Together with my Iloilo Bloggers “family”, it was another satisfying lunch at the premiere buffet in Iloilo City – The Promenade at Days Hotel Iloilo. It was a timely invitation and a well deserved treat for us who have spent so much time and effort in the preparation for “The Event” the weekend after.
As the Sunday Family Fest Lunch Buffet at Days Hotel not being thematic (unlike Meshi Asian buffets) , we had no preview of what we were about to gastronomically encounter. And it did not fail – as usual. Despite being the third buffet we were invited into, it was as if our first time for what greeted us was an array of mouth watering and scrumptious dishes that were screaming for our attention. or the
A variety of carbs welcomed us – dinner rolls, loaf bread, wheat bread, penny rolls, stick breads and even puto manapla. It went well with the soup or with the orange and strawberry marmalades on the side.
Beside it was the appetizer station that could already have satisfied hungry diners on its own. It had assorted cold cuts – asado, salted and century eggs and Chinese sausage among others. Equally appetizing were the fresh spring rolls, Chinese egg foo yong, honey glazed chicken wings, kani & apple salad, California salad, salami rolls, beef and noodle salad.
Alongside is the salad station where one can mix and match a dozen ingredients for a salad that fits his taste. With iceberg and Baguio lettuce plus aragula leaves as “base”, one may add tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, singkamas, carrots, sweet corn, raisins, pineapples and hardboiled eggs. A variety of dressing completes the salad experience.
What came next a surprise and a delight – a pancit palabok station! With the noodles and sauce constantly heated to ensure quality, one can delight himself concocting a pancit palabok as almost all ingredients were aplenty – tinapa, chicharon, toasted garlic, squid rings and hardboiled eggs. It was gastronomic pleasure making pancit palabok having all the ingredients in the quality and quantity we want that we got full even by just looking at it.
Steps away was the Mongolian station and basically had stir fried noodles using the noodles and vegetables one chooses. Beside it was the grilling station with pork, chicken and chicken liver on sticks and slices of tuna and salmon.
And if one still has room for more – really? There’s the main buffet station that has lots and lots to offer. Yang chow fried rice, steamed bok choi with clams & mushrooms, fettuccine carbonara, rosemary roast chicken, seafood thermidore, beef ribs curry and pork leg humba. Now how’s that for almost the finale?
But of course, the finale is reserved for desserts! As with the past the two buffets we had, it didn’t fail. It was the most lavish considering the variety, quantity and quality. The centerpiece was an eye-catching cheesecake topped with fruits- looks good tastes even better!
Beside it was the equally appealing display of assorted desserts incups – sweet potato cake, Oreo cheesecake, chocolate truffles, green tea with apple and panna cotta with fruits. They also have a halo halo station with the usual ingredients – kaong, nata de coco, ube, sweetened beans, macapuno, garbanzos, minatamis na saba, kamote, corn flakes and ice cream. Plus the not so usual – Oreo crumble, Nips, marshmallows, chocolate chips and nuts.
But wait there’s more, a bowl of buko salad, chocolate chip pudding and a fried desserts station – turon with chocolate or macapuno and mango fritters. A tower of butterscotch, brownies, chocolate crinkles and oatmeal cookies. But if one opts for much healthier sweets, there’s a lot of fresh pineapples and papayas.
As I had my last trip to the dessert station, I heard a foreigner – a priest by profession, exclaimed”Oh God, lead us not into temptation”, as he stared dessert station. Very tempting indeed and with the selection of dishes this Sunday Family Feast buffet (or any other buffets) Days Hotel Iloilo has to offer, chances are temptation cannot be resisted.