A Feast of Colours with Chef Geoffrey Zakarian

Last March 20, 2014, the living magazine channel Colours together with Cignal Digital TV made Philippine gustatory history. Why you ask? Well the amazing tag team was able to bring to the Philippines one of the greatest culinary icons of all time. The Iron Chef, Chef Geoffrey Zakarian here in Manila.

Foodies and chefs all over Manila went crazy and wanted to have a bite of  Chef Zakarian's creations. The Iron Chef is had a dinner gala at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza where he whipped up a one-of-a-kind five course meal for the most discriminating foodies in the country, the event was called "Feast of Colours".

Aside from the dinner, diners were treated to live music courtesy of Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra with Broadway and West End veterans Isay Alvarez and Robert Seña. The event was indeed a dinner gala of a lifetime, the proceeds of the event went to the Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation (PDRF), the country’s first permanent, year round private sector vehicle for disaster management.

Although, we weren't able to be at the actual dinner gala, we were able to participate the Media luncheon earlier that day where he also attended. We got a bit of a taste on what was going to happen that night when we saw the menu on our table.

Yeap you read right. Chef Zakarian made his own deluxe version of Adobo. Check out our food that day.

 Seared Scallop with Mexican Salsa and Tortilla Dressing

Cream of Forest Mushroom Soup with Blue Cheese Crostini

Adobo Spiced Pork Belly (Endive, Pickled Mango, Kalamansi Lime) 

To me the Adobo Pork Belly sure was a nice surprise. Zakarian's own BBQ sauce wasn't that strong and was just right. It included roasted rice, cocoa and cinamon. The rice added a texture that we dont normally get from an ordinary homecooked adobo dish. The pickled mango was a nice touch and ender for the belly.

As for the dessert, Baked Mango Cheese cake with Chocolate stick. Yup. It was good.

The main course that gala dinner night was ofcourse, quintessentially Filipino dish of all, Adobo. Adobo is already a mix of several taste elements, but Chef Zakarian’s Adobo had a very deliberate and harmonious balance of flavors. Apparently, to prepare for the event, he experimented with several kinds of vinegar to see which would produce the best result, he also played around with different pork and chicken cuts, eventually settling on pork belly. For a final twist, he also added a few ingredients not typically found in Adobo, that he had found added something extraordinary to the flavor. The result was an incredible mix of evocative, well loved flavors and textures mixed with new sensations that all at once seemed exotic and new, yet integral to the dish. 

Feast of Colours was the second ultra-high-end lifestyle event organized by Colours for the benefit of a charitable organization. In 2012, Colours and Cignal Digital TV culminated fashion week with the Colours Gala, a fashion show featuring the 2013 collection of former Harrods creative director and London-based fashion designer Lesley Mobo. It was after that event that Colours made a commitment to hold similar lifestyle events on a more regular basis.

Colours the magazine channel is about loving and celebrating life. There is no more universal way to celebrate life than enjoying good food. In every nation and every culture, good food is integral to every celebration. When food is as great as it was for Feast of Colours, the food itself becomes the celebration. Colours went through great lengths to ensure that the food for Feast of Colours was a fusion of Asian and western cuisine of unquestionable world class caliber, which is why from among the many celebrity chefs who appear on Colours’ many cooking shows, The Next Iron Chef Season 4 winner Chef Geoffrey Zakarian was inevitably chosen. 

Winning the Next Iron chef represents the ultimate bragging rights in the culinary world. Contestants on the show are all already extremely accomplished. There are no chef wannabes or self-styled home chefs on The Next Iron Chef. Combatants are either executive chefs or restaurateurs at famous restaurants. In Season 4 of the Next Iron Chef wherein Chef Geoffrey Zakarian emerged victorious, the competition was particularly stiff, most of the contestants had their own cooking shows, many were also judges on reality TV cooking competitions. That’s why Season 4 of The Next Iron Chef was aptly titled “Superchefs”. After winning Season 4 of The Next Iron Chef, Chef Zakarian took Season 4 3rd runner up and fellow celebrity Chef Alex Guarnaschelli under his wing as his sous chef on Iron Chef America. She joined The Next Iron Chef Season 5 and went on to win it; thus making Chef Zakarian the only Next Iron Chef winner to mentor another Next Iron Chef winner. 

Above and beyond being an Iron Chef, and one of the most familiar faces on culinary shows where he has been a judge of many cooking TV competitions, Chef Geoffrey Zakarian is perpetually honing his skills and expanding his culinary horizons. Having over the years presided over many of America’s most renowned kitchens, Geoffrey Zakarian continues to do what he does best. Currently he is the creative culinary force behind some of the most revered restaurants in one of the world’s culinary capitals, New York City. Chef Zakarian’s famous New York restaurants include the Lambs Club, and the National Bar and Dining Rooms. Most recently he was named culinary director of the iconic Plaza Hotel in New York, one of the most famous and prestigious hotels in the whole world. 

Having started with a bang this year, the Colours channel has much more in store this year. Watch out for new programs and eagerly awaited news seasons that will whet your appetite for the next unforgettable Colours event.

Oh and I was able to get Chef Zakarian's book autographed by the Iron chef himself. So... YEY!