Churrasco is an Iberian (both Spanish and Portugese) term for grilled meat - mostly beef which is very popular in Europe and Latin America. It is most popular in Brazil wherein they have churrascaria, which are restaurants serving these "pieces of meat roasted on the embers". Most offer "all-you-can-eat" with the waiters moving around the resto bringing skewers of meat and slicing them on the customer's plate. This serving style is called espeto corrido or rodÃzio. (Source)
But I didn't have to travel around 20,000 kilometers last Saturday to have this taste and feel of Brazil. I just found my way to The Promenade at Days Hotel Iloilo for their long standing Saturday dinner buffet "Indulgence" featured Brazialian churrasco served rodÃzio.
I just love the buffets at The Promenade at Days Hotel Iloilo and I always can't say no to every invitation I get to feature what's new in their offering. As I was told, this is a preview for their upcoming Father's Day buffet in June and surely families will enjoy having dinner with the Brazilian set up (for the churrasco) and with lots and lots of food to choose from.
The gastronomic Saturday started with soup, bread and butter plus these very delicious Mini Beef Fillet Mignon with Bernaise Sauce. When I say delicious, it means to say that I took almost dozen of these tip of the tenderloin swimming in a sauce made of clarified butter emulsified in egg yolks, white wine vinegar and flavoured with herbs. Every bite, even until the last, was filled with the perfectly fried and seasoned beef specialty.
I know I could have single-handedly finish all of them so I just decided to move to the Canapes. They had salmon and mango, salami and greens and many more - all vying for attention and almost shouting "pick me.". But one that did not need to shout to grab our attention was the Fish Salad. It was fish fillet with dressing and presented colorful stripes made with chopped vegetables looking like a literal fish swimming in the sea of salad and appetizers!
And speaking of fish, how about some sushi? The Mixed Sushi platter was teeming with a wide variety of this Japanese specialty. I can't name them but I just chose the one that suited my palate. Now which ones would you choose?
Now off to China with this dim sum treat - sio mai. I just love the the sio mai at Days Hotel and good hting it's almost a staple in most of their buffets. I love mixing the dip using the chili sauce then inundating it with calamansi juice and a few drops of soy sauce. But even without the I made, each is a savoury mix of ground meat and seafood.
The Salad Bar is always present and most of what they serve are organically grown. I was fortunate enough to have toured Orchard Valley Inc. farms a few weeks ago in Pavia, Iloilo. There we didn't see the fruits and vegetables but also the cows, lambs and chickens which are sold and served at Iloilo Supermart and restaurants like Bauhinia Filipino Cuisine, Mojave Grill and Steak House, Amalfi Cucina Italiana, Nothing but Desserts, Coffeebreak and of course, The Promenade.
So that's why I always enjoy making my favorite salad mix consisting of pineapples, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers and singkamas all drizzled with thousand island dressing. And I could eat this everyday, I think.
From one bar to another, but almost hidden then was the Pasta and Pizza Bar. Reminiscent of their Italian buffet a few years, I could fill myself to ultimate gastronomic pleasure just by staying beside this bar all night. Here you can mix and match your own pasta dish with four different kinds of pasta - fettucine, spaghetti, penne and farfalle (butterfly pasta). It cam with four different kinds of sauces plus lots of other mixin's and toppings - green and black olives, capers, pesto, bacon, onions, garlic, parmesan and anchovies.
And we come to the main course line up that started with the Paella Rice - a sort of fried rice inspired by the paella. So don't expect it to be paella with sticky and savory rice but on it's own this could already be a tummy filler.
How about some Braised HongKong Noodles with Shredded Chicken and Shitake Mushrooms. Now that's a mouthful of words but literally it was also a mouthful of this merry mix and appetizing of noodles, vegetables and chicken.
Next was Fish Fillet with Meunière Sauce.The term refers to both a sauce and a method of preparation, primarily for fish. The word itself means "miller's wife". Thus to cook something à la meunière was to cook it by first dredging it in flour. A meunière sauce is a simple preparation—brown butter, chopped parsley, and lemon—and the name refers to its unelaborate rustic nature. (Wikipedia)
I just love the name of this next dish Peachy Chicken Schnitzel. This is a German term for boneless meat, thinned with a hammer (meat tenderizer), coated with flour, mashed eggs and bread crumbs, and then fried. For this particular dish sauteed peach was poured over giving the dish a different dimension in taste and texture.
Among my favorites was the Savory Pork with Pineapple. Now, who can resist soft pork meat stewed in pineapple especially the one with the fatty portion. It could almost be estofado to the next level. I wish I didn't gorged on some may appetizers, salad and churrasco before so I could have indulged more on this, all I had was a single piece of fatty meat smothered with the delectable sauce.
Is this the end of this indulgent treat? For the time being, yes but I haven't started with desserts. But that will be another story for this blogpost, as well as my tummy, is very heavy even just this recall of the great food treats Day's Hotel Iloilo's The Promenade's INDULGENCE Buffet. And to true to it's name, it was one night of self gastronomic gratification ...