The day I overate Michelin stars
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Solaire Resort pulls out all of the stops to offer something that has never been experienced before in the Philippine culinary scene
By AA Patawaran
Published Mar 24, 2023 07:23 am
Featured image: SPIRITS ON HIGH Solaire head sommelier Daniel Blais and guest bar and wine experts Hakihiro Igarashi, Élyse Lambert, and Luis de Santos
What do Enrico Bartolini of Milan, Rene Frank of Berlin, Alvin Leung of Hong Kong and Canada, Tohru Nakamura of Munich, and Rui Silvestre of Portugal have in common? Other than they are all Michelin-starred chefs, all five of them were in Manila recently, each handpicked and flown over by Solaire Resort, in celebration of its 10th anniversary, to take over five of its signature restaurants for four days, from March 16 to 19. Not only did flying in all these rock stars of the culinary world mark the integrated resort’s first decade in operation, it also offered a gastronomic indulgence never before experienced in Manila.
JAPANESE INDULGENCE Wagyu beef with abalone and black truffle by Alvin Leung
To get the celebration off to a good start, Solaire invited all five world-renowned chefs to work with its vice president for culinary Michael Dinges, its vice president for food and beverage Bastian Breuer, its culinary director Hylton Le Roux, and its head sommelier Daniel Blais on an all-star 10-course press lunch and reception at the Italian steakhouse Finestra. The luncheon, dubbed “Gastronomique Indulgence,” challenged the guest chefs to each create two special dishes worthy of the milestone.
MAKING MAGIC HAPPEN Alvin Leung and Tohru Nakamura with their teams
Italian culinary legend Enrico Bartolini served the first dish, the bottoni, a ravioli-like, button-shaped pasta, which he served with octopus, olive oil, and lime in cacciucco or fish stew sauce. This Tuscan-born chef has multiple Michelin stars up his sleeves, the only chef in Michelin Guide history to have been awarded four stars in a single year, including two for his namesake restaurant at the MUDEC Museum of Cultures in Milan. The other dish he whipped up he called “Turbot in Green,” or steamed turbot with Swiss greens, fish roe, chicory, and salicorn in chicken liver sauce. Bartolini’s part of the menu was a preview of what he was to offer in the following days at Finestra.
BASQUE SEAFOOD Turbot in Green by Enrico Bartolini
Next was Tohru Nakamura’s toro, a sumptuously marbled fatty tuna belly, on a bed of koshihikari, a Japanese short-grain rice cultivar, sprinkled with okoge or scorched rice and shio koji (Japanese salt) and accentuated with wasabi. This half-German and half-Japanese chef is the genius behind Schreiberei, the two-Michelin star restaurant in Munich’s old town, just past the city’s theaters and museums. Nakamura, who showcased a lightly grilled wagyu tartar and Sturia caviar on chawanmushi with roasted konbu or seaweed in ponzu sauce, was invited to take the helm of Solaire Japanese restaurant Yakumi as part of the resort’s anniversary celebration.
SOLAIRE'S FINEST Jonas Juchli, Michael Dinges, Hylton Le Roux
René Frank’s two-Michelin star dessert restaurant CODA in Berlin isn’t exactly a dessert restaurant, that is if you’re one of those who think dessert is nothing other than sweet. Solaire introduced him as one who is driven “by a philosophy anchored on innovation and progressive experimentation, revealing a different side of desserts—that it is more than just the final course and can be a meal on its own.” Frank, who was the World’s Best Pastry Chef of 2022, has been dramatically redefining what dessert means that Gault & Millau, speaking highly of him as full of surprises, said of his work, “until the end, sugar plays no role.” For the Finestra preview, the featured chef at Solaire’s Oasis Garden presented eggplant in a unique way, as dessert, sliced thin and crunchy, with chopped pecan nuts and a layer of pecan nut ice cream drenched in apple balsamic and seasoned with licorice salt, on top, although he did serve, as his second dish, a “proper” dessert, grapefruit with Savoy cabbage, thyme, and mascarpone.
