Salmon And Seafood Lovers, This Norwegian Feast Is One You Shouldn't Miss!

Seafood lovers, this is one mouthwatering feast you shouldn't miss: the first Norwegian Seafood Festival in the Philippines!

Grand Hyatt Manila is serving up a "Norwegian Feast" at their premiere a la minute buffet restaurant, The Grand Kitchen, from May 18 to 26. The 9-day special treat highlights the famous seafood from the icy cold waters of Norway, the world’s second largest exporter of seafood in the world with exports reaching more than USD 12 billion in 2018.

Kicking off this Norwegian Feast is the first Norwegian Seafood Extravaganza (a by invitation only event) by the Royal Norwegian Embassy held on May 17, which happened to be the Norwegian Constitution Day. The event featured Chef Stig Drageide (the renowned executive chef of Oslo’s iconic Theatercafeen), 2016 Asia’s Best Female Chef Margarita Forés, and Grand Hyatt Manila’s very own Executive Chef Mark Hagan.

 

Grand Hyatt Manila Executive Chef Mark Hagan

 

Theatercafeen Executive Chef Stig Drageide

 

Grand Hyatt Manila is thrilled to collaborate with Chef Stig, who has worked in various Hyatt properties before, in coming up with a diverse, well thought out menu and an overall elevated dining experience for their guests. Chef Mark shares, “The great thing is that we have a master chef here to do this. We’re going to learn his recipes and then implement them onto our menus. That’s great education for our Filipino chefs as well. This is indeed a meeting of minds, to promote the amazing produce, which I don’t think is used enough."

 

Langoustine

 

Of this remarkable collaboration that was in the works since late last year, Norway's Ambassador to the Philippines Bjørn Jahnsen says, “Since 2018, Norway and the Philippines enjoy free trade through the EFTA-Philippines Free Trade Agreement. Norwegian seafood exports enjoy zero tariffs when entering the Philippines. We hope the Norwegian Seafood Festival will open doors to more exports of high quality Norwegian seafood to the Philippines.” And he is justifiably proud of his country’s seafood, as he declares, "Not to downplay seafood someplace else, but I think that one of the defining characteristics of our seafood is that they come from really cold waters, so they grow really slowly, and that makes the taste more intense.”

 

Oysters

 

Impressed with the quality as well, Grand Hyatt’s Chef Mark explains, “The technology in even how they fish is absolutely amazing. The shrimps you see on the table there, they’re cooked, chilled, frozen, and packed on-board. It’s also amazing how they treat and respect the products—everything from the smoking of the fish, to the curing of the salmon that dates back thousands of years now, that's how they used to preserve their seafood years and years ago, and these recipes which have been passed on from generations to generations.” 

Grand Hyatt’s team of chefs will be put through their paces to showcase the versatility of Norwegian seafood. Chef Mark says, “Norwegian produce doesn’t have to be just cooked the European way, no, you can take this and cook it in a Filipino way, Asian way, Thai way. You can do so many things with them. That’s what we’ll do throughout the weekend, try different forms and different methods to see which tastes best and hopefully get a lot more people into tasting the produce for the week.” 

 

 

Norwegian salmon

 

Guests of The Grand Kitchen will get to experience the freshness and topnotch quality of Norwegian halibut, haddock, whiting fish, blue mussels, scallops, and of course, the famous Norwegian salmon, among others. Chef Mark adds, “It’s a big menu. We’re doing Norwegian sushi, sashimi, maki rolls. We’re doing a wok fried dish. We’re doing a steamed dish and everything from open-faced sandwiches to pan-roasted scallops to halibut and crab, tempura. We're also going to have a caviar station.” A grand seafood feast awaits!

Enjoy the Norwegian Seafood Festival on May 18 to 26, 2019 for P1,906 nett for lunch and P2,200 nett for dinner at The Grand Kitchen, Grand Hyatt Manila, 8th Avenue corner 35th Street, Bonifacio Global City, (02) 838-1234

 

[photos]

 

Photographs courtesy of Grand Hyatt Manila