Fast forward to the time set itself, it seems the details was a little wrong since it was not a man who met us but a lady wearing a Venice inspired mask instead. We were whisked off to our dinner venue in a house inside tony Forbes Park.
Crostini with grapes and Romano and Parmesan cheese dip on the side served as one of the hors d'oeuvre for that dinner night. The other was a plate of Romano cheese slices with grapes and a honey dip. I loved the mix of textures with the soft cheese and crunchy bread.
We were informed that our host for the night's mystery dinner was none other than Perfect Italiano, a brand of cheese that was used in the appetizers as well as all the 8 courses for that nights menu.
Chef JJ Yulo and Chef Namee Jorolan represented Pinoy Eats World, a group of chefs that organize food tours and guerrilla dinners based on a certain theme. Check out Pinoy Eats World on Facebook for details.
The theme for the night was Italy hence the menu title, "Viva Italia!".
Strawberry Fields. The first course for the night was assorted greens with sliced fresh strawberries and Romano cheese cubes. I like to eat food together so I forked a pieced of strawberry, a cube of cheese and a little of the greens and put it into the mouth. It was a wonderful amalgamation of different flavors ranging from sweet to salty to tangy, all mixing and tantalizing my taste buds. A wonderful start to what would be a great dinner.
Sweetart. The next course was a puff pastry with cheese as well as ham, bacon, sweet caramelized onions and alfalfa sprouts on top, giving it a nice color contrast. I liked the flaky pastry as well as the sweet flavor of the onions.
Chiz Soup. A hearty potato and Parmesan cheese soup, hence the name.I love potatoes, in any form whatsoever, so this was just right up my taste alley even though it was quite heavy. Good thing there was just a small portion or else I would not have the tummy for the other remaining courses.
Please Rise. Cheese-stuffed bell pepper.A very nicely colored dish reminiscent of the Italian flag colors, red white and green. Cheese lovers like Irene and Chris would have gotten a major kick out of this one.
Clam Up. Creamy Manila clams topped with chopped Vigan longanisa. I love clams (seems to be I love lots of food, hahaha) and my wife regularly cooks some for me. The clams tasted perfectly with the light cream sauce and the salty longanisa bringing a different taste to the table.
Pasta M. The dish, named after Chef JJ's grandmother, missing from the printed menu since Chef JJ forgot to put it in. Pesto pasta with a twist since they used Mozzarella cheese inside giving it a stringy texture when you fork it up. This was a nice transition to the main meat dish.
Baa, Baa, Baa. From the name itself, you could guess it was lamb based. Oven roasted lamb shank with artichokes and marble potatoes. I think the sauce is red wine based, this took away the gamey smell some people dislike about lamb. The meat and vegetables were all fork tender.
Goin Bananas.A Nutella pudding with caramelized bananas and Parmesan cheese sprinkle on top. The sharp, salty cheese served to temper the sweetness level of the bananas and nutella. I was surprised I finished this one, since I'm not a fan of nutella unlike my daughter, Lauren.
What a wonderful experience, each course was excellent. Chef JJ also served as an able host, with his spiels all through out the evening in addition to his cooking duties.
I would definitely love to join another one of their guerrilla dinners and hope to bring Irene and The Club to experience it.
Also check out Perfect Italiano's Facebook page, My Perfect Recipes to get a chance to be a part of another mystery dinner.
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Oh, they look so yummy! And they have fun names too! :-D
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