By Marane A. Plaza
Ascott Bonifacio Global City Manila inspires its clientele to relish the beauty of life with its intimate night of style and flavor dubbed as the “Savour the Art of Living” event.
Through the private soirée, the 5-star hotel introduced the new menu of its in-house fine dining restaurant called Scott’s, with carefully curated culinary offerings finally made available for its guests this September. The event also put the spotlight on Filipino heritage, particularly in arts and fashion through its Casa Capiz, with featured fashion runway pieces and home decors using rare Filipino raw material capiz.
We had the honor of immersing into a delightful, luxe dining experience as presented by Chef Prince Patiño of Ascott himself, allowing us to taste the first glimpse of the Filipino reinterpretation of timeless Spanish classic dishes, carefully curated for those with discerning tastes. The event dinner came after “Savour the Art of Living” runway show, featuring fashion house Anna Cheung Couture by designer Joanna Fungo.
“We prepared a four-meal course for you, some meals from our new menu. It’s meant to be a salo-salo (Filipino term for get-together), and meant to be shared with family and friends. My personal favorite in the menu would be the laing, shrimp, and tinapa. It was inspired by my trip to Thailand, when I saw a woman preparing a meal like laing on coconut leaves. It dawned on me that I was stuck on her deep connection to the food, how the recipe was pass on to her from previous generations and generations before her.”
We started with the Seafood Consommé, first served as bowl of bare butter-poached shrimp, squid noodles, and tomato confit.
The server then poured the guava seafood broth, much like a tea, into my bowl. Upon tasting, it was the right amount of sourness and warmth, perfect as a starter to an anticipated lovely dinner ahead. The pouring of the broth was a nice touch, experience-wise.
Moving forward to the appetizer, we had the crunchy, tasty Adobo Croquette, which was basically chicken adobo nicely wrapped in a ball of fried flour dough.
The leafy vegetable salad was a nice contrast to the rich flavor of the fried adobo ball. Never knew I’d like veggies against any pinch of taste of adobo, but it was surprisingly appealing on the tastebuds. A true testimony on the genius of Chef Prince.
Now for the main dish: we had the Slow-Cooked Australian Mulwarra Beef Tenderloin. I was expecting a tender lean cut of meat. And I was met with not only a soft, nicely cooked one, but also a buttery, mouth-watering beef. I loved that it was served in a small portion, because that way, you can truly appreciate the obvious thoughtful efforts put into the flavors. It was paired with the sumptuous paella cake. In between, we got to try sips of both white wine and red wine that I knew only the Ascott could cater.
The intimate dinner was capped off with classic Filipino desserts — and reimagined. We had the Pinoy fave turon served with a modern twist. We also had toasted rice cheesecake (anything rice is truly Pinoy), and the mango Brazo de Mercedes, which was indeed the Pinoy-Spanish fusion dish of the night.
Chef Patiño was successful in presenting refined versions of some of the go-to’s of the Filipino cuisine– like the unexpected take on adobo, and the reintroduction of the Filipino merienda that is turon.
The private dining session at Scott’s was a stunning way to follow the previous fashion show of the night, as showcased by Anna Cheung Couture. The designer brought into the runway her SS2025 couture collection she first presented in Paris Fashion Week last year of September, and again with Stylish Magazine’s Style Visionary Runways Manila in March this year. For Ascott’s Savour the Art of Living fashion show though, Joanna integrated the capiz in accessories, additional embellishments onto the couture pieces, and headdresses.
Runways shots are by Dubai-based photographer Mark Arcigal. The fashion show was directed by Raymund Seranillo. The designer herself, Joanna Fungo, also strutted in the runway for her collection finale bow.
Joanna is set to showcase her designs again in Tokyo, Japan on September 28– this time, with additional new designs that have never been presented before. She is set to open for the Elegance Redefined: Likha Ni Kamari Fashion Show 2025 event.
You may watch it online here.
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Jasmine Curtis-Smith is on the cover of STYLISH Magazine right now, as she shares her thoughts on good storytelling in films, as she’s set to star in upcoming movies Open Night, a 2025 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival sapphic film entry; and Manila’s Finest, an upcoming 2025 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) crime drama movie.
Read the Stylish Magazine September-October 2025 cover story here.
Watch out for a new #StylishPodcast episode featuring our cover girl Jasmine Curtis-Smith, dropping soon on Facebook and YouTube.
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Stylish Magazine is “your source of self-love, style & inspiration” first introduced in June 2020. Our television series format, Stylish TV, once ranked one of the Top 50 Most Watched Multicultural Shows in the USA, can be streamed on iWantTFC and be watched on TFC (The Filipino Channel) in more than 50 countries. Watch it online here.
Style Visionary Network is a lifestyle-business online platform where #WeCreateVisionaries. Also introduced in June 2020, Style Visionary Network is also the digital home channel of media brands Stylish Magazine and Stylish TV.