Spiral
And now, to continue with my sharing of our gastronomic adventures last week….
Last Wednesday, 07 February, we were back at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza, this time to avail of our free night. Another blessing came our way by way of a room upgrade…from superior to deluxe. ;) For this stay, we were determined to have dinner at Spiral, discount or no discount!
The hotel dining trend these days is providing diners with an interactive dining experience, hence, the advent of open kitchens and live cooking stations. I read that it was supposed to be the Mandarin Oriental’s Paseo Uno which was the first to undergo massive renovations, and the other hotels followed suit.
I’ve been dying to try out Spiral ever since it opened its doors in March 2006. Spiral now occupies the space where 3 restaurants used to be: Cafe Plaza, Alfiere and China Sea. So you can just imagine how big it is! I personally went to the restaurant to make our reservations and so I can personally choose where we should sit. :) (Super OC!)
We were down at the restaurant at exactly 7:30pm. I came as Emilia Cuenca, with my Mom’s privelege card tucked safely in my bag . ;) This translates to a 50% discount on food bill! We realized that making a reservation is truly a must because for a weeknight, the place is packed! We got a nice booth by the window and our sofa seats were nice and comfy and made even comfier by lots of pillows. Had it been the daytime, we’ll have a perfectly nice view of the poolside and the bay, what with the floor to ceiling picture windows! But since it’s the night time, we had a clear view of our reflections instead. 
I’m impressed and utterly delighted that they thought of their kiddie diners as well, for they have special colorful utensils and cups for the little ones. And I can tell that Abby appreciated it very much!
I can’t even begin to describe what Spiral had to offer. I instantly forgot about Seasons! The buffet with its open kitchens practically run from one end of the restaurant to another end. We took our deep breaths, shhhhhd our palpitating hearts, and got ready to attack. Haha!
The cold station is a seafood lover’s oasis. There, laid out ever so nicely on tons and tons of ice were the biggest prawns and oysters this side of Manila. There were crabs as well. Diners also had a variety of dips and sauces to choose from: ketchup, thousand island, and vinegar.
I’m a very predictable eater. If it’s a buffet, I’ll mechanically proceed to the fresh shrimps and oysters, then the sushi, and then the cold cuts, which I did. :) Their parma ham and its sister, jamon serrano (or was it prosciutto?) was served with sweet watermelon. I also had ementhal cheese with a piece of roll and curry dipping (I don’t know what it’s called exactly…basta Indian something!) with my roti.
We served Abby her favorites, tempura shrimps (again, she ate four pieces!), and squid balls from her noodle soup and 2 pieces of fresh shrimps. She was constantly pointing at the variety of food on our plates asking what they were and asking to taste. Soon, sushi will have to be introduced to her and the wonder that is wasabi. Haha. To keep her busy while Dondi and I stuffed our faces with food, we gave Abby some kropek on the side.
There was a long line at the grilling station. I got a few pieces of Dondi’s lamb chops which went so well with the sweet minty dip. I didn’t quite make the right beef choices because the ones I got were a little too tough and hard to swallow.
Much as I wanted to avoid the Chinese station, because as Filipinos, we are always eating Chinese food, the selection was just too hard to resist. The dumplings were yummy and so were the roast pork and the pecking duck.
There was a pasta station, which we skipped as well as a shawarma corner, which we also skipped. We knew very well that it was just impossible to taste everything. I wish I had some more room for the Indian fare. I’ve somehow developed a special liking for Indian food simply because Dondi and I love spicy food. Maybe next time?
If you are diabetic, avoid the dessert station at all costs! Just a peek at what it has to offer will make one’s blood sugar shoot up. There were not one but two chocolate fountains: white and, well, brown. There was a halo-halo corner, which I skipped. My first stop, you may have already guessed, was the crepe station for my banana caramel crepe. What can I do? I’m addicted to the stuff! The chef offered to put chocolate from the chocolate fountain but I politely declined. I said I’d have to get my scoop of vanilla ice cream first. ;) Every bite I took off that crepe, I either closed my eyes or went wide-eyed! Hmmmm.
Abby had strawberry ice cream as well as a bowl of assorted goodies: gummy bears, marshmallows, gummy fish, and other gummy stuff. (Please don’t report us to the candy police!). She got to dip some of the mallows on sticks in the chocolate fountain and she loved the experience.
The tiny plates and cups the desserts were served in made them even more attractive. In addition to my crepe, I had flourless chocolate cake, melt-in-your-mouth blueberry cheesecake and one type of mousse. I seldom eat cookies for dessert but I’m glad Dondi discovered that one of their cookies is the chewy kind. The chocolate practically drips after you take a bite! And for the sissies health conscious, there’s always assorted fresh fruits (Blah!).
The restaurant’s service crew is always on their toes. Once you’re done with your plates, they’re whisked away from the table, pronto! They are very attentive and prompt. Just excellent!
The dinner buffet price from Sundays to Thursday is a little over Php 1400.00 net and on weekends, Fridays and Saturdays, the price is, hold your breath, a little over Php 1700.00. So come on a weeknight and come early! To enjoy a buffet of this magnitude, you have to make sure that you have no other appointments after dinner. :) It is best to eat at a leisurely pace so you can taste as much of the food they offer as you can. Do not rush into the meal. Lunch is cheaper by a few hundred pesos. We don’t order drinks when we eat buffet because one, the price of drinks is a sure hold-up and two, we don’t want air to occupy very important tummy space.
