Kadayawan: Makati Version (part1)

I was busy with Giselle... and also a little tight with my liquidity... so a trip to Davao for the annual Kadayawan Festival was out of the question. I was blessed nonetheless, to do the next best thing. I got invited to be a part of the Kadayawan festivities at Market!Market! as judge for the culinary challenge.

It was a weekend event that featured two iconic ingredients that Davao is known for. The 17th of August was the competition to whip up delectable desserts with Durian as the main ingredient. There were 6 contestants who were given 30 minutes to whip up their desserts. I was just so excited to see what the contestants would come up with, I started snapping photos of the dishes they came up with.

There were three of us who served as judge. Myself, my dear friend Lorraine who is a chef and food stylist and Kathleen Tan who is Brand Manager for Dowell home appliances. All three of us noticed how well the dishes were plated. However, all three of us were unanimous in that above everything else in a cooking competition it's flavor that counts most.

Ist place: Durian crepe with durian infused syrup

Therefore,some of the more complicated platings did not merit a prize. We observed that some contestants had garnished their desserts with ingredients that were either unpalatable or had no bearing whatsoever with the dessert they concocted. So a simple crepe won the top prize.

2nd place: Durian bar with strawberry durian mocktail

At the end of the day, it was justified that even the most aesthetically pleasing manner in which to serve a dessert doesn't stand on its own if you can't eat everything on the plate.  So the durian bar with a strawberry and durian mocktail that looked really tempting only placed second because the rose petal was included purely for visual effect.

Third place: Durian bar crumble with dragon fruit and spun sugar and blueberry streak

Third place was a durian bar crumble with dragon fruit and spun sugar and blueberry streak which looked tempting except that the durian bar was mushy. It wasn't a bar at all but more of a pudding. It would have been nice to be able to lift it up and take a bite out of it if it had the texture of a granola bar.

Durian pudding with orange slivers

Some of the photos are entries which didn't quite make it. But I'm including them here for pure visual delight. The thing with durian is that is has a strong aroma and a distinct taste. It either grows on you or you can completely try to mask it. some flavors were pretty complementary to durian but sadly, some flavors just don't go well with it.

Durian tapioca with mint 

So for the not so lucky contestants, they have more time to experiment until next year...

Durian with raspberry syrup, orange marmalade and sugar tuille