Monday night I was invited to the 3rd fundraising dinner of SCA by Jill-joy Landburg, acting secretary of
Suriname Chefs Association and editor-in-chief of
Victuals. I felt like being invited as a judge for an iron chef challenge or something. Soooo exciting!!
The purpose of these fundraising dinners is to raise funds for the Surinamese group to participate at Taste of the Caribbean. Last year, they brought home many awards and medals. This year, they need to represent Surinamese pride again!!
The main reason is of course to raise funds, but the other reason for these dinners is also to give these chefs the opportunity to stay on top of their game. All these fundraising dinners use the same concept of the Taste of the Caribbean challenge: all participants receive a mystery basket.
At arrival, it lacked a certain exposure that the fundraising is going on in the hotel. I saw no poster or anything mentioning it, probably a suggestion for the organizers. If anyone might have missed the advertisements, but whenever they visit the location and there are still vouchers left, they might be interested to join.
I received a menu and a survey to give points to the menu items I'm about to taste. The service was a bit chaotic. It gives a vibe as if the waiting staff was not probably prepared for this event since only part of the restaurant was used for the fundraising dinner, but the rest was still open for a la carte dinner.
However I received a menu, but I used a short description for the menu items in my blog.
I received my welcome cocktail and was not told that I needed to mix the two layers. So my first sip was from the bottom layer, which was soooo sweet and the guests at my neighboring table were nodding their head and agreeing that it was too sweet. So I took a sip of the upper layer and it tasted bitter and sour, so I came to the conclusion to mix those two layers up. And so both my neighbor guests and I could still enjoy the drink.
I could sense some orange and blue curacao notes in the cocktail. And bingo, I was right!! The cocktail was made with orange juice, blue curacao and vodka, all nicely garnished with a slice of apple.
The appetizer: A surf & turf of chicken liver pate and smoked fish fritter.
The appetizer was nicely arranged on the plate. I like the colors used in this dish, nice contrast. It looked like a garden art piece or so. The fishballs were croquette-like and the chicken liver pate was very earthy and smooth with a sweet-ish finish. The best part of this dish was the yellow ginger sauce. And if it comes from me, you better believe it, cause I don't like ginger!! In the whole experience there was this orange looking cube, which left both my neighbors and me guessing what it is. It looked like carrot, but tasted sweet and has a softer texture, so I was thinking that it could've been papaya or something. At the end, it appeared that it was indeed carrot, but cooked in a markoesa juice sauce.
However the name states surf and turf of chicken liver, I wouldn't have guessed if I did not have the menu that that was the main item of the appetizer, I would've thought it was the fish ball.
Main dish: Parbo beer battered butterfish filet, Yams croquette and a spinach foam.
I love the yams croquette! (made of taro). It was well-flavored, soft and the crunchiness of the crumb-shell gave it a nice texture. The fish was crisp and I could taste some Indian spice in it. On the fish was the spinach foam, but probably because of the waiting time or so, the foam was already liquid. It didn't add any value to the dish for me.
Dessert: Brownie topped with wild berry cream, fried mint leaves and markoesa sorbet
The brownie is a very solid cake as brownies should be, very chocolate-y, but for me, the wild berry cream is a bit on the sour side. However the sorbet was not mentioned on the description, but it was the highlight of this dish. The flavor was surprising and I even thought it was a sorbet made of pomme cythere, but the chef told me it was a sorbet made of markoesa and pisang ambong. Another plus of this dish was surely the fried mint. However it looked like withered mint leaves, but the fried mint leaves gave a nice crisp to the sorbet.
If I have to guess the mystery basket, I would think of the following items: markoesa, fish and chicken liver.
The experience was enlightening! It is an opportunity to let your palate go wild and try to taste the ingredients that were used on the dish. For more information about the upcoming fundraising dinners, please visit Victuals or Suriname Chefs Association on Facebook.
