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Saturday, April 23, 2005
Buffet on a half-moon bar
Finding herself at Sabungan, Leticia Orendain explores flavors with Chef Stefan.
Nice touch for a buffet, I thought, when I saw that the serving platters were on a half-moon bar.
Good thing. Half-moon is a handy reference to the guest chef’s trips around the world and the international flavors he brings into the menu. Lunch buffet menu at Midtown’s Sabungan Restaurant, that is.
One Wednesday, Chef Stefan Farkas, 54, created a spread that explored flavors, from smoky to spicy. But since the menu is changed on each buffet day (Wednesdays through Saturdays), you may detect other contrasts.
Farkas, who’s Swedish, is on loan from Holiday Inn Galeria Suites for a two-month stint to train Sabungan’s chefs. He strikes you as a man lacking airs. He’s heard people use “gastronomic experience” to describe food and is wary of it.
“It might mislead diners into high expectations, only to be let down. Upscale buffet is better. It’s more of East meets West style. I’d like to educate people’s tongues.”
Our lesson started with goulash soup, very robust in taste. Farkas said the Hungarian, paprika-based dish is served either as stew or soup.
Then we methodically did the beef Mexicana, string-bean sauté, gourmet salads (cucumber-crab, spicy bamboo shoots), pickled quail eggs, smoked pork loin, red mullet and chicken picatta.
The variety shows confidence in Farkas, who finished his studies at 22 at a gastronomic school in Sweden. No work is too tiny for him. “I’m hands-on. I go to Carbon Market to see what’s available so the purchaser can’t say it’s not available.”
Early influence made his career choice. “My parents had an eatery. We helped around. At 25, I had a restaurant in Sweden and in Florida.”
But a main ingredient is needed. You can’t work in a hot kitchen and hope to make people happy if you lack passion for cooking. You will not last long.
He’s lasted 32 years yet doesn’t lay claim to a masterpiece. “For me, it’s food that pleases the diner. I always have happiness when people like what I do.”
A diner once asked, “Cook me something not found in the menu.” Not one to quake at challenges, Farkas complied and was rewarded with the man’s smile.
Being a chef makes Farkas see the world, whether it is to work, study or just visit, and he tries to know the country’s culture and cuisine. He tells us that Mexican food has a lot of corn, bell peppers and paprika in it, so the beef Mexicana is an allusion to a land that has one of the oldest cuisines in the world.
Although he creates, he respects traditional dishes, such as sinigang. “You can’t change something that has been there for a long time. Otherwise, local people will think you’re cheating them.”
We asked about the crabmeat-cucumber salad. “It’s Japanese-based.
Japanese food is very healthy; combines beauty and taste.” Maybe that’s why I kept returning to the half-moon bar. The salad was perfect, but that’s just my opinion.
(April 23, 2005 issue)
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