Yes, I'm Gloating

How can you not, with a deal this good?

Thanks to Richard (Tales From The Tummy) who alerted me to this promotion from Makati Shangri-La Hotel's Circles.

Yes, it is a Buy One-Get One promotion of their famous buffet offering at Circles. (It's called the Buffet Rush.) It took me more than two hours just to come face to face with one of the cordial officers of the hotel to book our reservation, which is why I'm sharing my experience here, if you plan to catch the last day that they will sell it, tomorrow, September 1, 2012. (Incidentally, also my mom's birthday.)

(1) The line officially opens at 10AM, and it ends 8PM. However, the lady I talked to informed me that at 945AM, there was a queue already. Ehem.

(2) It works like a book-and-buy promotion from the airline companies: You have to choose the date you intend to use the coupon, valid from September 3 until October 27, 2012.

(3) You have to personally line up, at Ballroom A of Makati Shangri-la Hotel, to purchase and reserve this deal. (Unless they change it, but I was assured that they would be at the same place tomorrow.) No buying or reserving by phone. Seats are provided while you wait.

(4) If you come here at 10AM, be prepared to go past the lunch hour. You should take a cue from one lady who brought her lunch with her from a fastfood chain. (One customer didn't even go to work for the first half of the day, we could hear her fielding calls from officemates and her boss, asking where she was.)

(5) If you have a wifi device, bring it. The hotel has free wifi so you can be distracted while you wait. Lengthily.

(6) The reason for the longish wait: Some people do multiple transactions. There was one lady who was buying for 30 people (yes, thirty), but for only one of her intended dates of use; she also wanted to have a romantic date with her husband (second transaction, for two people) and then with her immediate family on Sunday, for around 12 people. Yes, it took that long, that she regaled me, her seatmate in the waiting area, with her plans.

(7) She was number 20 something in the queue, I was 50 something. By the time I was done, it was close to 200.

(8) Choose a date before you enter, and have backup dates, as weekends are generally filled up faster. And if you have cash, you will be served faster over those using cards.

(9) There are four price ranges, depending on the day and time of use.

(10) You can gloat when you're done. It's hard not to, because this is a fantastic deal.

GO. NOW.


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For more information, see: https://www.facebook.com/MakatiShangrila

Latitude: Satisfying Start To Finish

This post will be short, only because it already is the third part of a review of the lunch buffet at Latitude in Traders Hotel, along Roxas Boulevard in Manila.

I have not seen such a value packed offering in quite awhile - and you know, given the way gas prices, and everything else, are skyrocketing, it becomes increasingly difficult to find deals that have both check marks on the Value and Satisfaction boxes: At 499++ pesos, this spread does that.

A perfect option at every dessert spread, Latitude's fruit offerings does not disappoint. I was especially glad to see suha among the lineup, I don't believe I have seen it laid out in other places. Fruits are a great natural way to sweeten the palate without ingesting artificial sweeteners or added carbohydrates or ingredients like shortening into your digestive system. (Less preparation/treatment - better for health: One rule in nutrition that I find to be easily "checked".)

And from the fruits, we go to the opposite direction: Bread Pudding, which is filled with carbohydrates, both natural and artificial sweeteners and a host of other ingredients. I cannot comment on the taste as I intentionally skipped this one, but the smell that wafted as I walked along was enough to make me regret not taking it.

True to its announcement, there were distinctly Filipino dishes in the panghimagas section.

Kutsinta and puto (with coconut shavings at the bottom), both rice-based desserts, something I find to be a common thread among Asian countries as we do have rice in abundance. Wait, let me rephrase that, some Asian countries have rice in abundance. (We can't consider ourselves in that category anymore since we actually import rice now.)

The halo-halo selection was incomplete when I pictured it (before we started the meal) so this is the only shot I have of it. Actually I had other desserts that I missed taking pictures of, like the decadent strawberry cheesecake Art brought to the table which I picked on - I think my food coma was beginning, and was practically immobilized by then - and I could conk myself on the head for not taking a shot. If you love strawberries and you love cream, then the not-pictured dessert I just described is what you want to make a beeline for.

The deep fried devious delights of churros with your choice of sauce. If you like the Dulcinea version, this will not disappoint.

A local dessert I love, ginataan. Their version had the right amount of sweetness - not too much. And it was warm, which is the way I like it best.

And so, the 499 buffet ends on a sweet note. With the added charges, the bill comes out to just a smidge over 600 pesos per person. You may say "I get better value at the 200 pesos restaurant in my neighborhood", and that may be true. But if you want to savor a fulfilling meal in a hotel environment that doesn't make you feel bad at the end of it when the tab arrives, then head on over to Latitude.

A perfect combination of Value and Satisfaction that is hard to beat.




