Vangie's View: My Passion- the Hospitality Industry

How to Match Wine with Food

2007-10-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

Wine is like a love letter to food. The bottle is sent over to the table and food meets wine. This beautiful courtship builds up a salient sensation in the mouth. Both wine and food marry well. That is, the two should be in balance and neither should dominate. The unique combination brings out the best flavors in each other. They compliment each other so much that the whole experience changes than taking either alone. The tiny mistake of finding its wrong match will diminish the entire dining adventure.
In the food industry today, there have been so much dishes developed- blended with so much different spices, flavors, and ethnic styles. To determine which wine best suits a menu item is to taste both together. If more than one wine is to be served, the general rules are: white wines before the red, light before hearty, and dry before sweet. Think of taking a chocolate drink before the iced tea. The tea loses its sweetness and flavor because you have taken something stronger before it. Some experts disagree to this rule though.

Here are some starting points:

Menu Item and the Wine Suggestion:

Fish or Seafood- White wine

Beef, Lamb, Spaghetti, Pizza- Red wine

Turkey, Duck, Chicken- White or Red wine

Full-flavored cheeses- Red or Sweet wine

Desserts- Sweet wine

Like goes with like. Light food paired with light wine; full-to-the-stomach food with heavy wine; smooth creamy white sauces with soft white wine; meaty, rough, red sauced dishes with heavy red wines. Heavenly sweet foods with light sweet wines.

Imagine a scrumptious three-course meal. The appetizer- New Zealand Mussels is served at the beginning and is accompanied by a Penfolds Chardonnay. The wine possesses a light and fruity taste with tropical undertones and a flowery bouquet aroma.

After the delectable appetizer comes the main course- a hearty rib eye steak fresh off the grill alongside peppercorn sauce. A Hess Select Cabernet Sauvignon is accompanied by it. This heavy red gives off rich flavors with cedar overtones.

Lastly, the most awaited, the dessert- a sweet Valrhona chocolate cake matched with the well-known Dr. Burklin/Wolf Estate Riesling. This white wine gives off a unique ripe apple flavor and finishes strongly and with depth.

Wines and food are made for each other. They should be planned out well together and should be taken with admiration.

Shopping Extravaganza Overcome by Coffee

2007-08-29T06:29:00.000-07:00

MOA- Mall of Asia is the largest mall in the Philippines. It was my first time around and I have never seen so many shops stuck to each other under one roof. My sister and I were shaky from the excitement. We began running all over the place going in and out of each store, buying things we could get our hands on, poor dad. As if we were in an illusion as it was the last day of the seasonal end clearance sale! 25%, 50%, 70% off were slashed down the price tags of Guess, Mango, and such. At last it was seven in the evening, we were starving from missing our lunches, and exhausted from the whole shopping mania. No one could stop us from continuing our wild shopping spree so we decided to go by Starbucks for drinks.
My sister was a very heavy coffee drinker and I never understood her for admiring everything about it. I don’t hate coffee; I just don’t drink coffee for lots of reasons. The fact is, coffee just keeps you wide awake, gives you a hard time sleeping, leaves a stench smell in your breath, stains teeth, and gives you this really dry, bitter after taste. I had this really bad impression on coffee imprinted in my mind and my sister was willing to convert me. She ordered Java Chip for me, and a cream coffee for herself.

