Gordon Ramsay Visits Farmers Market With Chef Margarita Forés
He fell in love with a specific kind of local prawn.
(SPOT.ph) Pretty much everyone in the local food world has been talking nonstop about Gordon Ramsay, the British celebrity chef and restaurateur who was in the country just a few days ago for a meet-and-greet and promo blitz. Lifestyle media couldn't seem to get over Ramsay calling Filipino cuisine the “sleeping beauty” of Asia, waiting only for the right moment to make its presence felt. He even gushed about Filipino ingredients and how a great bounty of it, from what he heard, are always readily available in the local markets. Eager to prove the latter, the famed reality show celeb also went on a trip to Farmers Market in Cubao, where he also got to briefly immerse himself in the world of Philippine seafood with Cubao resident and chef Margarita Forés.
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What happened during Gordon Ramsay’s visit to Farmers Market, Cubao
Forés shares how the Farmers Market trip came to fruition in an exchange with SPOT.ph. It was Ramsay’s team who got in touch with the market, she shares, as they were looking to document the visit. “I think he was also curious about our seafood because they're using local Philippine lapu-lapu for their fish and chips [at Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill],” she shares. The two were joined by Ramsay’s assistant chef; Pia Ojeda (Margarita’s niece who works with Araneta); and Margarita's son and fellow restaurateur Amado Forés and his fiancé Carmela Fortuna.
“It was a very quick tour at the market… my family and I decided to at least welcome him and help take him and his crew around,” Margarita continues. “I think that he was also enamored by the ulang [Bulacan river prawn].”
Ramsay got to experience the magic of paluto at the famous Kainan Ni Aling Cadiang, one of Farmers’ OG stalls described by Forés to serve “amazing food.” “They [cooked] sinigang with lapu-lapu and some garlic butter ulang,” she says.” It was a nice morning… and we were able to get a photo as well, and I think that he enjoyed the market experience. So we just walked around mostly the seafood area and then he also sat and they ate the meal at Aling Cadiang's.”
During his Manila visit, Ramsay held a press conference at the Newport Performing Arts Theater and answered questions from members of the media and from culinary students. He also said teased that he might be opening three more restaurants in the Philippines. He also challenged local celebrity chefs to a halo-halo challenge and collaborated with local content creator Abi Marquez to make a Beef Wellington lumpia.