Ciao launches Fiesta Night

At last week’s launch, guests were greeted with a glass of sangria, a beverage of Spanish origin consisting of red wine and chopped fruit.

Once seated they were entertained with Spanish guitar music by Enrico Camejo and Delicia Riley and treated to food prepared by chef Victor Alejandro.

The meal comprised foods of Latin origin, including chicken and seafood paella, quesadillas, Spanish tortilla, shrimp bruschettas, empanadas and patatas bravas. Denise de Gale-Mc Intyre and her dancers from the Dance Sport Latin and Ballroom Dance School later took over the dance floor and encouraged guests to join them.

Michiela de la Rosa, Ciao’s marketing manager and the mastermind behind the event was busy ensuring that everything was executed according to plan, while Fred Chin Lee, managing director, Hotel Normandie and Emilio Lorenzo Serra, Spanish Charg? d’Affaires exchanged stories on Latin food and culture.

The Charg? d’Affaires congratulated Chin Lee, de la Rosa and the Normandie for what he described as the excellent choice of paella on the night.

He then gave a history of paella, which evolved from being a Valencian rice dish, to one the national dish of Spain.

He said: “Paella is a dish coming from the Mediterranean coast, more specifically Valencia.

But there has been the evolution of the paella about 50 years ago. It was a beautiful dish for peasants made of rice, vegetables and some chicken meat, but everything evolves, and with paella leaving Spain and to a great extent becoming an international dish, it is like a symphony that is played in different ways depending on the conductor or the chef.

I am sure the paella of tonight will be a very exciting experience.” He then thanked Normandie for displaying the colours of Spain in the decor for the occasion, before getting down to his helping of paella.