I found it rather strange how come people add sugar to their coffee to change its bitter taste to sweet and add milk to change its heavy, dark color to light and creamy. They never learned to appreciate coffee like how it was supposed to be enjoyed. Some you may take with brownies, others you may have with other flavors. Is coffee still evident in these innovations? That was what I was about to find out.
“Vangie!” The coffee guy called out. I took mine and waited for my sister’s drink. I examined the coffee concoction. It looked like melted cookies and cream flavored ice cream with a darker shade of gray. I could still see the little bits of ice and chocolate chip in the mixture and on top was a thick foam of heavy whipped cream with chocolate sprinkles showered on it.
My sister’s drink had come and we stuck our straws together in our drinks. I sipped hard into the thin, green straw. The first thing I tasted was the rich, fattening cream. I imagined my whole week’s gym exercise gone down the drain. After the thick cloud of cream, was a sweet milk of some sort, it was the Java chip mixture. Along with it came little pieces of broken up semi sweet chocolate. I thought to myself, hm... not bad! I smiled at my sister and explored the taste in my mouth. After my first big mouthful, I told my sister that it was an excellent drink. A few seconds later, bitterness filled my tongue then tainting my entire mouth. It was as if my taste buds had gone numb. She told me to keep drinking and so I took another sip. It tasted even sweeter! It was so sweet that it had overcome the icky, bitter after taste of the roasted coffee beans. It was challenging to finish because the chips just kept getting stuck at the end of the straw. I had to always blow on the straw to make it come off or bite on the tip to eat the crunchy chocolate. Nearing the end of my drink I realized why people got addicted to coffee. Anything added to it either complimented it or made it taste better. Finally the last nip, I treasured it. My unexpected coffee adventure was extremely memorable. My sister and I finished about the same time. We regained ourselves from the coffee and before we knew it, we were up and ready to carry on our shopping extravaganza.

The Filipino French Baker

2007-08-29T06:27:00.000-07:00

Establishment: French Baker, a Casual Fast food Restaurant

Filipino Entrepreneur: Johnlu Koa (Chief Executive Officer)
The French Baker training center in Mandaluyong. Interview with Mr. Johnlu Koa in his office.

The French Baker in Mall of Asia is now open

Popular TV sportscaster and health and fitness buff Chinggay Andrada led ribboncutting ceremonies together with The French Baker CEO and President Johnlu Koa at the opening of its newest outlet at the ground floor of the new South Supermarket in Alabang.

One of the favorite dishes of Mr. Johnlu Koa served in The French Baker.

Introduction:

The success of The French Baker was built on a dream and a vision for innovation - to bring the neighborhood bakery to a higher level and let every Filipino enjoy freshly baked quality and affordable breads even while on the go.
It’s been 16 years since The French Baker opened its first store in SM North EDSA. Single-handedly, The French Baker virtually re-awakened the bread baking business --- turning it into a thriving and booming industry where competitors are now trying their very best to carve their own niche.
The French Baker however, continuous to remain on top, steadfast in its commitment to serve the freshest, healthiest and affordable European-inspired baked goodies to serve its valued and loyal clientele.
French baguettes, scones, croissants, liege waffles, cheese parisienne, crepes, bagels, sourdough and ciabatta are now as familiar to us Filipinos as the pan de sal, monay and ensaymada.
This is The French Baker – Your Original Freshness Baker!

