The 12-course, 5-hour long lunch at Bale Dutung

Yes, I'm a survivor of the cholesterol-rich but pleasure-laden lunch at Claude Tayag's Bale Dutung.

The meal was unabashedly decadent from start to end.


It began with an appetizer of Skyflakes crackers with three kinds of dip: sauteed crabfat, balo balo (a beginner's buro, I am told, made of fermented rice) and pesto. Claude's wife, Mary Ann, suggested we try combining the pesto and crabfat, which was great at cutting away the wickedness of fat.

Pako

Lumpiang ubod

Cold sotanghon

The cold sotanghon and pako (fern) salad followed, the former surprisingly light and the latter refreshingly tart with its drizzle of vinaigrette.



I loved Claude's version of chicken inasal, marinated in boiled lemongrass. It was served with a small lump of crabfat rice. The chicken meat was moist and flavorful, and went great dipped in aslam albu, vinegar that Claude himself prepares.



What followed turned out to be my favorite among all the appetizers, the crisp fried catfish with balao balao wrapped in mustasa leaves. The crunch of the catfish mixed splendidly with the creamy consistency of the balao balao. It was a poetic bite.

The meal crested in terms of decadence even before the lechon (roasted pig) was served when out came what Claude called “The Bone Collector”, a casserole pot filled with bone marrow cooked adobo-style. Plastic gloves were given out to hold the bone in place and a straw for easier enjoyment of the marrow. I would have preferred to smear the marrow on some country bread tp cut away the richness but that would have sated me too quickly that I would have no space left for the lechon.

Whole Lechon

Lechon Skin

Pritchon

Sinigang

Grilled ribs

Asado

And of course, the lechon was what I came here for. It was served five ways: the skin, which can certainly hold its own even without sauce; pritchon, which was my favorite, the strands of meat cooked to a crisp like pork floss; sinigang, using kamias as souring agent; grilled ribs, a close match to the skin for second place; and, finally, asado.

Paradiso

Claude was not about to close the meal in a hush. In fact, he took it a notch higher by combining sugar and fat. He served two desserts: tibok-tibok, soft and velvety and generously topped with latik, and Paradiso, a brulee of macapuno, halayang ube and pastillas balls on a bed of silken panna cotta-like cream made of carabao’s milk.