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The Best Buffets - Taste + Value For Money


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just came from a late dinner at hyatt casino market cafe. their four cheese pizza was a pleasant surprise with a mild contrast of tastes. they also had very tender baby back ribs but it was somewhat lacking in flavor. roast duck was still very fragrant. shrimp tempura had a crunchy breading revealing a chewy fresh shrimp texture inside. desserts are still one of the better strengths of market cafe. tiramisu was slightly bittersweet and their ice cream was heavenly. too bad the chilled mangoes were ripe beyond optimum flavor. overall, their buffet had very slight deterioration from the last time i visited which was around a month ago, which was barely noticeable; a far cry from the sudden plunge to mediocrity of places such as circles and paseo uno.

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Mandarin Villa ...in ongpin 150 pesos lang , buffet lunch an dinner ...not bad na for the price....with unlimited drinks ( orange juice and almond juice )

 

 

Fried Rice Yangchow

Sotanghun Crab

Beef Brisket

Sweet And sour pork

LUmpia Shanghai

SEafood Fried noodle

Fried Chicken

Friend Shirmp ball

Chop suy

bamboo shells

 

 

plus a few sweets

 

 

cheapest buffet in town !

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Great Lunch Atong Ang,Thanks for organizing it :thumbsupsmiley:  :thumbsupsmiley:  :thumbsupsmiley: the food was outstanding,It was great you made special arrangements with Saisaki.salmon head grilled,Uni and Salmon prime cuts Sashimi were good :)

 

t'was nice meeting you CCL & also atong ang..... the unimaki & salmon was exceptional! ;) looking forward to our next buffet eb.... ;)

 

atong..... we'll just resched the "other" stuff.... B)

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Cebucitylocal and I attended a buffet meet at Hotel Intercontintal in Makati last night. standard hors d'oeuvres like smoked salmon canapes, mustard butter-ham-sour pickle canapes, fried chicken wings wth poached potatoes, guacamole canapes, fried batter squid. open bar consisted of free flowing beer, cocktails, soda, juices, iced tea and water. dessert had chocolate coated broas, cheescake slices, and meringue with slightly sweetened cream and shaved almonds.

as if these were the highlight of our gastronomical treat for the evening, they were nothing compared to the main entree below:

post-30106-1116259904.jpg

ccl and the main course

 

post-30106-1116259945.jpg

your humble triad chef and the centerpiece

 

post-30106-1116260237.jpg

my good friend in sweet heavenly bliss :thumbsupsmiley:

 

post-30106-1116260313.jpg

yours truly in gastronimical orgasm :upside:

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visited paseo uno a couple of nights ago and tried their buffet. salmon sashimi was very smooth showing propwe storage and defrosting but lacked flavor. salads were ok. oysters were tiny but fresh (i find them better at heritage and hyatt. lets call them 2H). tempura used shrimps which were cut diagonally across the bottom to stretch and batter had eggs mixed in, adding to the fullness. still better at 2H. teryaki chicken was mediocre. grilling station had snapper, prime ribs and leg of lamb. leg of lamb was overdone and tough. difference between here and the 2H is that the others grill only upon request of the guest while paseo stocks up, making the meats dry out. laziness will get you nowhere. number of desserts had been decreased and the only thing worth mentioning here is the chocolate ice cream which uses the real stuff. they had a pancake which the student trainee claimed the batter not to be mixed with water but egg white. nice try, but from my knowledge and what my friends at the American Baking Institute had told me, egg whites make a cake tougher while egg yolks are considered softeners. one improvement, though, is that they now dress up the student trainees in paseo uniforms, whereas in the past, they wore their school uniforms. somebody in mandarin oriental must have read my previous posts lambasting them for using OJT trainees as cheap labor and bringing down the quality. to sum it up, paseo uno rates as a 6.5 to me, epitomizing the word MEDIOCRE.

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  • 1 month later...

I agree with Sir Atong Ang's review of Paseo Uno, the place sucks bigtime. Last time I was there was a year ago and I couldn't believe how fast the deterioration of food and service became. I was there last nite to celebrate my girlfriend's birthday when lo and behold- disaster:

 

1. food was disorganized, imagine finding pizza in the dessert bar

2. fish was half cooked...somthin somethin mahi mahi

3. the grill was bad pre-cooked sirloin, shcubleig, even the grill staff were rude

4. they ran out of pasta early on

5. took 25 minutes to order orange juice

6. they ran out of halo halo glasses (while no one was on the halo halo queue)

7. the guy at the vitnam soup station was rude--couldn't even entertain queries with the vietnam soup

8. all meat were pre-sliced and just laying in their trays

9. here's the best....they ran out of crepe batter..and they replaced them with PANCAKES!!!