Interview with Mister Johnlu Koa
1) When did French Baker open for business?
It opened September 1989. I had no culinary degree; neither did I attend any cooking school. I worked on it the other way around. I graduated with a Bachelor and Master’s degree in Business Administration at the University of Philippines Diliman. I then lectured BA there for 15 years.
Every single moment I had a chance off from work I spared in the kitchen, I trained myself, researched, cooked, baked, and read. I was a self-taught baker but I took technical training 5 years after opening Honey Bread in 1992. I was such a fine chef that I was confirmed an honorary chef degree in 1994 by CCA.
2) Could you tell me some historic facts?
The first French Baker was at SM City, North Edsa, Manila. A 90 square meter café and bakeshop. We were primarily doing only bread and French pastries. The start up capital was P2 million. I chose this location because it was new, it had an upscale neighborhood, and a creation of Ayala outside Makati was promised. That was the point when the EDSA revolution had just ended.
3) What major event facilitated the growth of French baker?
I was young, daring, and single. I also loved traveling to Europe. The bakeries I found in Paris stirred me. There was no one doing French baking in the Philippines and I wanted to create a new concept, a new store category in the country.
French Baker was inspired by my previous business Honey Bread, a neighborhood bakeshop selling siopao and hopia. 10 years of Honey Bread and I got used to baking. I sought for something flamboyant, extraordinary, and cosmopolitan. I wanted the thought of making people feel like they were in Europe. Then came French Baker.
18 years in this business and we saw how to defend ourselves from competition, how sales were taken away from us, and witnessed how our competitors came and left.
4) What motivated you to start your business?
It was 1984 and I was able to journey to Europe. I fell in love with France. It was old, ancient, and yet modern. Modern in the sense that it is where fusion, food, culinary, and fashion are derived from. I felt very privileged since not all people could afford to experience all these events at that time.
I did what everyone couldn’t do. I was a pioneer. And a few days from now, my new enterprise is to open in Makati. It’s name, Lartizan. This time old-fashioned French designs serving a lot of sour dough and French goods determined for the aristocrats of today’s society.
5) What is your target market?
French Baker is intended for mall shoppers. Seventy percent of which are females. They restore bread for the house daily. We do rather well in supermarket environments, and survive in shopping centers of class A, B, and even C. Hopefully on stand alones in the near future.
6) What type of service is provided?
Our restaurant offers casual dining, fast food. We comprise of a no-waiter service with a casual ambience. It’s lifestyle dining were for those that didn’t want to spend so much and wanted to just enjoy their hot cup of coffee.
We are very proud to say that French Baker serves purified water to our customers. We have a 3 stage; UV filtration system for our drinking fountain including all other liquid products offered by the restaurant. Furthermore, I believe that this responsibility is a duty for every bistro.
7) What is the average age group who frequently visit your establishment?
I’ve niched a fairly large crowd from 14 to 60 years old. I present sweet, salty, semi sweet foods, sandwiches, cuisine for dine-in, and all kinds of breads that go into culinary preparation.
8) What are some of the training or service standards used?
We are mostly in a mall environments and our outward presentation is very essential. If either of our faucet, signboard, or lights went busted the mall owners would certainly call our attention.
Since we have so much on our menu, it is our obligation to ensure uniformity and consistency especially in our other branches around Manila and Cebu.
Bakery related, the team has to be acquainted with the product knowledge. For dine-ins, we make an effort not to use paper or plastic ware. We employ flatware, stainless steel, and porcelain. We make certain to set our French Baker label on our plates.
9) What particular item from your menu makes French Baker popular?
We are customarily notorious for our chicken ala king, soup in bread bowl, and the steak sandwich. Each of these is special because it has a combination of bread in them. What also makes us distinctive from the rest is our food is all made to order whether cooked, fried, baked, or steamed. We create our products from base till end.
10) What is your personal favorite from the menu?
My most wanted is the chicken ala king and the hickory spareribs mainly because of its sauce. I could set its sauce on anything, especially enjoying it with my burger.

What does it take to stay in the business?
1) Commitment- obligation to the original plan and what you set yourself up to do. Do not be distracted by shifting to other things. You have to keep in touch with why you started out with this in the first place.
2) Developing an organization capable of growing with you- you grow because of earned respect from the market, because the people want more from you.
3) Have a network of suppliers and people, who can inspire you, assist you, and keep you in the right track.
4) You, as a founder and an entrepreneur- how you manage your life that your business is still enjoyable and exciting. Work is getting into training programs, traveling, and meeting new people. Imagine hosting a banquet for free or having business pay for your trips. The underlining value here is to promote what you do, your work, and your product. You control the pace of your work, the intensity of exertion, and your destiny.

