Filipino Dishcrawl with Mercury Lounge’s Chef Dominic Ainza by Food Blogger Jo Boston and Dishcrawl Diva Tracy Lee!  Exclusive 12 courses and a cooking demo!

(above, from left to right, Tracy Lee of Dishcrawl, Dominica Ainza of Mercury Lounge, and Jo Boston of JoanneBoston)

Last Sunday night, Jo and I (Tracy) teamed up with Chef Dominic Ainza to bring Filipino food lovers a new experience at Mercury Lounge in San Francisco.

The night started off with a cooking demo where Chef Dominic taught a basic sinigang, and his house stir fry.  My favorite part was Dom’s use of shrimp shells to flavor the broth.  What a great technique!

After sampling some of the delicious fried rice and stir fried noodles from the cooking demo, we were brought a little amuse bouche of Diniguan (pictured below).

Dominic’s interpretation of diniguan was the pork and quinoa blood sausage topped with grilled onions sitting atop a simple water cracker.  Soft supple sausage, a slight crunch from the cracker, and sweetness from the onions was a great introduction to the night of food ahead.

A crispy bowl of Ukoy was then presented to whet our palates further.  Tempura battered sweet potato, taro, and more served with a vinegar-soy dipping sauce.  Everyone was so hungry from being teased with food from the cooking class, we didn’t take any pictures before we gobbled up the sour crispy root vegetables!

Laing, in long elegant boat-shaped platters was then served.  Creamy collard greens cooked in a rich sweet and spicy coconut broth and tossed with black eye peas.  The surprisingly sweet and poignant flavour of the coconut struck me first.  Then as the soft greens smoothed over my tongue, a little heated bite tickled my senses.  The peas were a perfect complement to the greens.

One of my favourite parts of the evening?  Every time a dish came out, Chef Dominic came with it to explain his inspiration.

The Emputido was served up musubi style.  Dom told us to imagine ”a Filipino chef in Hawaii”.  Gorgeous house-made emputido with beautiful shapes from the quail egg and sausage.  The emputido was pan seared, then carefully placed on each bed of rice (carefully molded by Jo earlier that eve), and wrapped with personalised nori stamped with the crest of Mercury Lounge.  Stunning presentation.

Next was the Kare Kare, served in dumpling form!  Braised oxtail and peanuts poached in a dumpling shell and drizzled with a bagoong (fermented shrimp) sauce.  The ability for Dominic to stay true to the flavours of the Philippines while being creative with the cuisine impressed the Dishcrawlers, even those most well versed in the traditional elements of Filipino cooking.  Dominic described his inspiration for this dish as a “Filipino chef in China”.

No time was wasted on inefficiency.  Chef Dom quickly presented us with his interpretation of a “Filipino chef in Italy” with his version of Arroz Caldo.  Usually this dish is a rice porridge with chicken, but the interpretation transformed a traditional comfort dish into a saffron chicken ginger risotto with fragrant chicken piled into the middle of the soft cooked grains.

Remaining in the theme of visiting Italy, a Pinakbet Pizza! Though it might look Italian, this pizza was wildly rich with the pungent odor of bagoong.  Mixed with the melted cheese, tomato, and green beans, these crispy thin rounds disappeared quickly amongst us eager food lovers.

Ah, and to follow, a palate-cleansing Kinilaw.  The salmon was cooked in spicy lemon juice and skewered with a cube of coconut jello.  The essence of kinilaw captured in one bite.

As we progressed through each dish, I could feel the pulse of the room elevate to a new high.  New interpretations, new flavors for some, reminiscent for others, but no lack in creativity and pride.

Lengua is a traditional Filipino dish, but Chef Dominic decided to pay Mexico a visit and create beef tongue tamales!  Wrapped in corn masa and banana leaves and drizzled in a mushroom sauce, even those who were hesitant to try new meats had to try a bit of these fusion creations.

Were we done yet?  Nope.  If there’s one way to describe Chef Dominic, it’s overachiever!  Dishcrawlers were then presented with an Eggplant Torta.

The Eggplant Torta was a light mixture of roasted eggplant and egg served with water crackers.  The flavor of the dish was stunningly intriguing.  The dish had a flirting hint of sweet to it.

Ah yes, and what I personally had been waiting for the whole dinner- Lechon! Crispy fatty piggy pieces stuffed into cute little steamed buns.  I squished down and bit into the soft surroundings of the bun until I heard the familiar crunch of rich, delicous pig.  Ah.  Heaven.

Sinigang, created from the broth Chef made during his cooking demo, was served!  PEI mussels floating in a sour tamarind broth dotted with spinach and tomatoes.  De-lish!

We ended the night with Jo’s inspiration- Tocino Truffles! I watched her hand roll them myself.  She lovingly rolled the chilled chocolate into sweet and savoury balls then dropped them into cocoa powder and sprinkled with a bit of salt from the Philippines.  Look how beautifully she plated them!  These were amazingly delightful.  A small pop of rich creamy chocolate and saltiness from chopped tocino?  Sweet fusion heaven!

About 45 foodies came to Mercury to join us that night, some of them being strangers we wanted to introduce Filipino food to, some being friends and part of the Bay Area Food Bloggers crew!

Join Us For a Filipino Dishcrawl!

We hope you join us for the next Filipino Dishcrawl.  Jo and I are taking you through a truly gourmet experience at Intramuros in South San Francisco.  Tickets are going rather quickly, and we expect to sell out soon.  You can reserve your spot here!  (All I can say is… pig station?  Sisig?  You name it.)  You won’t want to miss out.

(Above, Bay Area Food Bloggers at the Filipino Dishcrawl~ Dianne DeGuzman (videographer), Tracy of Dishcrawl, Arnold of Inuyaki, Heather of Heather in SF, Jo of Joanne Boston, and Jun of Jun Blog)

Check out Dishcrawl next time you’re hungry, and sign up to stay tuned for the exciting dinners we have planned around the Bay Area!  A full list of our events are here.

Much love and nomming till next time,

Tracy @ladyleet