THE JAPAN NEWS

 

By Yukiko Katsumi / Japan News Staff Writer

For those wanting to get a feel of being abroad during a busy day, dining at a foreign food fair can help provide a welcome taste of another culture.
The Philippine Food Fair being held at the Imperial Viking Sal restaurant at the Imperial Hotel Tokyo through Sunday is a culinary event many mark on their calendars. The buffet-style meals offer many popular and traditional delicacies from the archipelago of more than 7,100 islands.

Elements of Spanish, American and Asian influences add to the colorful food culture of the Philippines.

The Imperial Hotel is holding the special one-week lunch and dinner buffet to mark the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and the Philippines.

“We feel that trying another country’s food is instrumental in understanding the country,” said Shugo Terui, public relations manager at the Imperial Hotel. “This is one of the reasons we started holding these events.”

Imperial Viking Sal offers 12 kinds of Philippine dishes, including two desserts, in addition to its regular French buffet spread during the week.

Appetizers include a Philippine-style salad composed of boiled okra, sweet potatoes and Chinese spinach with shrimp paste dressing. Crepes stuffed with shrimp, pork and coconut with a sweet sauce is especially pleasing. Nilagang baka, a beef soup with a homemade taste and vegetables such as potato, cabbage and kidney beans, is also a good prelude to main dishes.

The main courses include Philippine-style pot-au-feu beef stew boiled in bouillon with a tasty broth and sauteed rice sticks with vegetables, pork and shrimp. At dinnertime only, kaldereta, a stewed dish that is one of the top Philippine recipes cooked during fiesta, is served.

For dessert, coco flan, a coconut-lime caramel and rolled meringue with creamy filling, perfectly tops off the special meal.

The event is supported by the Philippine Embassy. The Imperial Hotel chefs offer these authentic Philippine dishes based on recipes specially prepared by the embassy for the festival.

The Imperial Hotel first held such food fairs in 1965 to help diners know more about foreign cuisine. The hotel has been holding food fairs almost every year since, sometimes five times a year.

Imperial Viking Sal is on the 17th floor of the Imperial Hotel Tokyo’s main building in Chiyoda Ward. The lunch buffet costs ¥5,500 on weekdays and ¥6,000 on weekends and holidays. The dinner buffet costs ¥8,200 on weekdays and ¥8,700 on weekends and holidays. Prices include tax, but do not include a service charge.