#marriottcafe

On October 31 and November 1, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM, Marriott Cafe’s Banqueta Halloween Dinner Buffet serves up a ghoulishly delicious feast. Guests can indulge in a selection of decadent dishes, including Legris Oysters, Meat Overload, Roasted Australian Beef Rump, and more. Kids can enjoy an exciting Trick-or-Treat activity on October 31 as families feast on the finest selections. Priced at P3,700 nett per person, the dinner buffet includes refreshing spooky sangria and fizzy cocktails. 

Banqueta Wednesdays is the ultimate night market with a wide variety of Filipino street food stations, unlimited steak and international buffet selections at their open-theatre kitchens. 

You can start at the appetizers and salad stations which offers various breads and Asian starters like kimchi, spicy fish cake, mushroom dinakdakan, itlog na maalat at kamatis, and others.

Then head over to the main buffet table where you can get some Baked Penne, Vegetable Casserole, and Polenta together with a few wraps of Shawarma.

The Seafood Paella is one of the highlights here with its delicious combination of crabs, mussels, and prawns on a bed of flavorful paella rice.

Just beside this is the carving station which has this gorgeous Porchetta as the centerpiece. The skin is so crispy so make sure you get a few slices for yourself.

They also have a pasta station where you can ask for Grandma's Pomodoro that will be freshly cooked for you a la minute.

Next, make your way to the Japanese station where you can find a colorful selection of sushi together with Takoyaki Balls and Okonomiyaki.

The main attraction at Banqueta Wednesdays is the Banqueta Display right in the center of the buffet area. Here you can find an assortment of Filipino street food favorites like chicken isaw, pork isaw, fishballs, vegetable skewers, and okoy.

Other exotic items available include pork ears, kwek kwek, tokneneng, pork barbecue, and adidas or chicken feet. These are items that you do not typically see in a five-star hotel buffet but Marriott Cafe makes these accessible to everyone during Banqueta Wednesdays. They even have some Balut and Penoy eggs.

Marriott Cafe goes one step further because aside from all the Filipino street food, you can also enjoy unlimited steak, crabs, prawns, mussels, clams, and squid.

Just pick the items and skewers you like and hand them over to the grilling station. These will be cooked right on the spot and delivered straight to your table.

Now these are items you don't see every day at five star hotels! These classic Filipino street food dishes also bring a sense of nostalgia for those who used to eat these during their childhood.

Of course, you can also enjoy the more luxurious side of Banqueta Wednesdays with unlimited servings of steak to go with your choice of seafood.

Don't forget about the other international stations at Marriott Cafe like the Chinese station. Here you can find Chinese roastings including roast pork and roast chicken. There's also several dimsum specialties to choose from.

The Paluto station is also a must visit with its live fish that you can cooked according to your liking. Have it steamed in soy sauce or cooked Singaporean style with sweet chili sauce.

To make Banqueta Wednesdays even more authentic, there's a small sari sari store offering Samalamig beverages like buck panda, sago't gulaman, and melon drinks. Make sure to grab some street snacks too.

The Dessert station offers many ways to complete your steak and street food buffet. You can get some fruits, brownies, cookies, egg tarts, and Filipino desserts like sapin-sapin, kutsinta, cassava cake, and more that you can dip inside the grand Chocolate Fountain.

There are also several cakes and pastries to choose from including Brownie Pie, Swiss Strawberry Roll, Chocolate Mousse, and Swan Puff Diplomat. You can also get as many scoops of gelato as you want at the Gelato station.

Guests can also order Marriott Cafe's Drink of the Month which can be served in alcoholic or non-alcoholic versions. This comes with a very cute stuffed toy that you can bring home with you.

Banqueta Wednesdays is available every Wednesday until December 18, 2024. For inquiries and reservations, you may call them 8988-9999 and (0917) 584-9560. Enjoy an elevated street food buffet experience only at Marriott Manila!

Marriott Cafe

G/F, Marriott Hotel Manila, Newport City, Pasay City

8988-9999 / (0917) 584-9560

www.marriottcafemanila.com

Famsgiving Thursday was initially introduced in 2023 aimed at creating the nostalgia of family feasting and celebrating the rich Filipino heritage through the food served at Marriott Café. The partnership with RuRi makes this meaningful dining promo into even more purposeful initiative, hence taking the notch higher by being able to save the lives of farmers by backing up their source of living via the Rescue Buy Program.

