dissect the taste. The next thing I knew, nothing was left! My bowl was empty. It was too sweet for me honestly but it was also kinda addicting for me. One of my weakness are desserts. Even the liquid was not spared. We placed it on top of the Arroz con Leche as advised by Chef Ed. Indeed, it was good. I didn’t dare ask for another serving. By the way, the santol was coked for 5 long hours.
Arroz con Leche. This was not sweet at all. It was like eating cream (yikes!) with cooked rice (kinda al dente) in it. This treat reminded me of the Norwegian dessert we had several Christmas ago when we were at my sister’s place. She told me that this rice dessert was only made during Christmas season but of course, you can make it anytime you want right? Their version was on the sweet side though. This is the heavy version of a Creme Brulee.
The meals I am about to share is not in chronological order as they had served.
This Carne Frita came out last or second to the last. Chef Ed felt this was kinda out of place but he wanted to share one of his favorite dish. He was right, it was no match with his other entourage. Striploin marinated with calamansi, salt and peppah, breaded then deep fried. Many liked it. I tasted it because I was curious. It was okay. Meat was sliced thinly and it was easy to chew. Tasty meat.
Chicken Galantina. When I had this chicken dish, I thought that I tasted something different in there. I had to ask Chef Ed and I was correct. This chicken dish had liverwurst in it (aside from the bologna and ham)! I’m not too keen on this liver thing but I finished it off anyway.
Sotanghon, Chicharo and Shrimp. Looking at it, you instantly would know that the noodle was overcooked. Kept mum about it but Chef Ed mentioned it anyway. Nothing wrong with that. He was honest. Actually, he’s very open when you ask him anything about his cooking. We liked that. No two people can cook the same dish even if they divulge their ingredients right? With this noodle dish, the shrimpy taste stood out. Aside from the shrimp being evident on the dish, the broth used was also made from the shrimp. I love Chef Ed’s dishes for its rich in taste. Everything was very tasty up to your last bite. The chicharo was crunchy as if it wasn’t cooked.
The server gave me the bread stuffing of this Pollo ala Caserole. I was kinda sad that I wasn’t able to get a bite of the chicken but I didn’t ask for a serving of this anymore because I was FULL already. I’m sure the meat was full of flavor. The bread stuffing that I got would’ve been great with the chicken.
Holy smoked lengua! My favorite — Lengua con Alcaparras! Aside from it being a lengua, I loved how the smokey flavor took control of the lengua. According to Chef Ed, he slow-cooked the fresh tomatoes (with capers and all other herbs) 5 days ago so therefore, you conclude. The tomatoes were cooked and aged for days and days thus, giving such unique smokey taste that I’ve never taste before. My boring Purple Feet dinner was soon forgotten 
I love it! This is where I wished I had asked for more but I didn’t dare. I just sat back and regret not having another bitey of the tongue! *sob* *sob* I’m now regretting it more than ever.
Roasted Turkey with stuffing. Hmm…was not too enamored with this but again and always, I’ve made my plate as clean as it can be. As if it was not used. So, in short, it was also good.
And oh! The stuffing was pretty good if I may say. It was with ground pork, ground beef, pate’, mushroom, capers and….and…(sorry, i lost track of what Chef Ed said). I would’ve asked for rice and eaten it with it.
I thought it was another soup dish but it wasn’t. It was the Baked Fish Fillet with Layers of Potato, Tomato and Onions in White Wine with lots of liquid in it. It was supposed to be like that. Chef Ed had to remind the servers to add more liquid when they serve it to us because without it, you wouldn’t get the complete experience of this dish. There was a bread in the soup that was fried with olive oil. I didn’t like the bread but I did like the fish and the broth. Once again, it was tasty as it can be.
This was the first food that entered my hungry tummy. Soup! Good for me (and JX)! Slurp! Very tasty soup with carrots and cabbage! Meatballs (includes a prawn) with a crunch. Boneless chicken wings. It may seem to be a simple meal but Sotanghon con Caldo was a dish by itself. It has the soup, noodle, veggies, seafood and the meat - all in one. I had another serving of the soup only…it was for JX. So he can also taste what I had eaten for lunch. This way, he would at least be familiar with the taste, just like AD when he was still nursing (yes,I had weaned him but to be truthful, I miss it. He was 38 months old then.).
So, there! Meal complete! I hope I got all the information right.
What a lunch! Truly enjoyed every moment of it. Met new friends and I do hope when we meet, we would still recognize each and every one of them. Or maybe I’ll be able to recognize them but they’ll soon forget me. Oh well, but I do hope they won’t 
It was also fantastic to have met Chef Ed and even talk to him and even ask questions because he was easy to talk to. I hope we will meet again soon!
Thank you for Mandarin (Ms Charisse and Erika) for inviting us to be part of this Festival.
Paseo de Uno Buffet Prices (Prices may increase during this Filipino Heritage Festival):
Monday to Sunday Lunch P 1,290 Net
Sunday Brunch P 1,590 Net
Breakfast P1,010 Net
Sunday - Thursday Dinner P1,450 Net
Friday to Saturday Seafood Night P1,590 Net