Monday, Manila Hotel
Coffee Journey#2
Again. after a crazy tiring afternoon in the kitchen, i took a quick detour to one of the country's more prestigious and glamorous hotels, The Manila Hotel
You know the kind of power a certain place has on us wherein one minute you're in the middle of the hustle bustle of the city and the next you're swallowed by this giant oak door automatically muting the outside noise and all you hear is the silent clinking of coffee cups, piano mood music fills the air... Alas! It's like falling in love!
Hey, what's not to love? The whole place exudes of history and grandeur, of being here in the present but at the same time knowing that the place is a century full of memories. But of course, that's exactly what the hotel prides on, right?
While writing this entry, I learned that:
- The Manila Hotel is a 5star, 570-room hotel known also as the oldest premiere hotel in the Philippines, built in 1909.
- Gen Douglas McArthur stayed in the Manila Hotel frm 1935-1941 to create the Phil Army and was given the hotel title "General Manager"
- Manila Hotel boasts of guests like Ernest Hemingway, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, J.F.K., John Wayne & Sammy Davies JR among others.
♥
The lobby was quite deserted, it being 3PM, which is just perfect. It makes anyone appreciate the ambience even more; Chandeliers dotting the high ceiling, emitting dancing dimmed light; the grand piano playing Pachelbel at the far end of the lobby fills the air with lulling music. Feels like home.
CAFE ILANG-ILANG
Cafe Ilang-Ilang is the hotel's around the world dining experience. It's an all you can eat service with several stations like salad, bread, Italian ( for your pizza / pasta cravings ), Korean ( japchae, kimchi), Japanese ( sushi, tempuras), American (steaks, anything grilled), Mediterranean (koftas, grilled eggplants), Persian, and of course, home grown Filipino food.
I got a quick tour of the entire Cafe Ilang Ilang floor, shown which station is which and was even
given the chance to choose which table we wanted to be seated on for our reservations. Talk about
awesome service. SO then i made my way back to the lobby for the intent and purpose of, of course
having coffee. ( Will write more about our Cafe Ilang Ilang experience in the entries to come!)
desserts! *Drool*
♥
THE DELI
My coffee travel wouldn't be complete of course without sneaking a peek at their deli or pastry or pastry display and i found this really adorable display of pralines. Too cute to eat right?
pralines from the hotel's Deli.
Breads all look freshly baked and the lady behind the cake display recommended that i try their fresh baked Cream Cheese danish. I got quite suspicious since there's only 1 left but assured me that they were same day baked and it's their best seller. And true to her words, AWESOME AWESOME danish. Best P60 spent on bread by far. It's so gosh darn yummy that any thoughts of taking a picture of it went amissing!*teehee*
So I ordered their lobby brewed coffee as well and it's quite okay, not really earth shattering but i'm starting to wonder if i have twisted standards when it comes to drinking coffee. I didn't really like Sofitel's LeBar's coffee and i don't have high opinions with Manila Hotel's coffee either, so i don't know if somethings wrong with my palate.
My 2cents:
1. Coffee is not hot.
2. Coffee is thin. It's as though they used recycled coffee beans and i felt as though i drank more of the water component than the actual coffee.
3. Coffee has wine-like aftertaste. Now again, i know i'm a noob when it comes to all the right coffee
consistency, but, these are my opinions and i shall research more about this. Perhaps this is a type of coffee?
♥
THE CHAMPAGNE ROOM
To cap off my Manila Hotel visit, i made sure that check out their famous Champagne Room. I have heard
about the elegance and romanticism of this hall; think gossip girl sunday luncheons or summers at the Hamptons.
picture taken from here
picture taken from asiatravel.com
Too bad they're closed when i got there and i'm not able to look around some more. They offer degustation menu priced rather reasonable and again, I am simply amazed at how i now recognize and pronounce (haha!) what i read in the menu, like spaetzle, espagnole, grand marnier, etc. It makes me feel all warm inside. =)
For interested parties ( am no way sponsored but for FYI)
The Manila Hotel
ONE Rizal Park 0913
Manila, Philippines
(632) 5270011
Cheers! Until the next! :)
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