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Okoy, kare-kare and samalamig at a five-star hotel
International cuisine is often the main attraction at five-star hotels, but one local property is doing the opposite and showing off the best of Philippine cuisine.
If you’re in the mood for piping hot sinigang or bulalo, decadent crispy pata and inihaw na pork belly, or rich maja blanca, ube halaya and buko pandan, you might want to give the buffet at Marriott Hotel Manila a try.
“We’re doing this in celebration of National Heritage Month,” the hotel’s director for marketing communications Michelle Garcia said. “Food is part of our heritage and we’re showcasing the best our country has to offer.”
At the launch of the Art-Taste-Tic Filipino Food Festival, the hotel invited guests to participate in a short trivia challenge featuring questions about local art, architecture, film, and food. Afterwards, they were encouraged to try out the different stations around the café highlighting Filipino food favorites.
It was difficult not to head to the kare-kare station first. Different regions and provinces have their own take on the Pinoy classic, but Marriott’s version features a choice of two different sauces: the classic peanut sauce and, for the more adventurous, a coconut-base sauce. Fill your bowl with a choice of ingredients: veggies, shrimp, filleted fish, tripe and beef chunks. Don’t forget a side of bagoong.
You’ll have to get rice with that, but whether you want regular white or bagoong rice, you’ll have to watch out because they’re right next to the hot sabaw station. Get a sinigang to order with your choice of laman: salmon, prawn or pork, or opt for a deep bowl of authentic Batangas bulalo. The next best thing to driving all the way up to Tagaytay is right here.
The hotel’s F&B team takes the concept of having food cooked according to your exact specifications to new heights, with an entire selection of chilled seafood on display. Diners can choose from fish, various shellfish like oysters and scallops, and other seafood like crabs and lobsters, and have them lightly grilled, sauteed in a butter-garlic sauce, or however way they want it. If you’re too overwhelmed with the choices, the hotel’s chefs would be more than happy to make recommendations.
Okoy, or tiny shrimps in deep-fried batter, gets its own station, apparently because it’s an undeniable favorite. Make sure to get a dipping sauce to go along with it: suka (vinegar) or toyo (soy sauce) with calamansi.
There’s also a selection of pre-cooked Pinoy staples, or what you would normally see in a typical Filipino home or altogether at a big fiesta or holiday gathering: deep fried pork knuckles (crispy pata), dinuguan, pork menudo, beef mechado, morcon, gatang sitaw and kalabasa and many others.
Wash it all down with a cool glass of samalamig, or local coolers: melon juice, sago’t gulaman, and buko pandan. The hotel even set up the drinks in the exact plastic containers you’d find on many city street corners.
And for dessert, the buffet has a selection of fiesta favorites like maja blanca, suman, sapin-sapin, brazo de mercedes and a fancy halo-halo topped with Pinoy-flavored gelato.
The old buffet favorites, like Japanese, Chinese, pastas, breads, carving stations, etc. are still there, of course, but for a taste of truly great Filipino cuisine, Marriott Café’s Art-Tast-Tic offerings are truly worth celebrating. —KG, GMA News
Marriott Café’s Art-Taste-Tic Filipino Food Festival in celebration of National Heritage Month is available for dinner until June 12, 2016, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The hotel is located at Resorts World Manila, Pasay City. The dinner buffet is P2,100 on weekdays and P2,500 on weekends.