Marriott Hotel Manila is all about preserving and celebrating the most cherished family traditions. It’s a place where we come together to create those heartwarming moments, and it’s all made possible through “Famsgiving Thursday.” This special dining experience highlights a curated selection of timeless Filipino heirloom recipes, all meticulously prepared by the talented relatives of our dedicated chefs at Manila Marriott Hotel. These dishes symbolize appreciation and gratitude, making Famsgiving Thursday an opportunity to savor heirloom recipes that celebrate Filipino cuisine and thanksgiving.

For Famsgiving Thursday, guests can enjoy all these special recipes scattered among the different buffet stations. You can start with the Lumping Sariwa ng Rizal by Chef Earl Jacinto and his mother in law Blesilda Besin.

Long before this partnership with RuRi has been established, Marriott Manila on its own capacity has been involved in several activities that support local farms and farmers by employing sustainable culinary practices such as local food sourcing to support farmers in the country, urban farming by maintaining its own indoor precision farm machine for herbs, spices and vegetables that are customarily imported from abroad, responsible fishing with its sustainable seafood program, and use of cage-free eggs to aid in the increased quality of life for hens, therefore enabling them to produce healthy table eggs, the same that are served to hotel guests.

Some of the other Famsgiving Thursday dishes you can find are the Pork Kilawing Labanos by Chef Alvin Valino and Aunt Emma Gatchalian. Other inspired dishes include the Pork Poacher de Alfonso, Pinakbet, and Siquijor Style Chicken Mataar.

The Binakol was one of my favorite dishes that evening and I really like this flavorful coconut broth cooked with chicken and vegetables.

The other international buffet stations will still be available at the Marriott Café during Famsgiving Thursday. Guests can grab their favorite sustainable seafood items and have them cooked according to their preference.

The carving station is always one of the highlights at the Marriott Café so I was happy to find this big lechon sitting proudly on the counter.

Aside from the very crispy lechon, guests can also find the Kare Kareng Pata, Pork Meatballs Escabeche, Lamb Mechado, and Sinanglay na Isla.

There's also plenty of steak for everyone. Ask the chef for a slice or two of their roasted beef and have it grilled the medium or medium-well doneness.

The Japanese station also has its lineup of sushi, sashimi, and tempura on display. You can also have a plate of teppanyaki freshly prepared with your choice ingredients.

Over at the Chinese station, there are dimsum, noodles, roast chicken, roast pork, and other specialties to discover.

My favorite station at Marriott Café is actually the Paluto station. Here you can ask for their big mud crabs and have it cooked as Singapore Chili Crab. They also have their Catch of the Day fish that can also be prepared steamed, fried, or cooked with butter and garlic.

Beverages are also included in the buffet price including juices and selected cocktails like Rum Old Fashioned, Manila Sunrise, Peach Daiquiri, and Sangria.

For desserts, there's a medley of cakes, pastries, sweets, fruits, kakanin, and other delectable treats waiting for all the guests.

Make sure to drop by the Ice Cream and Gelato Station for unlimited scoops of their signature flavors. I really liked the Chocolate Hazelnut Gelato with KitKat Spread as well as the Peanut Butter Gelato.

Aside from the regular Famsgiving Thursday dinner buffet, for the whole month of April, guests will also get an exclusive access to the Farmsgiving Market where they can play the Box All You Can game for fresh farm produce to take home. Each diner will get one coupon which entitles them to one box.

Executive Chef Meik Brammer explained the mechanics for the Farmsgiving Market together with Rural Rising Philippines’ founders Ace and Andie Estrada. RuRi is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting distressed Filipino farmers in achieving economic stability and pride in their work. Through fair and sustainable market practices, RuRi aims to support 100,000 farmers to become sustainable and debt-free by 2030 under the Rescue Buy Program of RuRi. 

Marriott Manila has set up the Farmsgiving Market just outside the Marriott Café for the Box All You Can game. The farmers have brought their produce and goods here which have come all the way from the provinces and farms.

Once the timer starts, guests will have five minutes to grab all the fruits and vegetables they can get that will fit inside the Famsgiving Box. I hurriedly went to get some broccoli and guyabano together with some potatoes and tomatoes.

Everything that you get should be able to fit inside the box and pass through the steel gate, so make sure nothing spills over because all the excess items will be placed back on the counters. If you want to get another box, you can always buy more at P799 per box. These items would cost a lot more at groceries so you can actually just come to Marriott and participate in the Farmsgiving Market without dining at Marriott Café.

I really had fun at the Famsgiving Thursday with Farmsgiving Market at Marriott Café. You can enjoy a great buffet dinner and take home very fresh fruits and vegetables while supporting a noble cause for only P3700 per person. For those who are entitled to avail of 30% discount like Club Marriott diners, access to the Farmsgiving Market is available for an additional fee of P800 nett only. This promotion is good only for the month of April so hurry and book your tables now!