10. they ran out of siopao to steam

 

 

overall rating: 3 out of 10

 

ladies and gentlemen, it's that bad

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Boss Atong,  could you also give numbered ratings for 2H, Circles, and the other hotel buffets?  This will surely help us all.  Kung pwede, pakisamahan din ng review month.  Baka naman mabasa nila dito at ayusin nila ang performance nila.

I agree sir atong, gawa ka naman ng snippet review with rating ng sikat ng mga hotel na may buffet. kahit maikli lang po, para informed kami lahat...as it is you're the most credible reviewr i've witnessed so far.

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I agree sir atong, gawa ka naman ng snippet review with rating ng sikat ng mga hotel na may buffet. kahit maikli lang po, para informed kami lahat...as it is you're the most credible reviewr i've witnessed so far.

my apologies, gentlemen, for being quite silent as i was busy with business ... and food. :) sadly, most hotels have downgraded their buffets most probably due to costing reasons. not even the famed market cafe was spared. my brother just went there last week and noticed the salmon quality had gone down. dimsum had stayed the same but variety was wanting. gone were the hongkong chefs who manned the chinese station, most probably to be found at lili, its chinese fine dining restaurant.

 

i also visited the riviera with ccl yesterday to try its malaysian buffet. it had great lamb sate but the roti pancake was thick and dry. penang has a better version. they also removed their roast duck, which was a big disappointment. their soup base for shabu-shabu came from fish head and chicken unlike market cafe which practically threw in everything from duck neck and pig feet to chicken and pork bones. bread was dry and placed in baskets instead of closed containers which hastens its staling process. desserts were just fine. their oysters were also not fresh, causing one of our companions to get it in the stomach. their hot dishes of sweet and sour pork, red snapper with cream sauce and lamb chops were also left too long in the chafing dish, drying out the meats and making them unattractive to the eyes and to the palate.

 

they are having their singaporean food fest next month and i hope they can improve on it as they are singaporean-operated, one of the trade information i picked up from ccl. this guy is a whiz when it comes to food and travel.

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Guest Dennis®
visited paseo uno a couple of nights ago and tried their buffet. salmon sashimi was very smooth showing propwe storage and defrosting but lacked flavor.  salads were ok.  oysters were tiny but fresh (i find them better at heritage and hyatt.  lets call them 2H). tempura used shrimps which were cut diagonally across the bottom to stretch and batter had eggs mixed in, adding to the fullness.  still better at 2H.  teryaki chicken was mediocre.  grilling station had snapper, prime ribs and leg of lamb.  leg of lamb was overdone and tough.  difference between here and the 2H is that the others grill only upon request of the guest while paseo stocks up, making the meats dry out.  laziness will get you nowhere.  number of desserts had been decreased and the only thing worth mentioning here is the chocolate ice cream which uses the real stuff.  they had a pancake which the student trainee claimed the batter not to be mixed with water but egg white.  nice try, but from my knowledge and what my friends at the American Baking Institute had told me, egg whites make a cake tougher while egg yolks are considered softeners.  one improvement, though, is that they now dress up the student trainees in paseo uniforms, whereas in the past, they wore their school uniforms.  somebody in mandarin oriental must have read my previous posts lambasting them for using OJT trainees as cheap labor and bringing down the quality.  to sum it up, paseo uno rates as a 6.5 to me, epitomizing the word MEDIOCRE.

 

i agree with you. hyatt is better. service at paseo is not that good. sabagay, malaki din naman difference ng dalawa sa price. about P500 yata.

 

anyway, try BRAZIL BRAZIL at rockwell. i had lunch there before, if i remember right P350 yata per head. EAT ALL YOU CAN sa steak. :)

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i agree with you. hyatt is better. service at paseo is not that good.  sabagay, malaki din naman difference ng dalawa sa price. about P500 yata.

 

anyway, try BRAZIL BRAZIL at rockwell. i had lunch there before, if i remember right P350 yata per head. EAT ALL YOU CAN sa steak.  :)

yes, ive tried it but i remember it as above 500 pesos. their shrimp mango salad is good but they take their sweet time bringing out the lanb as a strategy to keep costs down. they also have this barbequed pineapple which is good

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Dennis®
yes, ive tried it but i remember it as above 500 pesos.  their shrimp mango salad is good but they take their sweet time bringing out the lanb as a strategy to keep costs down.  they also have this barbequed pineapple which is good

 

wow! :blink: P500 na ba? hmm... makabalik nga tom. any new suggestions?

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