With only a handful of places where Thai cuisine can be appreciated by Ilonggos, Days Hotel Iloilo dishes up with its own take on this world famous and popular Asian cuisine. Before, Thai foods appeared in some of the hotel’s buffet selection like Flavors of Asia but this time it’s all about “Amazing Thailand” and it’s wonderful cuisine.
The buffet will become the staple offering every Monday (starting June 27) at The Promenade and I had a taste of what’s to come last Thursday during a special lunch “preview”. The rainy weather proved to be somewhat a good backdrop as I prepared my palate for a hot, hot, hot gastronomic and cultural appreciation.
But as explained by Days Hotel General Manager, J Scott Sarria, the “spice” of their buffet was made to attune with the local taste but still with authenticity. That means dishes are not as hot and spicy as one would expect in Thailand but one can intensify it as sauces, dips and spices abound on the buffet table.
As usual, I started with the soup and normally I don’t dig for hot and sour soup but this one was a gastronomically pleasing experience. The Hot and Sour Chicken Soup proved to be a perfect starter that rainy noontime as I devoured spoonful upon spoonful of this Thai concoction. Yes, it is sour at first then you’ll feel the tinge of spice creep in that in order to hold it back, you’ll just have to have keep on filling in. Even without the large strips of chicken, mushrooms and other vegetables, the soup itself already proves to be a good way to start a gastronomic journey across Thailand.
Next on my plate were a mix appetizers and salads. Looking like chocolate cookies were Man Plaa (fish croquettes), Rhoom (Egg Nest with crunchy pork filling) and Porpiatod (Thai style Spring Rolls).
The man plaa were really amazing for my simple palate! Even without the sweet-chili sauce it is supposed to be with, it was already tasty. It was good enough to taste like meatballs that on my next trips to the buffet table I made sure to stop by and take another.
The rhoom was also good but it was the visual appeal that got me first. The egg wraps look like nets that captured something and that something proved to be something that tastes good. It was like crunchy ground pork with all the trimmings (a lumpia filling is the nearest description I can think of).
And a real “lumpia” was next as I had porpiatod subsequently. Though it wasn’t as good as the first two appetizers, it was a mix of texture – the wrap being smooth and chewy, while the filling a burst of flavours (and again textures too) of different vegetables (and meat?). The spicy vinegar dip it came with perfectly made it appetizing in the end.Salads are staples in the Days Hotel's Buffet and for this Thai theme they had Yum Wun Sen (Spicy Mung Bean Noodles salad) and Yum Plaa (Spicy Fluffy Fish Salad).
The former is a cold mix of seafood (prawns, squid and crabsticks) plus assorted vegetables (chilies, shallots, fungus, tomatoes, etc) mixed with cold mung bean noodles (almost like bihon) all in a fish sauce - lime juice dressing.
The latter was a mix of crispy fried fish with chilies, shallots and green mango strips sprinkled with nuts on a bed of lettuce dressed in fish sauce, lime juice and sugar. A merry mix of flavour and texture than ranged from sweet to sour and from crunchy to smooth and chewy.
With more than 20 ingredients to choose from the Thai noodle station presented a challenge for first timers. Which noodles to use, which meat and vegetables to choose and which spice goes well in the mix. But if in doubt just tell the food server to serve the usual order of this Thai specialty.
That means squid balls, pork asado?, chicken, hardboiled egg, squid, mushroom, chives, cilantro, chilies, garlic, chili garlic oil, fish sauce, soy sauce, etc, etc on noodles of choice ranging from glass noodles to egg noodles. It was a good mix of ingredients in a savoury and hot soup, perfect for that rainy day.See more photos on Facebook