OPENING STATEMENT

SaBALAI Bistro houses the visual and appetizing journey of culinary and artistic works of Asian artists. As the first Commissioner from Mindanao for the Philippine National Commission for Culture and the Arts, I wish to bring an extensive crossing and a wide spectrum of artistic creations from my personal collection and food preferences.

The main challenge of this culinary and artistic exhibition is to present in a non-conventional way the different images and food preference of Asia and selected European countries. As a steak house we serve the best homegrown choice cut beef cooked in the western tradition of pan grilling.

Our various pasta choices are concoctions of my sister Lorainne and mastered by our Chef. Our Tandoori cooking technique are replicated from the Indian style tradition yet suited for the Filipino palate. Our suite of SaBALAI Espesyal offers an alternative choice for seafood and vegestable menu patterned from our neighbouring countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia. We are not Halal but we guarantee that we don't serve pork in all of our recipe.

While in the process of collating all the art works that wold match the various cuisine, we are cautious not to be too overwhelemed with the magnitude and intricacies of the collection. We were careful in grouping them for better understanding, expecially for the first time viewer. We are aware of the many schools of thought that follows certain methods of categorizing in the manner of which the curatorial treatment for this gtallery and restaurant is based. The exhibition has no pretensions of any serious and ambitious scholarly pursuit nor challenges generaly accepted references. It has made every effort to ensure that basic date shared are as truthful, accurate as journeyed by the owner.

It is also the intention of the SaBALAI Bistro Management to encourage future endeavors of this nature, It espouses further attempts to discover the tangible and intangible cultural properties that comprises the cultural resources of SOCSKSARGEN. As clearly seen and maybe replicated in this exhibit, there are man areas where conservation effort is urgently needed.

Many of these visual and appetizing stimuli ignite enumerable interest among us and generate deep appreciation of who we are as a race, a people and nation - diversified and global.

carlo ebeo
curator-entrepreneur