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Saturday, May 10, 2008

Running Around In Cirles

Today we had lunch at the Circles Restaurant of the Manila Shangri-la, Makati. My husband was given 2 gift certificates to dinner buffets with standard drinks by his company and we paid for my daughter's lunch. It cost us about 1600 PHP for her meal. But of course it was a buffet and for Shang, being a 5-star hotel, it was reasonably priced.

I had made the reservation 2 weeks prior. The GC was going to expire on May 15 and we only have the weekends to avail of it because Boyet is busy with work and Ikee has to attend swim training on both weekends and week days not to mention her other activities such as going to kumon classes and learning HTML.

The buffet was as I had expected it to be. Circles was the former Islands Cafe of the Shang. We had gone there in the past, individually and as a family, but since its renovation, this was the first time for us to visit them. They had both western and asian cuisine, mostly Asian though. My first course consisted of Japanese sushi, sashimi, kani salad, some mussels, and others. I have always loved sashimi. But after I had taken up nursing, I've been rather watchful about what I ingest so, much as I'd like to indulge my self on those sweet, raw fish, I had limited it to a few pieces. Just couldn't resist it.

Next came the main course. I had mutton curry, some roti, roast duck, some shrimp tandoori, tempura, and a few others all in small quantities. Through the years I've learned that the technique with buffets is not to eat so fast to allow those food to be churned and digested properly. But the food there looked so inviting and seemed to call me out of my own will. Still, I had the control not to overeat.

Dessert came after that. Oooh, those sweet things were so tempting. Ikee and I tried the crepe - she had apple cinnamon and I had mango. Both were topped with vanilla ice cream and we had asked for whipped cream which the servers gladly fetched for us. The crepes were wonderful - soft but not soggy, freshly cooked and were rather bland which blended perfectly with the toppings. There was a chocolate fountain which was about 3 feet high. Ikee remembered that in one of the parties she had attended there was one such fountain. This one had some strawberries, dried apricots and figs, marshmallows and a few other fruits on sticks. We tried those too. I didn't like that so much and neither did Ikee. She even whispered that our fondue was better. I agreed. The chocolate was smooth but lacked the creaminess that we are accustomed to. I had a slice of meringue roll. It wasn't so sweet but it tasted unusual to me because it had jackfruit in it.

If you've heard of the molecular halo-halo, they have it there too. This one is made of noodle like fruits - fruits that had been blended and passed through a large syringe and dipped in water which they call cold cooking technique. The fruit noodles are placed in small glasses. Scoops of ice cream were placed above it and topped with yogurt. I had raspberry noodles with strawberry and vanilla ice cream. It was quite good.

I thought the dessert would be the last course I'd have. I was wrong. The cheese plate was so tempting that I still had to take some. There were cream cheese, emmental, picorino, blue cheese, and some others which I couldn't even pronounce. I loved the cream cheese and the other cheese which tasted like brie cheese. Both are soft cheeses. While I was having my cheese, a waiter came offering some chicken quesadilla. It mixed well with my cheese although I was full enough that I had only a small piece of it.

Overall, the meal was good. Nothing spectacular except for the desserts which really appealed to me ever since . The place? Oh, it was beautiful and the service was perfect. Every single member of the staff was just willing to please.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You made me hungry with your article LOL. I love sashimi ever since I was introduced to it 40 years ago. Is there something I should worry about raw fish? Too late now for me LOL. Oh well, we are all going to go sometime - we might as well enjoy life while we are still around LOL.

Unknown said...

hi bert,
Well... hehehe... I guess after 40 years, changing the habit wouldn't be of much help eh? I absolutely agree that if we have to go, we at least should go happy. LOL

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