MACTAN NEWTOWN-- Curious what lunch was like for the ASEAN Prime Ministers, Presidents and the delegates at the 48th ASEAN Summit on May 8 at the Mactan Expo, Mactan Newtown in Lapu-lapu City?
“The brief was deceptively simple: create a dining experience worthy of Royalty, Prime Ministers and Presidents!” For Chef Marco and Kate Dychangco- Anzani, this wasn’t about excess or theatrics. It was about identity, through a Filipino lens, refined, elevated, unmistakably world-class. It was a big task, Kate told Manila Standard.
She said that at ASEAN’s Presidential Summit, where leaders of Southeast Asia would gather under one roof, diplomacy would be conducted not just through speeches and policy—but through the quiet, powerful language of food.
For Chef Marco, he was hesitant at first. He didn’t want to do it, but Kate assured him that his global technical, refined and elevated technique would guide him well. The couple made the menu together, masculine - feminine. Filipino Purist vs Modern Contemporary, Kate described it.
“By dawn, the kitchen was already alive. A brigade of chefs moved with precision—no shouting, no chaos, just a kind of focused elegance,” Kate shared. “The menu didn’t read like a lunch/dinner—it reads like a diplomatic script,” she added.
Kate recalled that the menu had been months in the making. If there was anything that the Food and Wine Festivals revealed to them, was access to local ingredients throughout the entire Philippines. All the flavors of it. The Menu was going to be a culinary journey of the Philippines.
What the lunch spread looks like
Kate shared that lunch began quietly. Artisanal
bread and butter, but this wasn’t a filler. Brown grain Cordillera bread, warm
and grounding, paired with crab fat (aligue) butter--rich, indulgent,
distinctly Filipino. It was the opening line: “We know who we are.”
“Then we served a poached lobster medallion, resting on cauliflower espuma and wild asparagus. It looked like a painting. Ocean and Garden: The Pearl of the Orient,” Kate described the dish with precision.
The room shifted from the diplomatic conversation to the sea: Adlai risotto, creamy with sea urchin, lifted by coconut cream and pili nut pesto. Finished with the humble squash flower- crispy and subtle. A humble grain, elevated to presidential level. This was strategy—taking something local and making it impossible to ignore, Kate bared.
By the time the Chef Duo of Flavors arrived,
conversations had softened. Bukidnon Kitayama Beef on smoked eggplant—deep,
complex, confident. Lapulapu fish (Cebu) on sweet potato, string--delicate,
balanced, intentional. Two proteins, two stories. One message: Harmony.
And then, the dessert. Not one, but a sweet bite trio, each piece carrying memory and reinvention: Cannolo di turon—Filipino street food dressed in couture; Kalamansi bonbon—from Bohol bright, sharp, unforgettable, and Maja blanca rosquillos cheesecake—heritage turned into art.
“No one rushed. No one spoke immediately, because this wasn’t just food, it was positioning,” Kate said, adding that somewhere between the aligue butter and the kalamansi bonbon, something important had happened: “The Philippines didn’t just host the summit. It defined it.”
As the last plates were cleared and the final glasses pulled out, the kitchen exhaled. No applause, no spectacle—just the quiet satisfaction of knowing they had delivered something rare-- a table where Southeast Asia didn’t just meet. It connected.
By noon, agreements had been softened, tensions
eased, alliances warmed—not just by negotiation, but by shared experience. They
had done more than serve a meal. It had hosted a moment in history, Kate
proudly beamed. (Photos & First-hand Narrative from Kate DyChangco-Anzani/FB)
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