Celebrity Chefs Who Never Cook

2007-08-29T06:25:00.000-07:00

Gordon Ramsay, with wife Tana

What has the restaurant industry come to now? Someone please tell these chefs, “Trade your pinstriped Hugo Boss for a white chef jacket, and get back behind the stove!”
Yes, these people have worked hard in kitchens for half their lives but they have also remarkably managed to write really good books, and create outstanding television shows. However, they are already considered celebrities – celebrity chefs.
What is a celebrity chef? They are chefs who no longer cook or perhaps never did. They don’t advance. They put on suits for photo shoots. Their hands are perfectly smooth, and their wrists and forearms are flawlessly unblemished.
In the strictest sense, a celebrity chef is someone who has become well known for his/her cooking. In practical terms, however, the term grew in popularity during the 1990s. Cookery programmers on television and cuisine features in the printed press appeared everywhere. The name celebrity chef is sometimes used in a slightly deprecating way - a celebrity chef who has "sold out" to the media being seen as somehow inferior to a traditional chef in a restaurant according to the Wikipedia.
Michelin star winner Gordon Ramsay, for example, has made a point of saying that he is definitely not a celebrity chef, despite having appeared on several television reality shows and written several books. Others such as Gary Rhodes are perhaps more relaxed about the title, yet still have owned and operated several highly successful up market restaurants. Many consider Antoine Carême to have been the first celebrity chef. A number of celebrity cooks have been dubbed "TV chefs" without having earned the title within the Restaurant Industry. (www.wikipedia.com)
This is one of America’s peculiar contributions: To honor people so much that they
cease to do the work that made them famous in the first place as told by Michael Ruhlman.
Being an effective chef was once a qualification for being a renowned chef during the 1990s, but that’s changing. Now you don’t even need a restaurant. You would only need “a platform.” Certainly, the most eminent of the skilled cooks got that way by being excellent on TV, which is the best kind of platform there is.
The “celebrity chef” tag- we have really got to get past this. It is an embarrassment to the chefs and an unintentional humiliation to anyone who thinks it is something good.
If they are still cooking, then they should be called as their working title. But if they are just famous for it, then they should be called a “celebrity chef”—that truly would mean something.
As far as chefs go, are we calling them celebrity chefs to indicate they do not cook anymore? We should consider this.

A Quick Snack at Quick Snack

2007-08-29T06:24:00.000-07:00

Assignment for next meeting was to create a food review on any food establishment. All those taking up English class went in groups to start their food tour while I excitedly waited for the weekend to come.
This was on a Saturday afternoon when I decided to take a private trip to China Town in Binondo. The main road stretches all the way to the farthest distance so I decided to get down from the cab and venture on my own. The whole place was filled with people, Fookien Chinese in particular. They all looked so busy trying to get somewhere, so I followed a small crowd of office workers. We reached the near end of the road when a street to the left just suddenly appears. Above the post on the corner was a sign that read Hong Pin Street. The path was very narrow and there seemed to be so much trading going on. It was a really hot day, it was crowded and my shoes were all wet from the puddles of water on the rocky road. I was about to loose my patience when the group I was following finally stopped and got inside a small restaurant called Quick Snack. What a goofy name.

I was relieved to feel the cool breeze of the air con upon entering the food place. The small busy restaurant consisted of about twenty tables that seated five people. So I sat myself down and asked the man in neatly ironed brown uniform to give me the specialty of the house and an iced tea. The man in his fifties smiled and walked away. Within just a few minutes later, he arrived with my most awaited dish. They served their dishes using porcelain plates, bowls and stainless steel for their flatware. The restaurant called it Beef Satemi Guisado. I bit my lip from the excitement of satisfying my taste buds. I took a hefty mouthful of it and indeed It was no disappointment. Imagine steaming hot soup complimented by half cooked noodles with a touch of kangkong, all dressed in peanut sauce, slightly spicy, and beef so tender it could melt in your mouth. You should have heard of the saying “you are missing half of your life if you don’t try this” but I say, “You have not lived if you have not tried this”. I attacked and finished it in less than five minutes. I felt as if I had not eaten in weeks.
Just before getting up to go, I bumped into a Chinese Buddha look-alike. He had a round belly and a round shaved head. He smiled a lot that his eyes vanished. What are the chances of meeting mister Quick Snack himself?
I hurriedly took the chance and asked him everything about his restaurant and its amazing food. For a whole hour he narrated to me the eatery’s existence as if I were his own daughter. The interesting part there was that we came from the same hometown, Cebu City.

Filipino Entrepreneur: Jasper Tan
Establishment: Quick Snack, a lower scale casual dining restaurant

