Last Saturday, hubby and I enjoyed a luxurious lunch at Spiral in Sofitel. The last time I had lunch in Spiral was prior to its renovation a couple of years back, albeit I had dinner here with my aunt and uncle last December 2012. I didn’t blog about it because I was too hungry and all I wanted to do was eat, lol. I did post about our Spiral breakfast buffet when we stayed overnight though.
We were seated near the grand spiral staircase and at the side of our table was this magnificent fountain. I’m always awed by what I see when I eat here.
I went straight to the cheese room, a climate-controlled glass room filled with cheeses from all over the world including the Philippines. They are all there, waiting to get picked by hungry diners or wine connoisseurs. I love cheese so I always visit the cheese room whenever I’m in Spiral. I can munch on these all day.
There are a variety of cold cuts too — parma ham, jamon serrano, prosciutto, and lots lots more.
I love how the cheeses and cold cuts come with a vast array of garnish like nuts, olives, as well as condiments like mustard, pesto, horseradish, etc. If you love the cheeses and cold cuts, you can actually purchase them via the Spiral 2 Go service. There’s a complete pricelist inside the cheese room.
Even if it’s lunch time, there’s still a wide selection of breads.
I like how creatively executed Spiral’s salad bar is. You go to this section where you see shelves of fresh veggies then you get what you want.
You take your veggies to this area where a chef will toss them for you with your choice of dressing.
If you’re not too picky you can just grab one of these Shake and Go salad bottles. Just drizzle the veggies inside with your choice of dressing, close the bottle, and shake. Incidentally you can also buy bottles of dressing to take home via Spiral 2 Go.
I went straight to the Korean area because even when I’m in Spiral I’m still hankering for Korean food, lol. They have really delicious japchae and kimchi.
I grabbed some beef galbi and garnished it with doenjang (Korean fermented soybean paste) — really nice, tender, and juicy!
I love papadams and cucumber-yogurt dip so I also dropped by the Indian station.
I was surprised to find this sign there. It says De-Light. Stations carrying this sign serve low calorie and healthy dishes developed by the Thalassa Sea & Spa which specializes in thalassotherapy (medical use of sea water). I guess it’s a health destination kinda like The Farm at San Benito.
The Filipino station had dishes like Oxtail Kare-Kare (pictured above) and Okoy among several others. I’m not too fond of Filipino food so I skipped them.
The Japanese station is divided into cold (sashimi, sushi, salads) and hot (yakitori, tonkatsu, tempura, etc.) sections. The Japanese chef in charge of the Japanese stations told me he can cook up any dish to my liking as long as he has the ingredients there. Like for example, my hubby doesn’t eat mayonnaise so he can ask for a mayo-less custom-rolled sushi. Anyone can avail of this added service. That’s how far they will go to make you happy at Spiral.
There’s an impressive Chinese station with freshly roasted meats, dimsum, and short order dishes. There’s a noodle station too so you can have your own custom made noodle soup or mami.
Seafood was quite abundant. I was impressed by these large mussels…
…even moreso by these meaty lobsters.
I had to try their pizzas since they’re baked in a woodfire oven.
You can actually ask the chef to make you your own custom mini pizza with your choice of ingredients. Whenever I’m at Spiral I always wish I had more space in my tummy to fill with food. I can never try everything, lol. I’m usually done after a plate or two.
I have a penchant for dessert so I made sure I had room for it. Spiral always has three chocolate fountains in different flavors. This time they had orange, milk chocolate, and pistachio. Back in December, they had strawberry, milk chocolate, and white chocolate.
There are a lot of fresh fruits. My favorite is always the sweet pineapple chunks.
Spiral gives a whole new meaning to the term candy buffet. I love the apothecary vibe this section exudes. Drawers of candy all for the taking is every sweet tooth’s dream come true.
There’s a fine selection of chocolates too.
My favorite dessert will always be Puto Bumbong. Last December, I was not able to get any because they ran out. This time, they kept making them for as long as the buffet areas were open. Yay! I finally had my fill of these chewy sticky rice cakes. I smothered them in margarine and sprinkled muscovado sugar on top.
I also sampled some of their pastries and cakes. My favorites are the Salted Caramel Eclair and Rum Cake which comes with an actual shot of rum which you dispense onto the cake before eating.
If you want to purchase food items to take home, you can simply proceed to the Spiral 2 Go counter.
Oh yeah, the eat-all-you-can foie gras, one of my favorite Spiral offerings, is only available at the dinner buffet.
It’s times like this when I wish I had the metabolism of my 8-year old daughter so I can pig out on all the yummy offerings without worrying about my weight.
Spiral buffet rates are as follows:
- Breakfast Mon-Fri (6:30am to 10:30am) = P1,719.55 (Adults) / P982.60 (Kids)
- Breakfast Sat-Sun (6:30am to 10:30am) = P1,965.20 (Adults) / P1,105.43 (Kids)
- Lunch Mon-Sat (12nn to 2:30pm) = P2,431.94 (Adults) / P1,351.08 (Kids)
- Sunday Brunch (12nn to 3pm) = P3,991.81 (Adults) / P1,842.38 (Kids)
- Dinner Sun-Thurs (6:30pm to 10:30pm) = P2,800.41 (Adults) / P1,596,73 (Kids)
- Dinner Fri-Sat (6pm to 10:30pm) = P3,406.06 (Adults) / P1,596.74 (Kids)
Spiral has always been my favorite hotel buffet and that hasn’t changed. 😀
Spiral
Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila
CCP Complex, Roxas Blvd., Pasay City
551-5555
http://spiralmanila.com/
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