RWM Malaysian Chef Wins Silver in Filipino Cuisine

Resorts World Manila is on the path to becoming the gastronome's haven.

Resorts World Manila’s (RWM) Mercado restaurant offers a scrumptious buffet of Filipino favorites at an affordable price. This popular Filipino restaurant is headed by none other than Malaysian Chef  who recently won silver in the western and Filipino categories at the recently held Food & Hotel Asia (FHA 2010) in Singapore. The FHA is the largest and most comprehensive exhibition and conference for the food and hospitality industry in Asia.
 
Despite people finding it odd for a Malaysian to compete in the Filipino category, Chef Shiva went on to win over 30 judges and bested more than 500 chefs competing in the festival. “I wanted to present a different nationality from mine and I have always loved a good challenge,” explains Chef Shiva.
 
His winning Filipino menu comprised of Adobo Relleno (chicken liver stuffed roulade of chicken braised in soy sauce, vinegar gravy with potato and white beans), Inihaw na Lamang Dagat (charcoal grilled seafood with fresh tomato and chilli red peppers puree), Pinakbet sa Gata Filipino (Stir fried traditional seasonal mixed young vegetables in coconut turmeric anchovy’s sauce), Bistek Tagalog (Pan fried marinated veal tenderloin braised in soya sauce and calamansi), Pork Bicol Express (baby pork loin braised in binagoongan coconut gravy and peppers), Sinangag na Kanin sa Bawang (clay pot steamed rice, stir fried with fried garlic, spring onion and accompanied by mango atchara & boiled quail egg), and Kilawin (pork belly and squid).

“I actually was not supposed to go. But Resorts World Manila and my staff were very supportive, that’s why I said this victory is for RWM,” he says. “I worked for 56 hours with no sleep! No assistants at all. And I only had one day to prepare. But I’m used to competition, I don’t think of it as a life or death thing - just a challenge,” he points out.

To prepare for the competition, Chef Shiva made use of different techniques “I wanted to modernize and upgrade Filipino cuisine. So I used a fusion of techniques, mostly French. For one year I studied Filipino cuisine non-stop with my kitchen as my training ground,” Chef Shiva says.  “Filipino ingredients are very nice, and there’s so much you can do with just by playing with the ingredients,” he continues “My techniques were very effective, in fact, the judges told me that I just need to tweak my dishes a little and I could win gold next time,” he says with a smile.

Chef Shiva has worked for numerous hotels including Genting Hotel and a celebrity TV chef in Malaysia. He is currently the Chef De Cuisine for Resorts World Manila.

Mercado Restaurant is located at the ground floor of Resorts World Manila. For more information, call 836-6333.