Don’t let this buffet pass without trying it!
Novotel Manila Araneta Center partnered with popular Instagrammer Masarap Ba to feature her approved selection of food products in their buffet.
I’m not going to give an overview of the buffet at Novotel’s Food Exchange Manila anymore so I can get straight to the point! 🙂 If you want to learn more about the Food Exchange Manila’s buffet set up, you may read my previous blog post here.
MASARAP NGA! FOOD BUFFET
The buffet featuring hand-picked food products by Masarap Ba started today and will only be available UNTIL APRIL 7, 2019!
It is well-worth trying because you have all the best food products as approved by Masarap Ba all featured in one place!
Seventeen local food products were handpicked by Masarap Ba to be featured in the buffet:
- Mad Meat’s homemade bacon
- Beth’s classic chicken galantina
- roast beef and baked salmon by Benedicto Kitchen
- Binagoongan and Chicken flakes by Mishee’s
- Gourmet Tuyo by Che-Che’s Gourmet
- Cream Cheese by La Petite Fromagerie
- Zero-sugar Peanut Butter by Gng. Bukid
- Papa Bear’s chili oil
- Tamago Chips
- Eddy’s old style chicharrones
- Mango Grill Manila’s Cheesy Cassava Cake
- the 64% Dark Chocolate Tart by Halfsaints
- Auro Chocolate Cacao from Davao
- Daddy Mikk’s Chil and Garlic Crunch
- Buenlago Kitchen’s Indie Sauce
- Cupcakes by Cake Shots, and
- Le Sucre Lab’s Dream Cake
The buffet also features Masarap Ba’s favorite items from Novotel – their famous home-made corned beef which I have already covered before, their Cheese Bread, and the Indian Station that I have been praising since I’ve tried it.
THE FOOD!
Most of the desserts are featured as is, the sauces are usually incorporated into some dishes by the Novotel chefs.
The main dishes will have three rotations (so that different dishes will be served each day). The featured items will still be used daily but will be incorporated into different dishes so that the same featured dishes don’t get served consecutively. But the desserts will be featured every day 🙂
All the dishes were delicious. I am actually happy that they were able to get all these products for us to try in one buffet! Imagine if you had to get all these goodies separately, what a hassle that would be. But now you get to try them all! This alone makes the buffet worth it! Your only problem will be if you have enough stomach space for everything! 🙂
I highly, highly recommend trying the Cassava Cake from Mango Grill. Cassava cake will never be the same after you’ve tried this 🙂 Babalik-balikan mo talaga, like for your second or third round of dessert 😀
Another dish that was everybody’s favorite was Benedicto Kitchen’s Roast Beef 🙂 It was so juicy, tender and melt-in-your-mouth. Pang heart attack pero masarap talagaaa…
It’s available at the Carving Station:
The Beef Kare-Kare using Gng. Bukid’s Peanut Butter, omg, it was so creamy! It doesn’t even look like kare-kare anymore because it’s like beef in peanut butter sauce, but oh my god, it is a must-try! Make sure to get some bagoong with it. It looks like pure beef kare-kare with no veggies, so get your daily veggies from other dishes 🙂
An unexpected favorite is the Pumpkin in Coconut Milk with Mishee’s Binagoongan Flakes. It’s just ginataang kalabasa but it was so flavorful and comforting. The pumpkin is not mushy but dissolves in your mouth, and the sauce is creamy and perfectly seasoned. The salty, umami binagoongan flakes are the perfect topping!
In the same vein, I also loved the monggo! Make sure to top it with Eddy’s Old Style Chicharrones, Che-Che’s Crispy Chicken Adobo Flakes, and Daddy Mikk’s Chili Garlic Crunch that are available on the side.
I also liked the pizza using the Gourmet Tuyo, the smoked salmon roulade using La Petite Fromagerie’s Truffle Cream Cheese Spread. If you plan on ordering from La Petite Fromagerie, try their Taba ng Talangka Cream Cheese Spread. It’s divine! 🙂
This is the Tamago Chips Crusted Spicy Tuna Roll:
Sisig Paella with Eddy’s Old Style Chicharrones – what more can you ask for? 🙂
This salad was very good – it’s very close to a Caesar Salad but uses Cheche’s Gourmet Tuyo and Salted Eggs.
There’s also a Live Pasta Station where you can have pasta cooked a la minute!
You can request for some Singaporean Chili Crabs using Papa Bear’s Chili Oil at the Chinese station. This is Richard from Papa Bear showcasing the crabs 🙂
Also ask for the Stir-fry Beef using Buenlago Kitchen’s Hot Indie Sauce. According to the owner, the Indie Sauce is usually used as a topping/dip for food like siomai, etc… so they were pleasantly surprised at how the chefs at Novotel came up with this dish!
If you have been yearning to try the super popular dream cakes, here’s your chance because the original Dream Cake from Le Sucre Lab is featured!
Half Saint’s 64% Dark Chocolate Tart is starting to get traction on social media. It’s thick, creamy and bittersweet 🙂
Cake Shots Tiramisu – I liked this but my table companions found the alcohol too strong for their taste, so those who are not used to alcohol might want to steer clear of this. The Tiramisu was soft, perfectly wet (not soggy), and very creamy. I didn’t mind the alcohol because I assume you get a shot of alcohol with the cake, that’s why it’s called Cake Shots 😀
Auro Chocolate Mousse – the others really liked it but I found it too sweet.
BUFFET RATES & DISCOUNTS
The Masarap Ba buffet is P1,588 nett per person for lunch, and P1,688 nett for dinner. BUT, you can get a 40% discount if you have a BDO credit or debit card (ATM)! You may also use your Accor membership card for the appropriate discounts 🙂
You can also get a 5% discount e-voucher from Masarap Ba’s social media sites.
This buffet will only run until April 7, 2019 so hurry!
SUMMARY
For those curious, Masarap Ba has not yet revealed herself to us 🙂 But I love this project and wish her more successful ventures like this.
At P1,588 nett, this buffet is already very good value for money, but to get this at 40% OFF is a steal!!!
You must try this buffet, if only because it saves you the trouble of wrangling all those different popular and delicious food products. At this buffet, you get to try them all in one spot! 🙂 Your only regret will be not having a bigger stomach to fit everything you want to eat!
