For the Love of Food: Sintâ Will Take Your Taste Buds on a Flavorful Journey

Sintâ rewards travelers food a respite from daily life with unforgettable views and flavors that resonate through all the senses

This is an excerpt from MEGA August 2024 Dining Features story.

Perched on one of the quietest parts of the Tagaytay Ridge, Sintâ restaurant is found at the end of a small residential road of private vacation homes. It’s not the kind of restaurant that you stumble into by accident, for it is far off the beaten path.

^{The interiors of Sintâ were designed by Bambi Mañosa and Filipino artists were commissioned to create artworks to pay tribute to Tagaytay and Taal Lake.}

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Sintâ opened its doors in March 2024 at what used to be The Observatory. They only had to make a few modifications to the facilities. One of which is installing a funicular that can fit two wheelchairs at a time to take guests with disabilities to safely reach the main dining room levels below the reception area. 

The restaurant’s architecture hugs the steep slopes of the ridge, so as not to interfere with the natural landscape, including the trees and lush greenery. Everything faces the iconic Taal lake and its island with the active volcano so guests could have a front row seat to the regular puffs of smoke from its crater. It’s a must-see view everytime one comes up to Tagaytay, after all. No matter how many times you’ve seen it, it never gets old. 

^{In an exclusive MEGA interview, Chef Ariel Manuel calls Sintâ’s cuisine “Contemporary”, rather than categorizing it to a particular culinary geography because he uses flavors from all cuisines in his dishes}

The interiors of Sintâ were designed by Bambi Mañosa and Filipino artists were commissioned to create artworks to pay tribute to Tagaytay and Taal Lake. There is Mansy Abesamis’s paper cut art at the reception area that showcase Tagaytay’s many attractions; Colin Dancel’s photography and Tasha Tanjutco’s illustrations adorning the walls. A mosaic and sculpture by Kabunyag de Guia greet guests on their approach to the building that houses the dining hall. Listen closely and one could hear the soothing sounds of Marco Ortiga and Erwin Romulo’s bamboo wind chimes in the garden. Inside, Leeroy New’s hanging sculpture of Taal’s volcano island is the centerpiece in the double height space of the restaurant, mirroring the actual island seen through the floor to ceiling windows. 

Then Chef Ariel Manuel, of the wildly popular Lolo Dads restaurant in Malate—and now the Corporate Chef of PYC Foods Group, of which Sintâ is part of— created the menu to erase all doubts that the drive up to dine at Sintâ is worth the time and trouble to get there.

A CANVAS OF FLAVORS 

^{Each dish may sound like Continental staples, but every single one is executed with a touch of Asian flavors, some subtle, others front and center, but each one absolutely unique to Sintâ.}

Even after over 30 years as a chef, Chef Manuel’s passion for pursuing new flavors and feeding people is still evident. He is famous for being competitive, something that he also admits to. He formed teams of chefs and competed in prestigious chef competitions where he and his team won. Now, it seems as if he relishes one-upping expectations of his diners with unexpected flavors in seemingly familiar dishes. He calls Sintâ’s cuisine “Contemporary”, rather than categorizing it to a particular culinary geography because he uses flavors from all cuisines in his dishes, much like a master painter uses myriads of colors on his palette.

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Read more about Chef Ariel Manuel and his mission to create a new dining experience through Sintâ  at MEGA’s August 2024 issue, now available on Readly, Magzter, Press Reader and Zinio.

Photographed by PAT MATEO 

The post For the Love of Food: Sintâ Will Take Your Taste Buds on a Flavorful Journey  appeared first on MEGA.

For the Love of Food: Sintâ Will Take Your Taste Buds on a Flavorful Journey 
Source: Insta News Pinoy