TUNA DELIGHT Toro by Tohru Nakamura
Rui Silvestre cut his teeth early working at top restaurants in France and Switzerland before becoming the prodigy of seafood mecca Vistas overlooking the Gulf of Cádiz in Algarve, Portugal, which he joined after earning his Michelin star at 29 years old, the youngest chef to do so in Portuguese history. For this preview lunch, he presented a family recipe, a Carabinero shrimp, otherwise known as large deep-sea cardinal prawn, which he whipped up as a curry with tapioca for added texture. Silvestre also provided a foretaste of his high-quality cooking, which would be the highlight of his four-day takeover of Solaire’s restobar Waterside, with a poached lobster with masala sauce, black garlic, and celery root puree.
INDIAN STYLE Lobster with masala, black garlic, and celery root by Rui Silvestre
Alvin Leung’s chicken soup covered in puff pastry was fifth on the menu. This London-born Hong Kong chef and TV personality is also wildly popular as a judge on MasterChef Canada that he has been widely nicknamed the Demon Chef. This chef, who counts among his influences Michelin Guide hall-of-famers Alain Ducasse and Joel Robuchon, was to be the guest chef at Solaire’s Chinese restaurant Red Lantern, where what has come to be known as his “X-Treme Chinese” style of cooking, which has earned his Hong Kong restaurant Bo Innovation its two Michelin stars, was to present diners during the anniversary celebration bold and unconventional gustatory pleasure. Leung’s second dish at the preview lunch at Finestra, prior to his Red Lantern takeover, was wagyu beef with abalone, mashed potatoes, green asparagus, and fresh black truffle.
CITRUS PARADIS Grapefruit made from mascarpone, savoy cabbage, and thyme by Rene Frank
The anniversary program has also involved master sommeliers and bar experts like “The Maestro” Salvatore Calabrese, Luis de Santos, sake samurai Akihiro Igarashi, Elyse Lambert, Eanglebert Guina, Jim Murray, Antonio Lai, Edriane Lim, Gerald Damasco, and more.
SHAKE TO THE FUTURE Enrico Bartolini and Solaire's vice president for Food and Beverage Bastian Breuer
I think I’ll remember Solaire’s 10th anniversary as the day I overate Michelin stars, the day I let myself and my appetite loose in a gastronomic constellation. It was, as the resort promised, the first of its kind and, though I’m not sure I’ll ever have this experience again, I’m positive that Solaire is already thinking of topping it. Bastian Breuer, Solaire’s VP for food and beverage, was not kidding when he said, “As we close the last decade and enter a new one, it’s only fitting that we commemorate the celebration by giving our guests an irresistible experience that no other property or restaurant in the country has ever done before.”
I wonder what the experience will be like when Solaire turns 25—or 100.
What do Enrico Bartolini of Milan, Rene Frank of Berlin, Alvin Leung of Hong Kong and Canada, Tohru Nakamura of Munich, and Rui Silvestre of Portugal have in common? Other than they are all Michelin-starred chefs, all five of them were in Manila recently, each handpicked and flown over by Solaire Resort, in celebration of its 10th anniversary, to take over five of its signature restaurants for four days, from March 16 to 19. Not only did flying in all these rock stars of the culinary world mark the integrated resort’s first decade in operation, it also offered a gastronomic indulgence never before experienced in Manila.
To get the celebration off to a good start, Solaire invited all five world-renowned chefs to work with its vice president for culinary Michael Dinges, its vice president for food and beverage Bastian Breuer, its culinary director Hylton Le Roux, and its head sommelier Daniel Blais on an all-star 10-course press lunch and reception at the Italian steakhouse Finestra. The luncheon, dubbed “Gastronomique Indulgence,” challenged the guest chefs to each create two special dishes worthy of the milestone.
Italian culinary legend Enrico Bartolini served the first dish, the bottoni, a ravioli-like, button-shaped pasta, which he served with octopus, olive oil, and lime in cacciucco or fish stew sauce. This Tuscan-born chef has multiple Michelin stars up his sleeves, the only chef in Michelin Guide history to have been awarded four stars in a single year, including two for his namesake restaurant at the MUDEC Museum of Cultures in Milan. The other dish he whipped up he called “Turbot in Green,” or steamed turbot with Swiss greens, fish roe, chicory, and salicorn in chicken liver sauce. Bartolini’s part of the menu was a preview of what he was to offer in the following days at Finestra.
