Philip and Ching Cruz throw the perfect party in honor of Tina Cuevas and Stanley Ng It took more than endless shots of Macallan on the rocks or a tender, meaty, flavorful tomahawk, not to mention pork belly slow-roasted to perfection, to get anybody who had ever been to a dinner party hosted by the gracious Cruz couple, construction magnate Philip Cruz and his wife, businesswoman and style constant Ching Cruz, at their home in a leafy neighborhood in Makati City to mind the save-the-dates sent over a month before the appointed date. Like most others on the guest list of no more than 60, I would have come anyway had Philip and Ching decided to serve nothing but biscuits because, after all, it was in honor of the birthdays of two of my favorite Geminis— hotelier Tina Cuevas and Philippine Airlines president and chief operating officer Stanley Ng. For these two beloved friends, Ching—always gracious, generous, and glamorous at entertaining at her home—would throw a feast worthy of royalty.
So besides the steak and porchetta, there was—following a lovely cream of pumpkin—butterflied lobster from Palawan, fresh and steamed with lemon butter sauce, of which some guests helped themselves ooh-ing and ahhing to a second or third serving, and then dish after dish, from the foie gras, caviar pie, and artichoke dip passed around for pre-dinner cocktails to the arroz caldo served with tokwa’t baboy in the wee hours to guests like myself who stayed on after the singing and the.