He mentioned that his grandma enjoyed creating Fookien dishes and got married to an Indonesian. This influenced their family in many ways. At present, Quick Snack is known for its express service for Thai-Fujan fusion of foods. This family business got its name from the word Quik meaning glued or stuck. The concept of the restaurant’s name is that once the customers have tried their food, they would just keep coming back. The word quik later became quick because people remember them as a quick serving restaurant. The place has succeeded for forty years now.
I then found out that this eatery was actually intended for the office workers and employees around the setting. That’s why they are opened from eight in the morning until five in the evening and only on weekdays. In fact, they were able to sum up an extensive range of people aging from eight to seventy years old. Children were enticed by their halo-halo, iced sago, and fried ngohiong. The kids really enjoy fried food so they bring along their parents. Their best customers accidentally came to know about Quick Snack by word of mouth. They were primarily curious about the weird food names. The different food reviews of the place sounded so good that they had to come over and try for themselves.
They are a lower scale casual type of restaurant where waiter service is provided. They are exceptional to the guests because they grant their clients with personal service. They know exactly what there customer desires. Most of the diners, request putting tiny shrimps on their dishes, lessen its spiciness, or make it sweeter. In other restaurants, they find it rude to change the concoction of the dish created by the chef. They do not welcome in revisions like how they do.
They also possess a homey, family kind of environment. The waiters and owners know the diners so well that they need not to order because the wait staff gives them their usual food. Waiters here are ancient. They have been working there for over thirty years and they love each day of it. Most of the Chinese there are from Xiamen. The restaurant gets a lot of them to go because they feel close to home when they take in their food.
They are very particular with hygiene and the sanitation of their food. When they get a hold of new waiters, they ensure themselves with those that have a pleasing personality, courteous, and well groomed. As mentioned, the waiters there are ancient and they know each dish of the menu by heart.
They are prominent for their Beef Satemi Guisado because people have acquired a taste growing up with it. Another would be their famed ma- chang, pork floss, usually eaten with porridge and crushed garlic sprinkled on top.

Quick Snack’s Ma-chang- dried pork floss

The very famous Beef Satemi Guisado- noodles with vegetables and peanut/sesame sauce.

Though their crowdie ambience, they remain to be packed and popular. People were willing to pay seventy to a hundred and fifty pesos for their inexpensive food and not forgetting to mention, their inimitable service. This was the type of place where people get out of their way and make time out of their busy day just to relieve their cravings to eat the famous Beef Satemi and experience the friendliest service in town. If you are feeling adventurous at the moment you are reading this I guarantee a thrilling ride down at China town. Hurry, take a quick snack at quick snack!

My O.C.ness

2007-08-29T06:22:00.000-07:00

me and my papa!

Just to begin with, I’m staying in a condotel a minute sprint away from my college. It’s called Enderun. It comprises of 280 students taking up International Hospitality Management. I’m acquiring major in culinary and I best believe that my perfectionism is to my advantage in this course. I am very particular with the ways of doing things. I live on the twenty-fourth floor of Parc Royale along with four other girls from my academy. I always take the first elevator because the second lift stopped working. The service elevator worked all right but was overly creepy for anyone to use and as if it were about to swallow you whole. Upon entering my beloved elevator, I could smell the nasty odor of jackfruit and dead rat combined with sewage construction happening on the second floor. The scent makes it seem a lot longer for me to reach my unit. The consecutive stopovers in other floors take forever!
Finally! On the twenty-fourth level and gasping for air, I run across the hallway that was all hazy from the refurbishing of the walls. At last, home sweet home. I have to get through five doors to reach my room. First door is to enter the unit, second door is to pass through the kitchen, third is to reach the living room, and at long last to get in my double-door room. You must be wondering why all the doors. It’s sound proof to shut all noise out from the late night karaoke-singing-party-hosting-neighbors across.
Let me start of from the door of the house. It frustrates me that my key works only half the time and takes me five minutes to get in. I change to my pink pajamas, put on my fuzzy pink slippers and hurriedly enter my heavenly pink room. In it, I had pink sheets, pink pillows, a pink trash bin, pink stapler, pencil, lead, and I could go on. I have other interests too!
I used to play soccer back in Cebu so you could say I am a soccer fanatic. The other half of my things are soccer related. My towels had huge prints of my favorite team, my table was filled with David Beckham’s posters and head-bobbing figurines, I had a soccer watch, soccer hamper, soccer chair, soccer nail cutter, piggybank, frames, and all that. I obsessed with things and I love to collect. People would tell me thirty years from now, I could open a shop for these and they’d have a collector’s item value, but who knows?

I’m a neat freak and every moment you see me at my room I organize, arrange, and rearrange, over and over until the night passes and the morning comes. I roll my clothes in a particular manner and if it’s imperfect, I repeat. I am very O.C. with my things and mine alone.