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Here are the other parts of my Latitude review.

http://theguywithablog.blogspot.com/2012/04/unexpectedly-value-packed-secret.html

http://theguywithablog.blogspot.com/2012/04/499-lunch-across-ccp.html











Latitude
Traders Hotel
3001 Roxas Boulevard (across Cultural Center of the Philippines), Pasay City
7084888 (telephone)
http://www.shangri-la.com/en/manila/traders

An Unexpectedly Value Packed Secret

With Arthur leaving for an Asian cruise trip, I thought it best to have a little despedida (send off party) before he flew off (in Singapore Airlines, I'm so jealous). And if you've read through one of my recent posts, we were both unhappy with a restaurant experience we just had so I was wary about shelling out a huge amount only to have frowns after the meal.

I was going through my email inbox and I found a letter from Shangri-la Hotels which led me to their website. As I was going through the Golden Circle page, I was reminded that Traders Hotel was now under their group as well, and decided to see what the hotel was about since I have never been there. They had an ad stating their hotel buffet was only PhP 499++ for lunch at their restaurant named Latitude, which piqued my interest for the despedida - at least it would not cost as much as the meal we had in my earlier blogpost should it turn out to be an unpleasant experience.

Remember when we were taught never to judge a book by its cover?

Whoever said that line must have eaten at Latitude because we didn't expect to enjoy ourselves.

And we did.

The price already tipped us off to lower our expectation level, so I thought that was clever in a way that was disarming. (Setting the bar low makes it possible for customers to have a perceived better experience when things go right.) For hotel buffets, you would expect to near the 4-digit mark peso-wise, so 499++ was a steal (granted, Traders Hotel isn't considered a 5 star hotel) and was more in the category of Dads and Yakimix price wise.

We made a reservation for 11:45AM as the restaurant was open by 11:30AM for lunch and we were informed that it would only be around 12NN that the buffet setup would be complete. We got there almost at the time we said we would and I had time to photograph some areas of the place.

It wasn't a large place but I thought it was neatly enhanced by the dark wood all around and had a great feel to it - Arthur being very particular about ambiance (more than the food) and it got a thumbs up from him so I knew it was definitely nothing to sneeze at appearance wise. (Personally, I'll eat at a dilapidated hole in the wall if the food is worth it.)

When I went over to the buffet spread, I was surprised to find that it was already around 90% complete, and that they were merely arranging one more dish as well as some finishing touches. And in a mere moment, the waiter came over to tell us that we could begin.

Neither of us saw a label for this soup, and we both also didn't try it, but Arthur observed that it was like a pho station (the famous Vietnamese soup dish) where people could have noodles and various ingredients added to their liking. It's just too bad that I didn't taste it as I like pho.

These were the various condiments, vegetables, noodles and sauces you could put in your soup. The little cut up shrimps were very tough, Art got some to place on his salad and it felt overcooked. We both missed out on this as we both didn't take in the soup.

I started off with the salad (a good diet trick as well, fill yourself up with greens, not the breads) and the only "safe" option (calorie wise) was the vinaigrette dressing, which turned out to be a winning choice. (Almost equal parts sour and sweet with just a hint of salt) There were six dressing choices (including Roquefort, something I rarely see) You could have a "heavy" meal with their choice of salad toppings, shown below.

That's at least 24 things you could have on your salad, and I haven't even added their selection of cheeses. I was happy to see arugula in their greens selection which always gives any salad an oomph and a half. The toppings section included boiled chicken and cut pork and mushrooms, so really, your salad alone could be a "complete meal", or you could go full vegetarian all the way.

They had a bread selection as well, which we never tried, only because we would rather use our calorie count for more substantial fare (bread being derogatorily called "filler" sometimes).

This trio of appetizers - smoked salmon, Hungarian sausage with onions and potato salad - caught my eye, as I did not expect the first two of the trio to be included in a PhP 499+ spread. It was really a welcome and pleasant surprise, until Art saw the next offering (next picture) and I saw him smile.

While this "cold" selection is nowhere as extensive as the ones offered at Circles or Spirals (which would include crabs and other shellfish), it warmed us and we were just amazed that it was even offered at Latitude at all. And the salsa that came with it was superb. The dressing on the bottom right, though unnamed, was a taste sensation.

Arthur's version of a Happy Meal, shown above. And there were even more appetizers to choose from, that really, it was difficult to know which one to sample first.

Some macaroni salad variation on top, with a tuna concoction below, served with fried bread.

I didn't get to sample this either, but it was a mishmash of various little veggies.

Beef pieces in a thick sauce. I didn't care too much for the sauce, but the beef was done just right, which I rarely see, as oftentimes, the beef can be overdone and chewy. You could go through the beef with your fork, very nicely done.

And we have only just begun. The main dishes will be in the next post. Art and I were glad to have discovered this place, as we know of no one personally who could tell us their own experience of eating here, so this was really a "blind' moment and just hoping that it would "work". Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.

Sometimes it works, and it makes you smile. This is one of those moments.