I don’t have enough words in my vocabulary bank to describe the experience, save for yummy! You’ll just have to try it out for yourself.
oOo
I was too shy to take pictures of the different food stations because there was just too many people. However, I found some professionally taken photos which are enough to back up my amateurish post.
Just the same, here are pictures of ourselves pigging out …and then some.
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Seasons
The very first Monday (08 January) after the holiday season was officially over, I was determined to get a hold of my life and start losing some a lot of unwanted pounds. I stopped eating sweets and rice. And for three weeks, I’m proud to say, I was able to really keep at it. That was until the despedida get-togethers for Dondi.
The past week alone, Dondi and I, including Abby, stuffed ourselves silly by indulging ourselves in dinner buffets 3 times in a span of 6 days. Call it intimate despedida dinners, if you may, what with only the three of us. Suffice it to say that we had a very good excuse to pig out again and again and again. Let’s face it, in spite of our “third-worldness”, we have buffets, in and out of hotels, which are at par, if not better, than those in most parts of the “first-world”. And at way less than USD50 per head!
There are two buffet experiences I wish to share. For this post, I will talk about our first gastronomic adventure. This is somewhat connected to one of my previous posts, Blessings in Disguise. Since we were not able to use our “Member for a Day” certificate at the Phil. Plaza on February 3, which should have entitled us to a 50% discount at Spiral, we decided to postpone our planned dinner at Spiral for another night (our 2nd gastronomic adventure), when I get a hold of my Mom’s “Advantage Plus” card, the Philippine Plaza’s privelege card.
An aritcle about one of the newly renovated hotel restaurants in Manila came to my mind, Seasons of the Manila Pavilion. After checking the price of the dinner buffet with the hotel, which was Php 1100 nett per person, we were very pleased and decided to give it a go. We took a cab from Traders Hotel to the Manila Pavilion in time for our 8pm reservation. This being our first time at the hotel, we didn’t quite know what to expect.
We were greeted by the Seasons’ cozy and bright ambiance. Seasons used to be Cafe Coquilla until the Manila Pavilion decided to join the bandwagon and renovate the restaurant to feature live cooking stations. Compared to the Hyatt Hotel and Casino’s Market Cafe, The Makati Shangri-la’s Circles, The Crowne Plaza’s Seven Corners and the Sofitel Philippine Plaza’s Spiral, Seasons is easily the underdog in terms of size. But don’t let this teeny weeny detail fool you. It may be small scale in size but definitely not in taste. It also has a little bit of everything that the other hotels have to offer.
Because of its “intimate” size, Seasons doesn’t come off as overwhelming as the others, which I think is a good thing. It’s not at all intimidating. I read that in keeping with its theme, food stations represent the four seasons as follows: the hot station with its soup and dimsum is summer, the cold station with sushi and fresh shrimps and mussels is winter, the rotisserie and grilling station is autumn and the dessert station, spring.
Service is excellent. The chef behind the cold station offerred to have the shrimps I was piling on my plate and which I intended to eat as is, cooked in garlic and butter. I agreed and I was glad that I did! Abby loved the shrimps with a capital L, not to mention the freshly cooked tempura, of which she ate 4 to 5 pieces! What can I say, my daughter has turned out to be a seafood monster, no thanks to my Mom! :)
I so so love the freshly and thinly sliced parma ham! I also got the ones that were made to look like flowerettes on top of sweet melon slices. I dare say that from that alone, I already got half our money’s worth! I always say that I was probably Japanese in one of my past lives because of my sheer love for Japanese food. I had several pieces of tempura in addition to my appetizers of assorted sushi.
The assorted meat skewers on display was just a sight to behold. I requested for grilled beef, which got lost somewhere along the way and never got to our table. I think they mistakenly gave it to Dondi. I didn’t mind at all though because I don’t know how else I could have possibly eaten it had it gotten to our table.
I did have a few other hot items, which I assure you I loved, but all I could think about now is the dessert station. :) Sure, they didn’t have a chocolate fountain, but I didn’t care one bit! Seasons has a halo-halo station, a crepe station, fresh fruits, ice cream, and a wide assortment of cakes and pastries. I didn’t have halo-halo but it was a hit because all the people who went to the dessert station, save for Dondi and me, had a glass of halo-halo in hand. What I had is my customary hotel buffet dessert of banana caramel crepe topped with vanila ice cream and chocolate syrup. It was just heavenly! Just thinking about it makes my dessert-loving heart beat so much faster. :) A lot of the cakes are beautifully served in little cutesy cutesy plates of different shapes and sizes. I especially love the presentation of their leche flan which was as big as a single-serve jellyace. Much as I wanted to savor each and every dessert available, in addition to my leche flan and crepe, I only had sansrival, chocolate panna cotta and strawberry mousse.
Seasons also didn’t forget to put up something that was sure to tickle the minds and tummies of their younger patrons. They had a small section for the kids which had marshmallows and chocoflakes and other kiddie treats.
I am all praises for this restaurant from the ambiance, to the food to the impeccable service. With the price proving to be more affordable than its 5-star counterparts, there need not be an occassion to celebrate for couples and families to dine at Seasons.
Here are pictures from that wonderful dinner.
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