Once upon a time, five-star buffet dining can only be experienced in five-star hotel’s fine dining restaurants and bistros. Nowadays, more and more standalone restaurants in the metro rise to the challenge. One of them now includes The Food Club Manila in Bluebay Walk, Pasay City, as it invites customers to dine with style. It’s located on a stretch of highway along Macapagal. The signboard is big so it’s hard to miss.
Promo: The The Food Club had its soft opening last January 24, 2014. It has an ongoing promotion until January 30, 2014 (Grand Opening day): 50% off on all prices + 5% service charge! 🙂 A medley of international flavors awaits. Some of the most aromatic and exotic finds are: beef lengua, beef caldereta, beef rainbow, beef curry, jellyfish, pork kingdao, pork ear, chicken sauteed in chilli, blue marlin in teriyaki sauce, marinated top blade in coriander sauce, lyonnaise potatoes with onions and bacon, palak paneer and aloo gobi.
Review of The Food Club Manila (Bluebay Walk, Pasay City)
Ambiance: ★★★★★
The Food Club Manila can be seen as a pinnacle of greasy glutonny, a truly perilous trap to ruin your diet, or a glorious smorgasbord of international dishes that do nothing else but please. Walk into this lifestyle buffet and what you’ll immediately notice are the impressive lights (bubble chandeliers draping from the high ceiling). Choose where you’d want to be seated: the sofa by the side, the regular chairs in the middle or the purple rounded sofas at the far end of the dining area. I guess the best position would be anywhere close to the buffet tables at the center. 🙂
Service: ★★★★★
As more people came into the restaurant for dinner, service did not become slower. That meant two things: (1) the ratio of staff and expected guests to be accommodated (around 120) is proportionate or just right and (2) the team is really quick and efficient. They were friendly and the type that would not leave customers alone until they are delighted. How exactly?
Of course, there’s the norm—greeting and leading customers to their seats upon arrival, offering drinks, getting utensils, fulfilling requests, and showing them around. But one thing that makes their service extra special is that the waitstaff offers to carry full plates when they see diners about to head back to their seats. It happened to me twice and I thought it was a gentlemanly gesture that makes great service. I have not experienced this in other buffet restaurants before. 😀
Food: ★★★★☆
From appetizers to desserts, the carefully composed dishes that The Food Club chefs put together are unfailingly elegant, true works of art. Presentation struck me most. Everything looked fantastic and delicious! I found myself ogling at each course before ravaging my plate with chopsticks. 😛
While each dish has many components, the flavors are balanced in each section I recognize as: Chinese, Japanese, Seafood and “Random” food which were heated under an induction (and not placed on regular serving trays). I could not tell which ones topped in my “favorite list,” but I’m pretty sure that all those dishes I’ve tried were beautiful, delicate food I enjoyed. Indeed, they were compelling to the palate as they were to the eye.
Appetizers
Chinese
Japanese
Seafood
Random
Desserts
Drinks
Price for Value: ★★★☆☆
From Mondays to Thursdays, cost per adult for lunch is PHp 800 and PHp 1000 for dinner. Kids whose height is 3.5 feet and below are FREE of charge while those whose height are above 3.5 feet are charged PHp 580 each. Rates in the weekends (Fridays to Sundays) are higher: PHp 1188 for lunch and dinner for adults and PHp 600 for kids who are taller than 3.5 feet. Likewise, kids who stand 3.5 feet and below can eat for free!
All these are exclusive of the 5% service charge. Overall, dinners tend to be more expensive just like in other buffet restaurants, which is why lunch is a better deal. Food selections would not vary that much anyway.
Next time I expect The Food Club to showcase more irresistible avant-garde offerings and more interesting choices that are not found elsewhere just yet among their competitors. I am positive that the direction is going there, as I was told by one of the chefs that they will be changing the menu according to the feedback and tastes of customers and retaining those that are praised.
Meanwhile, you can join this giveaway hosted by The Food Club. Prize is FREE dinner buffet for two people. Follow the mechanics in the Rafflecopter below. Duration of the giveaway is two weeks (1/31-2/14). The winner will be contacted by the The Food Club for the prize. Note: All steps are mandatory. Good luck! 🙂
Update: The winner is Laila Hermosa Mercado! 🙂
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Operating Hours: 10:30AM-10:30PM
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