The buzz was mainly on two dishes prepared by top-notch chefs married to each other but occupying stations at opposite ends of the sprawling three-ballroom setup that was the grand launch of Cebu Food & Wine Festival 2024 at NUSTAR Resort.

During the event last June 1, 2024, I asked friends and acquaintances their top picks for dishes of the night. Their answers were either one or the other.

So that was how my fantastic, luxurious night went. I would savor a bowl of cold angel hair pasta with ikura, lato, pickled radish in coconut vinegar by Chef David Thien and walk to the other end of the event venue to relish a bowl of hamachi salad – nori-crusted hamachi in spiced soy-biasong dressing and cashew nuts – by Chef Lisa Revilla Thien.

David was at the first table in the Wave Tasting Zone, which highlighted the “freshness of coastal living.” Lisa was at the first table in the Warmth Tasting Zone, which celebrated “Cebu’s pulsating nightlife.” They were at opposite ballrooms, separated by the Peak Tasting Zone, which offered “the comforting embrace of the mountains.”

The two chefs have impeccable culinary skills and experience. They have made their marks in the Michelin scene, according to a press statement by organizers. David is known for his “innovative approach to French cuisine infused with Asian flavors.” Lisa once headed The Dempsey Cookhouse and Bar in Singapore by Michelin-starred chef Jean-Georges.

But that Saturday night, all that we ever needed to know was that Chef David prepared the cold seaweed pasta and Chef Lisa created the hamachi salad.

In between sauntering between the two stations I would have another dish but only because I didn’t want to seem too obvious to the two chefs – how many bowls has this guy taken from my table? I avoided looking them in the eye for fear that I would see an accusatory stare – you again? Yes, me again. Dear Lord, I love your hamachi salad, chef.

Fearing I would get noticed I got a saucerful of pork lechon dolmads – roasted pork marinated in local green mangoes and wrapped in kolis leaves. The leaves taste like arugula, only less bitter. It was by the “Godfather of Philippine Cuisine” himself, Chef Sau del Rosario. The combination was exquisite and I would have reached for a 3rd plate but thought the greens were a deceptive packaging of the perfectly roasted pork inside.

Had I suffered a cardiac incident from over-indulgence, however, these three dishes would have made it a life well-lived.

But I had too much of a good dish, three good dishes in fact.

I was too full to savor and appreciate the other culinary creations: the ngohiong samosa, the tuba-marinated saang sisig tacos, Bisayang Manok, and the tuslob buwa and chicken arancini, which was quite a mouthful for a dish and for a name. I wasn’t able to try the linarang-glazed fish – a dish of salmon with miso and elements of larang or the local fish stew. I have never tried linarang my entire life but then again, I’m not a food writer. Unlike Dr. Nestor Alonso.

Dr. Alonso was the perfect picture of a food critic when he gobbled up the Bisayang Manok or chicken rillettes nestled in crispy phyllo strands. Eyes closed and hunched over, he raised a finger to signal that he was about to speak. The texture was good, he declared. He could taste the chicken.

That night, the age-old question was answered at our table – the egg came before the chicken. You tasted the egg before the chicken. But I was too full even for a small bite of Bisayang Manok.

The balbacua I was able to try as well as the bakasi bonbons, which was a wonderful creation of potatoes, bakasi or saltwater eel and what looked to be its bones. The bakasi is noted as an aphrodisiac and I wondered if the potency was diluted when turned into bonbons. It was an interesting combo but good.

But was it still an aphrodisiac? Later that night a beautiful PR person asked me about goat’s eye. I always thought my Facebook post on pre-colonial Bisayan sexuality triggered that question. But might it have been the bakasi bonbons?

The rosquillos, that famous Liloan biscuit, was made the base of various desserts and I loved, loved the one where it was encrusted in kapeng barako. The bitter-sweet combo makes for a wonderful dessert. Rosquillos were everywhere including, to my pleasant surprise, rosquillos brown, which are slightly overcooked.

I realized it but only belatedly that I was, along with a small group, locked in with all the food. I joined the media preview with Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco but did not go out of the ballroom for the formal opening.

I missed Cebu Food & Wine Festival founder Kate Dychangco-Anzani talking about how she grew up in a home where food was a love language. She mentioned that the pandemic project, as her fellow board member Perl Arienza put it, was going national.

I missed the speech of NUSTAR Resort and Casino Chief Operating Officer Alan Teo where he welcomed the attendees to a “wonderful journey.”

I missed Secretary Frasco’s event opening remarks but I was sure she’d mention Cebu hosting a global gastronomy forum in the coming weeks.

I was trapped inside the massive ballrooms debating with myself on an important issue, which dish to close the night with, cold angel hair pasta or hamachi salad?

Wine, the other half of the festival, was out of the question. Perl invited me to have some, an old runner friend beckoned, but I was the designated driver that night. The strongest drink I had was at the “gay drinking station” of Gulf Coast Coffee – a delicious non-alcoholic but caffeinated brew spiked with lemon and served on the rocks.

During the media preview, I asked Secretary Frasco what stood out for her. Which station should we head to after the press conference Ma’am, I asked. She answered with “tanan,” Bisaya for all of them. She then talked about how the dishes showed the world-class quality of Cebuano gastronomy. I was skeptical of her “tanan” answer and thought she was playing politics.

In hindsight, I should have listened to Secretary Frasco and tried “tanan.” Or as the kids put it, “unta tanan,” Bisaya for “sana all.”

Cebu Food and Wine Festival 2024 happens throughout the month of June and will involve 60 pocket events featuring 40 restaurants, 20 hotels, 27 national chefs, and 10 mixologists.

Saturday’s event at Fili Hotel-NUSTAR Cebu was a grand launch that announced a fantastic month ahead for Cebu.