MANILA -- Celebrated Cebu chef Marco Anzani recently took over the kitchen of One World Kitchen in Poblacion for a special dinner for the media and special guests.

Back in July, 2021, Anzani and his wife Kate, graciously invited chef Sau Del Rosario to cook at the posh Anzani restaurant in the upscale neighborhood of Nivel Hills in Cebu.

The two chefs had many parallels with their culinary globe-trotting careers. They exposed themselves to different cuisines as they honed their techniques and learned from the best mentors. As a result, the two chefs share a love for what they call “food diplomacy” where they invite friends from different places and share knowledge, flavors, and food. Del Rosario now returns the favor as he brings the Anzanis to his corner of Poblacion in Makati.

For the special dinner at One World Kitchen, Anzani cooked up a storm showing off his mastery of Italian flavors. The kitchen theater was an excellent stage for Anzani and Del Rosario, along with One World Kitchen executive chef Kaye Torres to orchestrate the combined might of the kitchen teams of Café Fleur and One World Kitchen come up with a memorable meal.

Posecco accompanied the pass-arounds and were a great start with guests munching on fried spaghetti skewered rounds of burrata and tomatoes, basil cannoli, and ascolana. The ascolana or Italian sausage stuffed into a surprisingly less salty green olive, breaded and fried was a treat paired with the bubbly and tart prosecco.

Homemade Grappa and orange-cured salmon was served as a checkerboard of orange and red with a side of sour cream and chives and salad. Whatever Anzani did, he made this really tasty and even removed the oily texture that’s characteristic of salmon.

The seemingly simple zucchini flower was a surprise on the first bite revealing that indulgent truffle filling. This was lovely between sips of more prosecco.

Save some wine from the previous course to pair with this ricotta lobster ravioli with hints of saffron dominated the next plate. Best to spoon some of the prosecco-essence passata – 100% tomato sauce – to add some acidity and balance the bits of the buttery lobster.

A Robert Mondavi Private Selection Merlot was nicely paired with the lamb loin with a cheese roast eggplant puree, and some roast pepper sauce. The eggplant puree somewhat reminded us of a baba ghanoush but with cheese, and was a nice companion to the meat course.

For dessert was a sinfully decadent stacked tower of chocolate alternated chocolate sheets, dark chocolate mousse with hazelnut, and a milk chocolate mousse with raspberry compote. Not too sweet, the dessert paired perfectly with the merlot.

The Anzanis took some time out to talk about their advocacies of farm-to-table linking farmers to restaurants and promoting the Cebu food and tourism industry. The couple have been actively at the forefront of activities like the weekend markets for both the restaurants and stores, as well as Cebuanos to come out after the lockdowns.

Kate Anzani also shared stories about how Cebu and Mactan, particularly the hospitality sector, was badly hit by Typhoon Odette last December and how they are still slowly getting back on their feet. They are hopeful, that with people starting to travel again because of Alert Level 1, that Cebu re-establishes its status as preferred destination.

As a matter of fact, the Anzanis are very active with helping organize the Department of Tourism’s 2nd Cebu Food and Wine Festival to be held at the beachfront of the Crimson Resort and Spa in Mactan mid-June this year.

Chef Marco even had the energy to prepare brunch the following morning at Chef Sau’s Le Petit Café Fleur a couple of steps away. He seemed to have really enjoyed himself hinting that he’ll be coming to Manila more often and making this a regular event.

Here’s hoping that Del Rosario’s and Anzani’s brand of food diplomacy cooks up more memorable meals and collaborations from chefs and cooks all over the country.