By Joseph L. Garcia, Senior Reporter
DURING a recent media NUSTAR on Sept. 25*, its famed restaurant, Mott 32, brought out a special menu for the occasion of The Mall | NUSTAR’s completion. It also happened to be the restaurant’s second anniversary.
Founded by Xuan Mu, Malcolm Wood and Group Executive Chef Lee Man Sing, the restaurant has several locations around the world: Hong Kong, Vancouver, Singapore, Dubai, Toronto, Bangkok, Seoul, and Cebu. In all its locations, they’ve garnered several awards: badges we recognized on their website included accolades from Wine Spectator, The Forbes Travel Guide, The Michelin Guide, Tatler, and Traveler’s Choice (the complete number of award badges numbers over 50).
Lunch on Sept. 25 opened with a Fujian Negroni (Amaro, Aperol, ginseng, Lapsang Souchong tea, Sichuan pepper). This tasted quite complex, but softer than a usual Negroni, with no sharp edges. The Hanami (rye whisky, gin, umeshu, yuzu, shiso, ginger beer, and chrysanthemum), meanwhile, was such an easy drink, we could have had four (we didn’t).
A Traditional Iberico Pork Shanghainese Soup Dumpling had an expectedly delicate texture, and a nuanced, very rich broth inside that surprisingly had little weight. It had a clean and clear taste; almost pure, like just water and flavor. It came with a Salty Egg Pumpkin: it had a light, crispy batter, contrasting in texture to the creamy pumpkin, its mildness given excitement with the spicy salted egg seasoning. Our notes simply read “yum yum.”
The Cold Free-Range Chicken, with Szechuan Peppercorns and Chili Sauce had an excellent gelatinous texture paired with a delicately smoky flavor — combined with the cold, it tasted what something wet and smoky smells like: think the taste of embers extinguished in water, if there was such a thing. Given vivacity by the Szechuan peppercorns, it cleared the nostrils and left a last lingering note of earthiness.
A Hot and Sour Soup was very heavy with flavor, dripping with importance and the taste of expensive seafood. It displayed a perfectly balanced heat that coated and tickled the lips.
There were other dishes on the menu: a Yeung Chow-style Fried Rice, with Diced Sea Cucumber, a Whole Leopard Coral Garoupa (delicate and fresh), Wok-Fried Romaine Lettuce (surprisingly substantial), and Stir-fried Australian M9 Wagyu (spicy and aggressive). However, the star of the show was Mott 32’s signature Applewood Roasted 42 Days Peking Duck.
The menu says it’s “smoked with sweet aromas of dried applewood, served with freshly steamed pancakes, thinly sliced cucumber and scallions, raw cane sugar, and house-made special hoisin sauce.” They carve it using a “unique technique that locks in all the juices” that was developed by their founders “making it a true feast fit for royalty as it was intended.” The duck is available in limited quantities, and is available by pre-order only.
Well: the duck’s skin was first served to us, with a strange, puffed-up texture, and tasted very crispy, like a glossy, red chicharon (pork crackling). The puffed-up texture gave it a multi-dimensional bite: it was almost like the air within the duck was flavored. The duck was served anew in pancakes, but we had to do without them: the pancake’s taste was concealing the flavors of the duck’s dense, tender flesh.
The dessert was a light coconut ice cream with pomelo, grapefruit, and honeycomb.
Fili Hotel General Manager Roel Constantino said, “Even in just two years, we are known in Cebu already. I believe that even in just two years, we’ve already imprinted the brand in the culinary map of the Philippines.”
Mott 32 is located in NUSTAR in Cebu.