Did I mention I had two other roommates? Well, I do! They are my complete opposite. Imagine stepping into a room with white tiles and dark black hair…everywhere! There could be enough hair for me to start a new collection to fixate on. I had to wear slippers to protect my feet from all the foreign stuff on the floor.

Karren(zzzzzz...), ileana(teehee)

There is a part of the room sparkly clean though! Hairless, Lysol disinfected, stench free, and neatly arranged in a way only I can. No one was to touch my things or else. One more thing, I like to eat a lot! I have a drawer full of food and it even isn’t enough. I spend fifty percent of my shopping money on junk food, chocolates, and milk, not even counting the meals. It’s partly my fault that a rat now lives in my room. It scares the hell out of me!

My nightlife consists of nocturnal roommates. All they do is play, talk on the phone, surf on their laptops, and eat. I sleep with the lights on because they seem to need it more. That’s my existence in my room. Arrange, clean, study, go to the gym and eat. No one changes my schedule or I freak.
Obsessive-compulsive is denoting or relating to a disorder in which a person feels compelled to perform certain meaningless actions repeatedly in order to alleviate obsessive fears or intrusive thoughts, typically resulting in severe disruption of daily life. I am O.C., I know. This obsessive ness I have, it’s not a curse. Some people think so, but I don’t. If I didn’t embrace this blessing, I wouldn’t be a successful student. I wouldn’t have the determination to perfect a dish, and neither would I have the patience to reach for the stars.

The Mind’s Miracle

2007-08-29T06:17:00.001-07:00

Have you ever wished for something so hard and one day have it come true? It’s not luck. It’s you!
The mind is very complicated and only a handful has come to understand its works. We all possess special abilities and we have heard individuals with supernatural, psychic, and telekinetic powers. These people have already developed their gift while we have yet ours to discover.
The greatest men who lived have kept this knowledge from the public and left it to the rest of the clever society to find out and profit from it. Unknowingly, I have been practicing this secret for my entire life. Like I wanted particular things, I did not need a reason, but I got them. For the first time, I will reveal the information that was shut out from the world. I will uncover something that would make it possible for one to gain all the wealth he could ever splurge, be indestructible, or have power to conquer the world!
The Wright brothers were passionate enough to consider literally soaring on air. With no acquaintance to technology, they started out with the creation of wings inspired by that of a bird. Years ago, little did we know that man could someday fly. Because of how much one wanted it, man was able to create planes.
Attraction- is the power of the mind.
Identical to that of the law of attraction, like attracts like. Within yourself, envision the things that you want and would like to happen. Visualize at all times and continuously remind yourself about it. I achieved this by creating a dream board. It is where you put pictures of your fantasy house, car, wife, husband, family, and the like, hung in a place in front your bed where seen and reflected on everyday. By doing these things, you are sending off strong positive brainwaves. These waves magnetize the exact people and events to bridge you to your fantasies.
Befall what you want on the inside, and you shall receive it in the outer world.
Do not be mistaken when you think all you have to do is wish and it's going to happen. This is something you have to put a lot of energy and time into. It is not that you just have to expect something is going to happen; there is a way it's going to happen. When you're optimistic, new ideas come to you and you're able to get through hurdles and over obstacles. Do not think of anti-war rather think of pro-peace! Think positive and attract positive!
A concrete portrayal of this: Jack Canfield once held a dollar bill and wrote six more zeroes beside it. He put this on his ceiling foolishly wishing this would be his forthcoming salary. He woke up to the sight of this reminding him every single day. Over the years, he wrote down inspiring stories shared by his friends. He collected these tales and kept aspiring to write for his favorite magazine. A month later, after attending an orientation hosted by his low paying career, he noticed that he was in the same room with a woman who published his favorite magazine. He right away approached her, they exchanged ideas, and he was asked to write for one of the famous magazine’s episodes. He submitted his best compilation. It was such a hit that he ended up creating his own books. Now, he is known as one of the best inspirational writers in history famous for his books, Chicken soup for the Soul. He started with a dollar in a job below average and now revolutionized and married to a beautiful wife, with lovely kids, and a billion $1,000,000 bills as his salary.

Possibilities are infinite with the power of the mind!