Get Your Fill At The Strand

On a Saturday that we knew would be hectic (we were off to see what travel offers awaited us at the Travel Expo in SMX Convention Center), we decided we needed proper nourishment before heading off to the bargaining and jostling that was sure to meet us at the annual travel fair.

We met up at The Strand Cafe and Restaurant, the in-house restaurant of the serviced residences known as One Pacific Place, located on normally busy Buendia Avenue. We went on a Saturday, which explains a view like this:

The first thing I noticed entering the cafe was that it was filled with foreigners, with the foreign-local ratio I estimate to be 80-20. With that in mind, I thought the food selection in their breakfast buffet spread was interesting, because it seemed to cater more to a local palate.

There were local sausages and corned beef, as well as a local staple, sinangag. (fried rice)

Initially, they served adobo as their chicken dish, but later changed it to chicken curry when they had to replenish it. They also had fish fillet (fried) in their hot dish selection.

Cheese (cheddar, I think, no labels) and some meats were included in the appetizer section, along with the bread station (I saw croissants), which none of us chose to take part of, which means we are true-blue Pinoys who must have rice for breakfast.

A good way to get your vegetables (provided you stayed away from the thick, creamy dressing), we opted to use the melon vinaigrette.

There were two choices for cereal: whole wheat and corn flakes. The whole wheat variety tasted like cardboard, quite bland and not a good representative for pushing healthy eating if we are to go by taste. They had an egg station so we had omelettes and scrambled eggs, and a few cakes and fruits for desserts (the watermelon was quite sweet) and we did see a Caucasian woman having only fruits for breakfast and nothing else.

The spread includes two juices (orange and mango), as well as coffee. For a net price of 288 pesos, this is a strictly no-frills place (well-ventilated, I must say) to get your fill before heading off for the rest of your day. Complimentary wi-fi was provided and the servers were attentive, so "value for money" would be an understatement at this point.

If you are looking to simply load up at an affordable price that has free wi-fi, good service, a bright place and complimentary parking, then you'd be hard-pressed to find a better place than The Strand Cafe and Restaurant to hit all those points.


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The Strand Cafe and Restaurant
Ground Floor, One Pacific Place Serviced Residences
161 H.V. Dela Costa, Salcedo Village, Makati City
(02) 3047777
http://www.onepacificplaceresidences.com/facilities.php