#NindotKaayo

A few days ago I tried the latest offering of Movenpick, the latest culinary craze, chocolates on savory dishes.

The quality of Swiss craftsmanship is world-famous and even the country’s chocolate is produced with legendary precision. Who else can give us better chocolates but Mövenpick. Their own brand of chocolate is made in keeping with the tradition, as well as its own culinary values that date back 70 years, and is produced in Switzerland using 100% cocoa butter.

As I landed from Manila, I rushed to Mövenpick Hotel Mactan Island Cebu’s The Sails restaurant anticipating what would be a refreshing dinner and also a “happy meal.” (Fact: Chocolates are antidepressants.)

We started with salmon fillets enlivened with dark chocolate. Salmon fillets were marinated for long hours like a mackerel sushi. Shime Saba is my favorite among the sashimis and I think I found its salmon counterpart.

The savoury tarte tartin with a white chocolate was a palate cleanser. It sets the mood for chocolates that night.

The seven chocolate-inspired creations include: marinated ‘beetroot salmon’ with root vegetables and 72% dark chocolate to enhance the meal’s rich earthiness; ‘tomato tarte tartin’ where ‘white lemon’ chocolate complements the goat’s cheese, pine nuts and coffee beans; ‘sea bass and green tea’ – a light foam of green tea, almonds, nuts and Mövenpick ‘Maple Walnut’ is the star; ‘minute beef goulash’, with a traditionally-made Hungarian goulash sauce, enriched with dark chocolate; ‘lamb shank and pesto’, slow-roasted and then refined with pistachio and hazelnut chocolate pesto; and ‘duck breast and potato pie’, with white chocolate, lime and pepper giving the pink-roasted meat a delicate yet spicy freshness.

I should say, my 2 favorites which I think were the standout dishes were the lamb shank pesto and the duck breast and potato pie. The lamb shank was slow cooked and off-the-bone but the meat was firm and never saggy. It was very good. The duck breast was at its perfect color, pink. It was smokey and flavorful. It has a good amount of skin on it. With ducks, you’ve got to have the skin.

We finished our dinner with ‘chocolate pavés au chocolat’, combining milk chocolate, crispy cocoa bean fragments, sizzling pecan nuts and slightly bitter matcha powder, all with a hint of green tea and paired with an espresso. I am not really into sweet treats but these are just on the right amount sweetness.

Mövenpick chocolate the hero of seven dishes in its latest global campaign, which runs from 10 October to 20 November 2018.