Famsgiving Thursday at Marriott Cafe

G/F, Marriott Hotel Manila, Newport City, Pasay City

8988-9999 / (0917) 584-9560

www.marriottcafemanila.com

Born in New York, raised in Jamaica, and educated in Texas— Chef Jay McCarthy is a multicultural visionary who has parlayed his diverse background into a unique and innovative culinary style that has earned him repeated accolades. He worked as an aerospace engineer for a short time and found he was more inspired by blending flavors than he was by mixing jet fuels.

Chef McCarthy’s unique style utilizes the native flavors of Texas. Drawing from his Jamaican roots, his cooking style has been recognized for blending native Texas cuisine with tropical flavors. He fully showcased his culinary talents at Marriott Cafe’s Meat Overload Station which has packed to the rim with all these delicious meaty dishes.

The Meat Overload Station featured specialties courtesy of the U.S. Meat Export Federation. These imported products included U.S. Beef, U.S. Pork, and American Homegrown Lamb items that guests were all excited to try.

The U.S. Angus High Choice Beef was the main attraction at the Meat Overload Station. Among the dishes presented were Braised Short Ribs Bone In Red Wine Glazed - sterling silver; Oven Baked Country Road Top Sirloin - sterling silver; and Herb Marinated Pittsburgh Style Prime Rib Eye Boneless CAB.

These were accompanied by Green Peppercorn Sauce, Wild Mushroom Sauce, Red Wine Jus Sauce, and Assorted Bottled Hot Sauce.

For the U.S. Pork Kurobuta products, specialties included Home-Made Smoked Kurobuta Ham; Southern Smoke Hickory Grilled Kurobuta Belly; BBQ Spice rubbed JD Essence Baby Back Ribs; BBQ spice rubbed Wood Fired Brisket Bones; and Sugarcure rubbed Caramelized Bone In skinless Pork Loin. These were accompanied by sauces as well as assorted grilled organic vegetables.

We also got to try some American Lamb Ribs as well as these juicy Grilled Wagyu Frankfurters. There were so many meaty dishes to choose from but we really wanted to eat everything.

The main attraction at the Meat Overload Station was this huge U.S. Wagyu Snake River Farm Steamship Bone In. This big chunk of meat was rubbed with rosemary serrano and slow cooked in an open flame.

Accompanying the mother ship was a variety of sauces including the Chard Kansas BBQ Sauce, St Louis Smoked BBQ Sauce, Texas Barbacao Style BBQ Sauce, Bourbon BBQ Sauce, Tomato Chutney, Red Capsicum Chutney, Guacamole Dip, and Chimichurri.

We were really excited to try all of these U.S. Meat dishes. You can really see it from the big smile on our faces.

The Chef McCarthy Meat and Greet event also featured several whiskey-based cocktails that were all part of the buffet. Marriott Cafe had its own Bourbon Cocktail Bar courtesy of Jack Daniels and Jim Beam where guests can request for their handcrafted cocktails.

I asked for the Ginger Tennessee which had a combination of Jack Daniels, calamansi juice, and ginger syrup. My husband got the Manhattan Rocks with its mix of Jim Beam, Martini Rosso, and Angostura bitters. Other cocktails include the Lynchburg Lemonade and the Old Fashioned.

What could be better than a plate full of barbecued U.S. meats and unlimited glasses of bourbon cocktail? Marriott Manila really went all out with this Meat and Greet activity.

Of course, all the other buffet stations at Marriott Cafe were still available to guests that afternoon. This included the salad station and the fresh seafood station that featured mussels, prawns, clams, and crabs.

The Japanese station is always a favorite with its sushi and sashimi offerings. There were also plenty of tempura plus they have a teppanyaki station where you can customize your teppanyaki orders.

One of the best areas at Marriott Cafe is the Paluto Station. Here you can ask for their Fresh Catch of the Day and have it cooked to your liking. I usually have my fish done Sweet and Sour style. Make sure to also ask for their live crabs which I asked to be cooked Singaporean style.

You can check my last visit to Marriott Cafe a few months ago to see all the other exciting dishes and stations that are available daily for guests. We ended our Meat and Greet activity with indulgent sweets and cool scoops of gelato from the Dessert Station.

We would like to thank Marriott Manila, Alternatives Food Corp., the U.S. Meat Export Federation, and Chef Jay McCarthy for hosting this amazing afternoon filled with barbecues and steaks. Watch out for other exciting events at Marriott Hotel Manila.

