At Dominion Cellar, Chef Rhea Rizzo of Mrs. Saldo’s and Chef Carlos Garcia explored how one bottle can take on different expressions across cuisines.
To drink wine with food is to notice how one taste changes another. A bottle may feel different depending on the dish beside it, bringing forward qualities that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. This idea shaped Common Ground, a one-night four-hands dinner held at Dominion Cellar on September 2, 2026. Chef Rhea Rizzo of Mrs. Saldo’s and Dominion Cellar Executive Chef Carlos Garcia each created a separate dish for the five wines served that evening.
The two chefs came to the table with their own points of view. Rizzo’s cooking at Mrs. Saldo’s draws from travel, memory, and her interest in Asian flavors. Garcia, who’s originally from Extremadura, Spain, brings a European foundation to food made with wine in mind.
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How Wine Found Different Expressions Across Two Menus
The dinner began with Champagne Franck Bonville Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru 2016. Garcia served blue crab with crustacean aioli, while Rizzo prepared miang kham with saba and oyster. The same Champagne found a place beside both dishes, responding to them in different ways.
This structure continued as the menu moved through Riesling, Chardonnay, Bordeaux, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Each pairing showed how wine can suit both between European and Asian flavors while taking on a slightly different character with every plate.
The dinner reflected Dominion Cellar’s wine-first approach. Through experiences such as Common Ground, guests can understand a bottle through the food served with it, discovering how wine can open up different ways of tasting familiar ingredients and cuisines.
Wine gave the chefs a shared starting point while leaving room for each to cook in her or his own way. Moving between their plates, the bottles became something to consider from more than one perspective—and perhaps something to return to with a different dish the next time.
Explore part of the four-hands dinner menu below.
Dominion Cellar is located at 38 Jupiter Street, Makati. For more information, visit their official Instagram page.
Photos courtesy of Dominion Cellar
