Three chefs in Orlando, Florida teamed up this past weekend to host a Filipino “kamayan” dinner called “Kamay or die” at The Guesthouse Bar on Mills Avenue.
The chefs who hosted the event include:
- Chef Francis Biondi (MasterChef Season 5)
- Chef Joel Paoner (Over Rice Food Truck)
-
Chef Al Ruiz (Sushi & Seoul On The Roll Food Truck)
Kamayan is an eat-with-your-hands style feast that is popular in Filipino culture and has spread to the United States through a variety of pop-ups and restaurant dinners being held from California to New York City. Food is spread on banana leaves and no plates or silverware are traditionally provided.
Dishes ranged from traditional Filipino food to Filipino-inspired food fare. Guesthouse bartenders served up Tiki cocktails to create a Pacific food feast experience.
The menu included:
- Rice
- Adobo shrimp
- Filipino style ribs
- Whole fried snapper
- Pinakbet
- Bok choy
- Baby octopus
- Lechon Kawali (crispy fried pork belly)
- Longanisa (Filipino sausage)
- Lumpia (Filipino eggrolls)
- Turon with vanilla ice cream covered in a purple ube coconut sauce
Around 60 guests attended the feast. The chefs hope to host more events in the near-future.
Bloomberg noted last week that Filipino food is projected to have a great year in 2017 and Filipino food fans like myself are hopeful that this is just the beginning of Filipino dining to come.
San Francisco-based, Filipino-American, Chef Charleen recently won the Food Network show Chopped using Filipino cuisine to guide her to victory and winning the grand prize of $10,000.
Now to get some more Filipino food out west in Tampa Bay.
Photography courtesy of Jeff Kraus.
Carlos Eats 