Last Feb 23, we had a seminar at Astoria Plaza about the fine dining service, different silverware, dinnerware and glassware. We also learned about food presentation, or how to garnish properly.
Located
in one of the Philippines' progressive business and commercial
districts, Astoria Plaza in the Ortigas Center offers you your private
niche in the heart of the city.
It
is the new standard in urban living with all the space and comfort of
home combined with the modern convenience of a deluxe hotel. With rooms
ranging from a minimum of 60 sq. meters to a maximum of 130 sq. meters,
Astoria's spacious suites give you the freedom to enjoy your living
space separate from your workspace. Astoria Plaza is only within walking
distance to leading shopping centers, malls, hospitals, universities
and electronic railway transits.
Astoria's
facilities include a gym, a lap pool, Regenere spa and massage center,
Santis Delicatessen, Travelnet, Genesis Valet Shop and Laundry Service.
Complimentary round trip shuttle service to the Ortigas Business
District is available upon request. (http://www.astoriaplaza.com/)
Our first speaker was Mr. Joy Gregorio. He's an accomplished hospitality professional and he's currently the Director of Food and Beverage at Astoria Plaza.
We learned the different types of silverware/flatware. How do you differentiate steak knife from fish knife? How about dinner fork from cocktail fork? Dinner spoon from gourmet spoon?
We were also taught the difference between the bone china and the regular china. Bone china has zero lead and it can last for years. Though, the downside is... it's more expensive than the regular china.
The different glassware were also taught like the margarita glass, champagne glass, white wine glass, red wine glass, etc. I don't have a picture though. :(
Mr. Gregorio showed us how to flambé which is actually really cool. He made crepes for us to eat! Hoho
This ice cream presentation costs approximately 1000php. Yes, it's just for ice cream!! (they make their own ice cream, by the way.)
Me and my super friend Eloi!
Mark, Me, Danica, Kelvin, Charles
After eating lunch, we had a tour around Astoria Plaza.
Here's their swimming pool located at the 3rd floor (if I'm not mistaken)
Here's their pastry kitchen! What caught my eye were the pictures of different dessert presentations on the wall.
They also have a gym, a business center, a cafe and a spa. My pictures were all blurry so I didn't post them here. Hihi
After the tour, we had our second speaker. He is Astoria's executive chef, Toni Lacerna. (Sadly, I don't have a picture of him.) He started working as a security guard at Manila Hotel before applying to be a kitchen steward. He we abroad at Okinawa, Japan and learned more about culinary there for years. He joined Astoria in 2003 and became the executive chef a few years later. He taught us the traditional and modern way of food presentation. We had a lecture about the best way of garnishing your dish. All things on the plate should be edible and would compliment the whole dish.
We were told to apply what we have learned after the discussion. We were divided into groups and told to create our own modern presentation of the baked cheesecake with fruits and raspberry sauce. Here's ours!! We didn't win but it was fun doing it anyway. Hihi
I definitely learned a lot and I'm hoping to attend more seminars like this in the future!!!!!
I'm loving my course. ♥
(Photo credits go to Eloisa Sergio, Danica Bulac and Amabelle Delamide)
