UPDATED:
Lyon, France – I am proud to share that the Philippine Team won a special award for BEST ICE SCULPTURE at the Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie awards. Props to Chef Vicente Cahatol who carved the ice sculpture. He is also responsible for the chocolate sculpture of a 10-kilo block of Valhrona chocolate. Congratulations to the Philippine team!
The Philippines also did well, getting a rank of 12 out of the exclusive 21 countries that competed. As observed by Rapunzel Acop, Vice Consul of the Philippine to France, “We beat all countries from Latin America, the entire Arab world and China.”
Chef James Antolin, Vice President of the Pastry Alliance of the Philippines which sent the team, said, “This has been an amazing journey. Ten years ago, when Buddy Trinindad (Pastry Alliance of the Philippines President) and I joined the Asian Pastry Cup, our goal was to bring a Philippine team to the World Pastry Cup. We did it. And this performance was an impressive showing, too.”
Coach Chef Penk Ching was proud of the fact alone that the Philippines was able to field a team, “The mere fact that we were able to wave the Philippine flag among the exclusive list of 21 countries means a lot already.”
The Philippine team competed on January 25 at the Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie (World Pastry Cup) in Lyon, France.
Philippine supporters were in high spirits at the VIP hall where the competition was held, and the host even commented, “The Philippines always has the best team spirit.”
Competing for the Philippine Pastry Alliance were Rizalino Mañas, Vicente Cahatol and Brian Dimayuga. Team President is Chef Buddy Trinidad and Vice President is Chef James Antolin.
The theme of the competition was Life Cycle so the Philippine team, which also had Pastry Alliance Vice President James Antolin, Penk Ching, Jackie Ang Po, Peachy Juban, Dan Basilio and Miko Aspiras as coaches, conceptualized a unified theme that included a hunter and “the hunted”.
The rules required them to present a chocolate showpiece, a sugar showpiece, one carving piece, a chocolate cake, a plated dessert, and a chocolate block carving. The Philippine team proudly put Philippine touches on their creations and entitled the entire showcase “Siklo” for ‘cycle of life’.
The chocolate showpiece is a beautiful female hunter. Looking at it closely you would think it was a narra carving! Props to Chef Bryan Dimayuga on this elaborate, intricate piece.
For the sugar showpiece, Chef Rizalino Mañas portrayed the Philippine spotted deer. This deer was glowing and was a favourite for photos of the international press.
The chocolate block carving was a new category. Each team was given a 10-kilo block of Valrhona chocolate to carve. Other teams chopped up the 10 kilos. But Chef Vicente Cahatol took this as a challenge to showcase his carving expertise and did not chop the block at all. Instead, he created this beautiful carving of the bayawak. Doesn’t it look like a wood carving? Look at the details, down to the scales.
During the awarding, the Philippines was given a special mention by the representative of Valrhona chocolate. It was also Chef Vicente Cahatol who created the ice sculpture that won Best Ice Sculpture for the Philippine team.
Proud to say that our contestants gave a good show. This is already impressive as this is the first time that the Philippines competed in this global competition.
We were just in the audience with proud supporters of the Philippine time like Paris- based Vice Consul Rapunzel Acop and culinary innovations guru Dennis Hipolito. Yet we felt so much pride! Congratulations to the Philippine Pastry Alliance! We are so proud of you, Philippine team!!!
Photo Credits: Margaux Salcedo