Murphy Was A Filipino

We all know Murphy’s law: What can go wrong, will go wrong. Having run a company in the Philippines for over 15 years I can attest… Murphy was a Filipino. We had just about every catastrophe imaginable:

  • Typhoons
  • Droughts
  • Petulance (even the dreaded cadang cadang)
  • Revolution
  • Communist Attacks
  • Worker strike
  • Export Taxes

I could go on and on. The one offset to all these issues was the amazing capabilities and hard work put forward by the people of our Philippine company. Having done business around the world, I will take our Philippine management over all of them. I will never forget the call when our logistics manager told me he  had to reroute trucks taking containers of product to the port around a military standoff between factions of the Philippine army during the overthrow of the Marcos regime. Business isn’t usually life or death, but then it was. General Foods/Kraft had been doing business in the Philippines since 1928 and the only time supply got disrupted was during WWII. The Philippines has had problems, but filipino people found ways to get the job done.

What is the super club message from this story?… prepare for things going wrong, have a back-up plan, so when things go wrong, you have the means to work around them. Chances are, if you have done the preparation, your guests will never even know you had a problem.

The Philippines also has some amazing culinary offerings. The fresh seafood is fantastic. We had a plant on the southern island of Mindanao near the city of Davao. The hotel we stayed at was right on the bay and they had a nightly seafood barbecue. The prawns were huge. A predecessor  of mine once said: “Seeing the size of the prawns in Davao, I now know why the rest of the world calls them shrimp”. The chef would grill them and serve them with garlic butter.

Another seafood specialty was a sea bass called “Lapu-lapu”. You have to love a fish that is named after the native chief that murdered Magellan. Yup, Magellan the first man to circumnavigate the globe was killed by a Filipino. The world lost a great explorer, but the chieftain got a very tasty fish named after him.

There are lots of things about Philippine cuisine that you might want to take a pass on. Ask a Filipino what they miss about the food of their youth and it is amazing how many will say balut.  Balut is a developing  bird embryo. You know, an egg with a little texture. Another of my least favorites, is durian fruit. This is a tropical fruit that is described as: “Taste like heaven, smells like hell”. I have been on a plane where passengers brought durian aboard as a carryon. Before you know it, the whole cabin smells like soiled baby diapers. One of my rules of international cuisine is: Be extra careful if someone tells you something is a local delicacy. I grew up eating lobster in New York and have heard people call the green guck in lobster a delicacy. Yuck!

A Philippine delicacy – balut.

(Durian Fruit)

(Lanzones)

(The best mango in the world)

The good news is that the Philippines has the most amazing tropical fruit imaginable. The mango and pineapple taste different, and is better, than anywhere in the world. The papaya and melons are fantastic. The Lanzones fruit was a rare treat. That’s the good news. The bad news was that when the Lanzones came into season, a large number of our plant workers wouldn’t show up because they could make more money picking Lanzones… What can go wrong will go wrong.

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.

Check Out Raven & Lily Restaurant In Collierville Tennessee

Some people can flat out cook. We are all not created equal. Some people are just gifted when it comes to cooking. If you live anywhere near Memphis you have to try Justin Young’s cooking at his new Raven & Lily restaurant on the town square in Collierville. Justin is an amazing chef and his food is outstanding.

Justin isn’t an overnight success. His culinary training combines a wide array of experience. He grew up cooking. He went to culinary school in at Johnson and Wales in Charleston. He worked in several white tablecloth restaurants between South Carolina and Memphis. He spent a year working at a 3 star restaurant in Lyon France. Justin has also worked on and off for Erling Jensen in Memphis for years.

Yes I am biased, Justin also worked with me at Kraft Food Ingredients. At Kraft, he was our executive chef and I got to see Justin combine the art and science of food. As stated above, the guy can flat out cook.

Justin opened his first restaurant in Oakland Tennessee a few years ago. The restaurant was a success, but the location was a bit of a challenge. The new location is on the square in Collierville and closer to a much larger customer base.

The menu at Raven & Lily is eclectic, it ranges from sandwiches to steak and seafood. Every nuance will delight his customers. Justin describes his menu as Modern Southern. Everything is very innovative and outstanding. I like to ask Justin for a tasting menu and just sit back in enjoy. Another reason why the tasting menu is great is that I wind up trying things that I would never order and wind up loving them. For example, his shrimp and grits are great. For me, shrimp and grits are cliché and never my favorite. Justin’s shrimp and grits are really special.

Justin makes a bordelaise sauce that is to die for. He gave me the recipe many years ago and I make it every year around the holidays. It is a production to make, but boy is it good. In Justin’s words, it is like candy for a kid, you can’t get enough of it. You could put this sauce on anything and it would taste great. It is worth a trip to Raven & Lily just to try the sauce.

Check out the Bordelaise Sauce recipe

One other thing about Raven & Lily, it is very affordable. They don’t have a liquor license yet so it is BYOB. Bringing your own wine  keeps the cost down. Everything is reasonably priced. Look at this way, you can get the best white table cloth restaurant quality food at about half the price. Go there soon before and I can influence my former student on how to price.

This reminds me of an unrelated story:

  • I was playing golf with my buddies a few years ago when my friend Jim hit a bad shot and went into a rant cursing himself and the golf gods.
  • His playing partner Newman waited for Jim to regain his composure and encouraged Jim to not get so mad saying: “After all it is just a game”.
  • Jim came back explaining that the piece Newman was missing was the fact that he was a “very, very good golfer”.
  • After a more than pregnant pause, Newman countered with:
    • “Ah-hah! That is the data I didn’t process

Again, the “Ah-Hah moment” story is completely unrelated, but I saw Newman today for the first time in years and I love the story.

For supper clubs, if you are up for a bit of work, try the bordelaise sauce. Otherwise, check out Raven & Lily in Collierville. The chef can flat out cook.

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.