Marriott Cafe

Ground Floor, Marriott Hotel Manila, Newport City, Pasay City

8988-9999 / (0917) 5849560

www.marriottcafemanila.com

The Hungry Kat was invited last April 29, 2022 to the media launch of the Nose To Tail buffet at Marriott Manila’s all day dining restaurant Marriott Café. This has been one of our favorite restaurants ever since it opened, so I’m happy to see it back to its regular buffet lineup after it scaled down some of its menu and buffet stations during the pandemic.

The Nose To Tail buffet spread includes dishes from the different cuts of the hog such as pork hock, face, ribs, and more. The carving station is the centerpiece of the buffet displaying two huge whole roasted pigs with many other meaty choices on hand.

The event was opened by Marriott Manila Hotel Executive Chef Meik Brammer, who is also chair of sustainable culinary committee of I Love Earth—a concerted initiative of all hotels and operating units within Resorts World Manila toward sustainable operations. More than innovation, this feature is Manila Marriott’s tribute to product sustainability.

The aim was to show guests something new by making interesting dishes out of the lesser known cuts while helping minimize waste of meat products. So instead of just the sumptuous Lechon meat and crispy lechon skin being the highlights, other parts are also offered such as chicharon bulaklak (intestines), isaw (intestines), tenga (ear), and chicharon (skin) which uses the innards and extremities of the pig. These are familiar street food items for most Filipinos, but are not usually offered like this at hotel restaurants.

There are also other less familar dishes presented like the German Roasted Hock, a different spin on the pork knuckles or crispy pata we usually have.

You can also find the Pork Belly Cracklings and Pork Ribs at the carving station where you can grab and enjoy all these meaty items as much as you want.

The Nose To Tail buffet makes use of every part of the hog, including the tail which is used for the Crispy Pork Tail Croquettes. There’s also the Chicharon Rice which makes use of the pig’s head, belly, and skin.

Don’t worry because you will still find the more familiar cuts of meat, like the Australian Beef Rump. Ask the server to sear a few slices according to your preferred doneness. You also have a choice of garlic gravy sauce, chimichurri sauce, and peppercorn sauce.

Apart from the meat-overload spread, the Nose To Tail dinner buffet also includes all the other existing buffet stations at Marriott Café that also promote sustainable practices. You can go to the salad station which has fresh and natural selections. It also has its own Nose To Tail dish, the Dinakdakan which uses boiled and grilled pig’s head parts as an appetizer.

Marriott Café also has plenty of options for seafood lovers with its Sustainable Seafood Catch station. Here you can feast on fresh seafood such as prawns, mussels, clams, and French oysters. You can enjoy these items cold or have them cooked to your liking.

The Japanese Station has all of our favorites including tuna and salmon sushi and sashimi, California maki, crunchy tempura, and more.

Right beside it is the Teppanyaki Station where the chefs can prepare your plate of Yakiudon, beef teppan, tuna teppan, pork teppan, or chicken teriyaki right on the spot.

There’s also a grilling station which has pork intentines, pork ears, and any other item you want to have grilled like prawns, fish, and oysters.

This area is where you can find other Filipino food specialties as well as the Chef’s Paulto and Catch of the Day sections.

The Pork Sinigang and Pork Nilaga uses delicious cuts of pork belly to go with the steaming broth. You can even use the interactive Organic Rock Salt station and scrape off your serving of rock salt to season your dishes. This is the only restaurant I know which features this unique process.

There are several other Filipino dishes on the table using all parts of the hog such as Pata Tim (pork hock), Bopis (pig’s lungs), and Dinuguan (pig’s blood).

One of my favorite stations at Marriott Café is the Paluto section where I usually order their mud crabs and have them cooked as Singaporean Chili Crabs. There’s also the Lapu-Lapu as the catch of the day which you can also have prepared in Chili Garlic, Sweet and Sour, or Steamed.

The Barbecued Pork and Soy Chicken are on display over at the Chinese Station. Here you can also get various dimsum and noodles.

The Nose To Tail buffet price also comes with unlimited juices as well as one bottle of Crazy Carabao Craft Beer. You can choose a bottle of Pilsner, Pale Ale, or Golden Ale to go with your lechon and seafood.

End your exciting Nose To Tail adventure with colorful desserts including brownies, cakes, pastries, candies, crepes, halo halo, and all the gelato flavors you can imagine. Club Marriott, Marriott Bonvoy, and Resorts World Members also get special discounts when they avail of the Nose to Tail buffet. Book your tables now at their website or call them up to make a reservation. Happy Weekend!

Marriott Cafe Nose To Tail Buffet

Ground Floor, Marriott Hotel Manila, Newport City, Pasay City

8988-9999 / (0917) 5849560

www.marriottcafemanila.com