Seafood, vegetarian buffet at Heritage Hotel

The bright minds who christened the Heritage Hotel Manila’s lunch and dinner buffet at its Restaurant Riviera as the "mother of all buffets" must have been overwhelmed by the selection of goodies to be had for the reasonable price of P680++. There is a generous selection of hot and cold appetizers, inclusive of dim sum and sushi and sashimi items from the hotel’s former Hua Ting Cantonese Restaurant and Matsu Sushi Bar, respectively, salads, a selection of soups, hot entrées, a carving section, and a generous dessert choices, which include strawberries this month.

That may be a mouthful, but there’s more. The good news is that Heritage Hotel Manila executive chef Alex Chew has updated this impressive buffet to include a generous seafood spread, inclusive of oysters and seafood barbecue, and a vegetarian selection.

The focus on seafood is obvious. "Since the Philippines has plenty of seafood, it would be a waste not to present that in our buffet," says chef Alex.

But if you think that the seafood only covers tuna sashimi and assorted sushi, you’re in for some delicious surprises. Available daily are fresh oysters from abroad, bamboo shells, prawns and squid. They are served a la minute – either grilled, broiled, stir-fried, in a broth like sinigang, Chinese-style or Filipino-style – according to a diner’s preference.

The vegetarian specials also address the need of health-conscious diners. The new buffet ups the number of vegetarian items to include a selection of cold appetizers and hot entrées. On the day we visited, the vegetarian treats included grilled asparagus spears with a balsamic vinaigrette, snow peas with tuna, braised baby kailan with Chinese mushrooms, pumpkin soup and Lyonnaise potatoes.

"Many people come in looking for a health corner, something that’s all vegetables or has no fat," says Chew. "We’ve taken into account the requests of these diners that’s why we have at least four vegetarian items in our buffet, aside from the salad bar."

Chef Alex admits that ever since 9/11, business has been down. Most hotels have cut down on their buffet spreads, while some diners have moved on to boutique restaurants at trendy locations, like Libis and Greenbelt.

This has only inspired him to restudy the Restaurant Riviera’s daily buffet offering, making it even more appealing to regular diners, as well as interesting to those on a food trip.

"This is indeed more challenging," says chef Alex. "The challenge here is to bring the right market. Competition is very stiff and the market is small."

Chef Alex brings with him 20 years of experience in the hospitality profession from his various postings in different hotels in Singapore. He specializes in Western and Chinese cuisines with touches of fusion cooking. He introduced fusion cooking to the Singapore Tourism Board in 1996, and has won awards for his efforts. He has six gold medals from the Food and Hotel Asia Salon Culinaire and a silver in the Austrian Meat Competition held in Singapore, and a silver in the Chicago Competition held in the United States.

Assisting chef Alex in the kitchen is executive sous chef Joselito Carbon who has spent 16 years in the business. The last six years had him serving as pastry chef and assistant pastry chef at the Heritage.

He adds that diners looking for specials not available in the daily lunch and dinner buffet or in the a la carte menu may request them from the kitchen.

"Since we have a well-stocked kitchen, it won’t be difficult to cook up something special for our guests. They only need to ask us," he says.

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For inquiries and reservations, call the Restaurant Riviera at 854-8888 local 7355.