Few days ago Kwento Ni Toto went to an event where cooks are considered idols and creativity are put into cooking. It’s a clash of wits and taste buds aspiring to be The Next Cusina Idol. It’s Melawares Culinary Clash, unleashing the cooking talent of participants, students and aspirant cook. Armed with their cooking skills and fueled by their passion for food, ten (10) cooking enthusiasts and culinary students joined to battle it out on “The Next Cusina Idol Cook-Off Challenge.” The event is hosted by Melawares, the popular high-quality melamine tableware and Urban Kitchen, the complete restaurant and food service solution.

Last August 26, under the unpredictable weather a blogger barge in deep somewhere in Makati. It was easy but an unfamiliar area. The blogger headed at Walter Mart and straight up to the 5th floor. Thank goodness there’s an escalator functioning. 5th floor is 5th floor, especially if you came from work and went through a lot of exhausting effort just to be there.


The event was held at the Magsaysay Institute for Hospitality and Culinary Arts or coned as MIHCA. The institute is indeed walking what they are talking. Part of their name is the HOSPITALITY and they really know how to be hospitable with their guests. The blogger was amazed because it started by simply showing to them their seats. They even explained to the blogger the food that he was about to eat and also ask if the blogger like to have one of it or not. After experiencing this, the blogger just hope that MIHCA could encourage more people to learn in their institute and spread the true Filipino hospitality.


While the blogger is having a very great time with his food, the charming Chef Jeremy Favia were already making a cooking demo of one of the recipes. It is an easy-to-cook succulent culinary delight with Doles line of tomato sauce. As a background, at first the blogger were amazed because for him Dole was all about pineapples and now they are lining with tomato sauce. The recipe that Chef Jeremy demonstrated was called the Cherry Tomato and Eggplant Ragu Penne. Yummy! Pasta is the bloggers favorite and Penne is just another kind of pasta. The cooking demo was easy simple enough for the guests to memorize. So after the demo five guests were invited to be part of the Clash, a Culinary Clash.








Five were chosen err who got the guts to be part of the clashing Chef to bes, good for them because they will have the chance to be judge by Chef Jeremy. It was Jeman, Lariza, Enzo, Ryan and John Doe (the blogger didn’t get his name). With guts they will sure have the glory afterwards. After some few minutes of chopping and tossing the ingredients in the sauce pan they all finally finished and even made a very good plating of their dishes.


Five plates were aligned in the bar area. Same dish, same ingredients, different styles, and different cooks! One by one and plate by plate a taste was done. Thinking, murmuring and at last the judges made a final decision and Chef Jeremy with a little bit of explanation of why finally pinpointed the plate of the victorious Chef to be, it was Enzo! Enzo of Juan Manila was announced winner of the Great Dole Cook-Off!


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If you want to know more about the recipes that check out Kwento Ni Toto’s Kwentong Pagkain.