Next was Tohru Nakamura’s toro, a sumptuously marbled fatty tuna belly, on a bed of koshihikari, a Japanese short-grain rice cultivar, sprinkled with okoge or scorched rice and shio koji (Japanese salt) and accentuated with wasabi. This half-German and half-Japanese chef is the genius behind Schreiberei, the two-Michelin star restaurant in Munich’s old town, just past the city’s theaters and museums. Nakamura, who showcased a lightly grilled wagyu tartar and Sturia caviar on chawanmushi with roasted konbu or seaweed in ponzu sauce, was invited to take the helm of Solaire Japanese restaurant Yakumi as part of the resort’s anniversary celebration.
René Frank’s two-Michelin star dessert restaurant CODA in Berlin isn’t exactly a dessert restaurant, that is if you’re one of those who think dessert is nothing other than sweet. Solaire introduced him as one who is driven “by a philosophy anchored on innovation and progressive experimentation, revealing a different side of desserts—that it is more than just the final course and can be a meal on its own.” Frank, who was the World’s Best Pastry Chef of 2022, has been dramatically redefining what dessert means that Gault & Millau, speaking highly of him as full of surprises, said of his work, “until the end, sugar plays no role.” For the Finestra preview, the featured chef at Solaire’s Oasis Garden presented eggplant in a unique way, as dessert, sliced thin and crunchy, with chopped pecan nuts and a layer of pecan nut ice cream drenched in apple balsamic and seasoned with licorice salt, on top, although he did serve, as his second dish, a “proper” dessert, grapefruit with Savoy cabbage, thyme, and mascarpone.
Rui Silvestre cut his teeth early working at top restaurants in France and Switzerland before becoming the prodigy of seafood mecca Vistas overlooking the Gulf of Cádiz in Algarve, Portugal, which he joined after earning his Michelin star at 29 years old, the youngest chef to do so in Portuguese history. For this preview lunch, he presented a family recipe, a Carabinero shrimp, otherwise known as large deep-sea cardinal prawn, which he whipped up as a curry with tapioca for added texture. Silvestre also provided a foretaste of his high-quality cooking, which would be the highlight of his four-day takeover of Solaire’s restobar Waterside, with a poached lobster with masala sauce, black garlic, and celery root puree.
Alvin Leung’s chicken soup covered in puff pastry was fifth on the menu. This London-born Hong Kong chef and TV personality is also wildly popular as a judge on MasterChef Canada that he has been widely nicknamed the Demon Chef. This chef, who counts among his influences Michelin Guide hall-of-famers Alain Ducasse and Joel Robuchon, was to be the guest chef at Solaire’s Chinese restaurant Red Lantern, where what has come to be known as his “X-Treme Chinese” style of cooking, which has earned his Hong Kong restaurant Bo Innovation its two Michelin stars, was to present diners during the anniversary celebration bold and unconventional gustatory pleasure. Leung’s second dish at the preview lunch at Finestra, prior to his Red Lantern takeover, was wagyu beef with abalone, mashed potatoes, green asparagus, and fresh black truffle.
The anniversary program has also involved master sommeliers and bar experts like “The Maestro” Salvatore Calabrese, Luis de Santos, sake samurai Akihiro Igarashi, Elyse Lambert, Eanglebert Guina, Jim Murray, Antonio Lai, Edriane Lim, Gerald Damasco, and more.
I think I’ll remember Solaire’s 10th anniversary as the day I overate Michelin stars, the day I let myself and my appetite loose in a gastronomic constellation. It was, as the resort promised, the first of its kind and, though I’m not sure I’ll ever have this experience again, I’m positive that Solaire is already thinking of topping it. Bastian Breuer, Solaire’s VP for food and beverage, was not kidding when he said, “As we close the last decade and enter a new one, it’s only fitting that we commemorate the celebration by giving our guests an irresistible experience that no other property or restaurant in the country has ever done before.”
I wonder what the experience will be like when Solaire turns 25—or 100.