Hotel dining is such a heavenly experience especially when it’s buffet. Many of us would often want to eat different types of international cuisines minus the hassle of choosing from a menu. So we end up in hotel buffets with a wide variety of food to choose from and cooked fresh by both local and foreign chefs. And of course, there’s the convenience of a five-star service that most of these hotels offer to their guests.
In Metro Manila, all top luxury hotels offer buffet dining for breakfast, lunch and dinner all throughout the week. This hotel buffet craze in the metropolis has captured a large number of followers during the past years especially among business executives. Even political figures are seen frequenting hotel buffet restaurants for either meetings or family gatherings.
So what really makes the best hotel buffet experience? I came up with four major criteria as follows: food choices, service, ambience and food quality. I also asked 50 executives and businessmen to list down and rank their favorite hotel buffet restaurants to come up with Metro Manila’s best.
1. HEAT by Edsa Shangri-La
When it comes to food quality, Shangri-La truly deserves to be on top of the list. Edsa Shangri-La’s HEAT (they define it as Healthy Eating, Amazing Treats) is known for its authentic Filipino cuisine with its popular lechon being faithfully served everyday and native delicacies such as puto bumbong, bibingka, pichi-pichi and palitao having their own corner for the eager. The Sinigang na Salmon sa Miso is its signature Filipino dish while its Ice Cream Teppanyaki is the most popular dessert for its patrons. This five-star restaurant has a 415-seat capacity with five glass-walled private rooms to choose from—all uniquely named after the units of measurement for temperature such as Celsius and Fahrenheit. It has eight interactive stations serving Japanese, Indian, Korean, Chinese and Italian cuisines. HEAT, for me, is a hotel restaurant with a heart as it serves a special “Drink of the Month” that comes with a free stuffed toy made by their beneficiary NGO. No wonder, combining this social responsibility project with excellent food and service, HEAT is recognized as one of the best restaurants among all Shangri-La hotels and resorts worldwide in a survey conducted by a third-party research firm recently.
High 5 rating: 4.5
2. Spiral by Hotel Sofitel Philippine Plaza
Many businessmen and even families prefer the large-scale buffet of Hotel Sofitel’s Spiral. Being Metro Manila’s biggest hotel buffet, it serves almost 300 dishes from the time-honored cuisines of China, India, Japan, Europe, Middle East, and of course, the Philippines. Its 2,500-square meter dining area in a high ceiling, nature setting is the most spacious among all Metro Manila luxury hotels. There’s so much room to breathe as it can accommodate almost 500 guests. It has five Asian-inspired “very” private rooms for functions and small group gatherings, perfect for those who do not want to be seen in public while enjoying the sumptuous offerings of this longest hotel buffet. When you’re in Spiral, you should never miss their best dimsums in the popular Chinese section. For the health-conscious ones, look for “Cuisine Vitale” special labels of their healthy selections in all stations including desserts. High 5 rating: 4.44
3. Circles by Makati Shangri-La
Among all these hotel buffets, it is Circles in Makati Shangri-La that I visited the most. It is always full, but I always find the pleasure of hotel dining here. I would always look forward to their themed days or nights such as the Filipino Fiesta every Wednesday where they usually invite celebrity guests to open the buffet and the Seafood Feast every Friday when they extend their long buffet for grilled, poached, steamed, pan-fried seafood items. If you’re into barbeques, then Saturday night is perfect for a Circles dinner. Their interactive kitchens are always open for customized cooking by the chefs. While it is a buffet setup, customers can do ala carte requests without extra charge. It is WIFI-ready and can accommodate 320 people. It has special private rooms that are named after the sections adjacent to them. The Japanese room is right beside the sushi bar while the Chinese room is located beside the dimsum area. A more private room called Chef’s Table (it is right beside the main kitchen area where the chefs converge during busy hours) is also available for small groups. Special annual memberships are offered for Circles patrons in order to avail for 50-percent discount for lunch all year round.
High 5 rating: 4.25
4. Seven Corners by Crowne Plaza
I can say that the best US Prime Rib is served at Crowne Plaza’s Seven Corners. Around 25 kilos of this specialty dish is consumed everyday, making it the best-seller buffet item since it opened in 2005. The restaurant’s name literally means seven food corners composed of Indian, Japanese, Western, Cold (Western and Asian salads), Pasta, Pizza and Pastry stations. It is managed by a Swiss-Italian head chef with an all-Filipino chef team to make sure that customers get the best value for buffet. The dining area is smaller compared to the other hotel restaurants with a total capacity of 140 people. During breakfast and lunch, natural light coming from the eastern side of Metro Manila fills up the restaurant, but during the night, the place is transformed into an elegant Zen-inspired ambience. You’ll be surprised to see Mr. John Gokongwei, one of the country’s richest men, dining in this restaurant almost everyday as long as he’s not abroad. At one time, when BBC’s Rico Hizon and I had lunch with him here, I would never forget him repeatedly saying that Seven Corners has the most tender and delicious US Prime Rib in the country! High 5 rating: 3.95
5. Paseo Uno by Mandarin Oriental
If you’re looking for an intimate ambience and pleasurable five-star dining experience, then Mandarin Oriental’s Paseo Uno would be the perfect choice. This is a great place to dine if you’re with someone special because of the romantic atmosphere. Unlike other hotel buffet restaurants, Paseo Uno has dining partitions (most of them are huge cupboards) that do not only provide privacy among guests, but also prevents the noise from circulating around the room especially during busy hours. Because of these partitions, they probably didn’t see the need to have any private rooms which other hotel restaurants have. The restaurant can accommodate 155 guests. Paseo Uno is proud to be the pioneer in Metro Manila’s hotel buffet craze when it first introduced its interactive live kitchen concept in 2003. This restaurant is known for its grilled and carving stations that every one shouldn’t miss. It is also popular for its one-on-one service which I experienced myself. I believe it is Mandarin Oriental’s credo of service which I learned from my friends who patronize the hotel chain in other countries. I just hope though that they will soon have a bigger parking area that’s indoor for more convenience.
High 5 rating: 3.9
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November 29th, 2009
Metro Manila’s best hotel buffets 
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