Sights and Spices meets Maputing Cooking

Maputing Cooking. I'm pretty sure you've heard of him, his videos has gone viral on the Internet. Moreover, he already has appeared on national television and is due to guest on more tv shows. The man behind Maputing Cooking is Chris Urbano. An Australian who fell in love with the Philippines, not only does he cook the local cuisine, he also speaks the local language really well.

Maputing Cooking - Mr. Chris Urbano
(photo courtesy of www.maputingcooking.com)

I've seen most of his videos, aside from him adding little twists in cooking Pinoy food, what I found really interesting is Chris pairs wine with it. I'm no wine connoisseur but I do enjoy drinking wine regularly especially when drinking it with good food. I would usually have wine with Italian or French food, pairing it with Pinoy food sounded new and alien to me. But from how Chris explained it in his videos, it does seem plausible.

Here is just one of the videos he made, you can check out more videos at www.maputingcooking.com or you can search his videos on Youtube.





I sent Chris an email and we ended up planning for a simple get together. My venue of choice was one of my favorite restaurants in Makati, Swagat, a simple no frills restaurant that serves great tasting authentic Indian food.

Swagat's Variety of Curries and Roti Bread

Before heading for the resto, we made sure that each one of us will bring different kinds of wines. Chris brought two white wines for us to try while I brought one red for him to try. Chris brought two wines from King Valley, Australia. First up was the Chrismont Riesling, compared to the reisling brands I've tried before, Chrismont wasn't as sweet and it had that citrusy feel on the mouth that kind of leaves a dry refreshing feeling.

Chrismont Riesling

The next white we tried was something I haven't tried and seen before, the Petit Manseng. As Chris said its a type of varietal grape and its not that common here. I was pleasantly surprise with how the wine tasted, it tasted sweet and fruity, I got hints of grapefruits and other tropical fruits. A wine perfect for the hot summer, I would imagine drinking this while lounging on the beach. Both white wines were really good, even for first time wine drinkers, I'm pretty sure that they'll be able to appreciate both.

Chrismont Petit Manseng

The red I brought was a Spanish Tempranillo from the Rioja region, a wine that I regularly enjoy. The light to medium bodied wine has soft tannins that it's so easy to drink and pair with almost anything.

Antano Rioja Tempranillo

One of the usual topics that wine lovers talk about is how we don't get to try enough kinds and brands of wine in the country. Though there are a number of wine stores/shops, it is still kind of limited. I was elated when Chris said that he is bringing in more Australian wines from the already existing selection in his site. It was also nice to hear that he's planning to partner up with different restaurants to come up with food and wine pairings.

We're currently experiencing a 'foodie' revolution. Everyone already knows how good food should taste like and compared before we are now starting to enjoy and savor food more. What's next is something I hope and think would happen in a couple of years, a 'wine' revolution. For me, having a great meal doesn't only consist of good food, a bottle of good wine which compliments the meal completes the wonderful dining experience. I will look forward to the day where it would be common to see bottles of wine on dinner tables. Thanks to people like Chris Urbano, a person who I consider as a wine ambassador. Not only does he bring in more wine varieties to country, more importantly he educates and he shares his passion about his love of wines. I salute you! Cheers!

Sights and Spices meets Maputing Cooking

If you're a fellow wine lover or someone who wants to give wine a try. You can always send me or Chris a shout out and maybe we could meet up for a night of good food and wine. To find out more about the Australian wines that we had, visit www.maputingcooking.com.