Wazzup Pilipinas!
Diamond Hotel Philippines dares to unleash the carnivore in you. Get ready to partake of lovely slabs of meat (heavy chunks of beef with good marbling) that were seasoned and seared to perfection and tenderly cooked over a flame at their Steak Spree Thursday dinner night at Corniche, the hotel's elegant restaurant located at the lobby level.
The restaurant showcases a grand buffet with cuisines from different parts of the world (Western, Mediterranean, Japanese, and many more from Asia and the Pacific) matched with an impeccable service from the restaurant attendants that could all be at your beck and call starting at 6 pm dinner time.
We tried three varieties of medium rare cooked steaks and they were all quite fascinatingly tender, juicy and delish at every bite. The beef was firm, but not tough, and packed with flavor. Honestly, you don't need any special sauce or gravy to perk up the taste. They were all good on their own but you could probably sprinkle a little sea salt to draw in the flavor if you're the type who prefers their steak a bit salty. Every slice of the steak comes away smoothly without much effort from the knife. It was indeed a memorable steak experience as I could still nibble the taste off my tongue like I've just eaten it.
It was Steak Spree Thursday that night. This buffet includes the best choices of cut steaks like Beef Tenderloin Steak, US Striploin Steak, US Rib Eye Steak, US Hanger Steak, and Roasted US Prime Rib. But since it was also my first time to dine at Corniche, I had to sample as well their other dishes among the luscious buffet offering.
A buffet is like free dining during town fiestas or family reunions - there's a spectacular showcase of great dishes all for the taking in your plate. You may choose to dine on a plateful all at once or you could just get a little and come back again to dine on some more.
The buffet has a certain time period (6:00 to 11:00 pm) but not that you're tasked to be in a hurry since that's actually a lot of time to spend on dinner alone. What you have to worry about is that the replenishing of food may stop at a certain time depending on the amount of dishes allocated for that day. Yeah, I ran out of the other dishes before I had a chance to go back and grab some. Well, it was really my fault since I eat slow because I savor every bite of my food.
You have a choice to go through the starters or appetizers first, but you may skip all those bread, salads, cheese bits and nuts, and whatsoever if you're in a hurry to sample the main meals. You have full control of what and how much food you want to consume but just be very extra mindful not to waste them if you find the food not to your liking.
Whoah! I actualy have a lot more pictures to share but I will opt not to bombard this blog post with a lot since loading time will suffer extremely especially if you have a slow Internet connection. But you have to agree with me when I say that the buffet was indeed a grand feast to behold.
To continue, I would like to share that I especially love seafood so the shrimps, mussels and crabs - nutritious shellfish known to boost your immune system and brain - were definitely not to be missed.
They have a few of those fresh shellfish that were topped on ice, and you an ask the food attendants to cooked them for you in whatever way you want. But there are also cooked ones all ready for the eating located at a nearby area.
I may hate it when my fingers get all sticky after eating crustacean meals but I especially love licking off the tasty remnants of the cooked sea creatures from my fingers after the dirty deed.
But I decided to start out with Japanese dishes, the sushi in particular, so as not to get messy at first. Then the Asian dishes from the most simple mini "siopao" and "siomai", to the more sophisticated meals.
Pizzas are also among my fave dishes so I had to try it out as well. The pizzas at Corniche are definitely not as oily as the ones available in the popular pizza specialty shops but it has a more distinguishable taste you can't find in those fast-food.
I may be Filipino, but I still went for the Filipino dishes and the Sinigang Salmon Belly was the tastiest among the offerings that I could very well remember. Too bad it was about empty already before I got a chance to take a picture.
They also have the traditional "Kare-Kare" and "Lechon Paksiw" of which were all placed in a "palayok" just like the Sinigang Salmon Belly.
Lastly, you won't be disappointed with the dessert choices - there's just too many great sweet treats to choose from, like the cute rice cakes or what we know as "bibingka", "halo-halo", chocolate eclairs, creme brulees, and even home-made ice cream that you could eat on sugar wafer cones.
The disappointing thing when trying out buffets is that it's practically impossible to taste all the dishes in just one seating. I got full already just half-way through the tasting ordeal. But the good news is : that's a sign that I enjoyed the dishes because it's very rare that I get full when I dislike what I am eating. I would usually just set it aside - a frequent situation for me when dining on a buffet.
It was different at Corniche, my plates were all empty with only non-edibles as left-overs.
It is a good habit that we now always take pictures of everything we eat so we could share this exciting dining adventure to all our friends over all my social media networks. They were just too good to keep to ourselves.
Let me leave you with what's posted on their website:
"Highlighted by the lushly landscaped garden view and picturesque rock formation with a cascading waterfall, Corniche offers an exceptional breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet spread and an extensive all-day a la carte menu. The buffet selection is composed of Asian, Western, Japanese, salad and dessert stations, all meticulously prepared by culinary experts."
True enough, the hotel has elegant interiors especially when they dim the lights offering a more soft and pleasing ambiance, plus an extensive list of professional chefs that are all masters in their field of expertise including Chef Jerry who was very eager to assist us during that very special dinner. He took time to greet and tour us around to explain the different sections of the buffet area. Thank you, Chef Jerry!
Thank you also to my friends ( Hana, Aldous, Kaye, Sumi, Mike, Rodel, and of course Twinkle (I still can't believe that was her full name and not just a nickname or alias) who were all there to join me in a fabulous buffet dinner. Maybe we'll see each other again on Salmon Night Friday and take delight in Diamond Hotel Philippines' scrumptious Norwegian salmon.
Steak Spree Thursday at Corniche is for only Php 2,335 nett per person.
Corniche is open from 6:00 am to 11:00 pm, daily. You may call (02) 528-3000 for reservations.
Please also check out their Facebook page for more updates about Diamond Hotel Philippines : https://www.facebook.com/diamondhotelphilippines
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
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