A Valentine dinner buffet at The Venue

A very special occasion like Valentine's Day deserve only the best so last Feb. 14. I found myself enjoying the dinner buffet Eat, Love, Indulge at The Venue Function Rooms at The Avenue Complex. The Heart's Day dinner proved to be another gastronomic experience of old favorites and new discoveries. With the buffet set up on the veranda, one can't help but be distracted quite a bit of the happenings all around the complex (and it was full of people then) but the "Boracay" lanterns provided calming atmosphere - at least for me.

It was one superb line up as I started my eating ritual - with the usual clicks and flashes. And it was a sort of healthy set up without those cholesterollific and bilbilicious food items on the spread. Truly, a good for the heart buffet on Valentine's Day!

Add more to it was the soothing ambiance made more romantic by the violin performers that made eating more of leisure than gastronomic. And I started out by concocting my own own salad with organic greens and other vegetables grown in their own farm in Tigum, Pavia.

I was particularly interested with these cheery tomatoes but had second thoughts of them being aratiles/serisa for the former were as big as those "Jamaican cherries". So I made a heaping of these fruits plus vegetables and dressed them in vinaigrette to whet my appetite for the night.

I also got a bowlful of English Clam Chowder on my first visit to the buffet, by digging deeper in the soup container for a lot of clams and vegetables. Despite the soup not being that hot, I loved how the chowder tasted that on my next bowl, I only got the soup minus the clams.

My next plate had Spring Rolls, Stuffed Chicken Wings, Herbed Mashed Potato and Lasagna. It was just the right time to satisfy my forever craving for spring rolls for it had the crisp and crunch plus the filling and dip I was looking for so I had two more pieces on my next visit to the buffet table.

I was surprised that these big pieces of chicken wings were placed in the appetizer side. Though they usually are appetizers but they were stuffed so they came of out big enough to be part of the main dishes. And the stuffing was a savoury mix of mushrooms and other vegetables that gave the chicken more flavour and size too.

As usual, I didn't have rice but I had this Herbed Mashed Potato instead to go with the chicken wing and they were a perfect match!

I really loved the Lasagna! Just the right consistency - not too thick nor runny, generously filled with a delectable meat mix but it was the cheese that made it all that good that I had to return three times to the lasagna tray for my fill.

I had to remind myself that I haven't touched the main dishes after all that binge so I had a round up of the main dishes in just one go.

I had this (sort of) Beef Stew but I forgot to drench it in sauce but nonetheless it was soft to each bite and full of flavour too. I just had it the vegetables it came with on my plate and it was just as good.

Next was this Classic Roasted Chicken, did I get the name right? I got a tasty part of the chicken with most of the flavour on the skin. Yum!

A galore of steamed organic vegetables gave me a break for all the meat intake and they are just as crisp and fresh as it looks.

Finally, the Seafood Thermidore was a perfect ending to this main dish galore with this creamy and delightful melange of seafood and vegetables in scrumptious sauce.

For dessert, Strawberry Pavlovas were the stars of the night as they did not only look good but also tasted even better. The mix of the crunch meringue, the cream and the fresh strawberries made a delightful burst of taste and texture.

These rich chocolate squares gave me my chocolate filling for Valentine's Day.

And we even have these special lemon meringue tarts delivered to our table (only) by The Venue. These Strawberry Mousse completed the trio of visually tempting and gastronomical delicious dessert line up for an aptly named buffet for Valentine at The Venue - Eat, Love and Indulge!

(On our way out, we chanced upon this Valentine Special Date courtesy of GMA TV 6 Iloilo's morning show Arangkada. And we found ourselves in the very background of this video-hehe)

This Valentine buffet dinner was through the invitation of Ms Arvi Sumayo, Marketing Manager of Great Foods Concepts Inc. and her "trustees" Cristina Tuya and Frey Gange. Thank you very much, guys!

The Venue Function Rooms at The Avenue Complex

Glicerio Pison cor. Boardwalk Avenues, Brgy. San Rafael, Mandurriao,

Iloilo City 5000 Tel. No 033 396-6013

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FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

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