Revisiting Diamond Hotel

Guess where I was last weekend?

Okay, this might give a better clue:

Slices of the most epic Diamond Hotel ube ensaymada as the actual size is bigger than my fist times two. Revisited the Diamond Hotel last weekend and not only did I get to enjoy a lunch buffet and stuff myself to the brim with seafood but also their breakfast buffet. I stuffed myself with so much prawns I had prawns in my breakfast and lunch and would have had so at dinner but I was so full already by lunchtime that all I could afford was a cup of soup at SM MoA. But here are snapshots of what's new from 2 years ago:

Smoked salmon to me is pork. I don't eat pork or allow a sliver of pig meat to enter the house. Salmon is my guilty guilty pleasure.

A bowlful of cereal used to be my foolproof breakfast when I was a kid. I never seem to rid myself of it. <3

I never fail to miss dessert because they have the best dessert buffet EVER! I love chocolate fountains and I'm glad they added one complete with goodies to dip to. The one on the left is mint-flavored marshmallow that's made from scratch and not bought from a candy supply store.

Pastries in the morning too! I'm a sweet tooth and can't help it. :)

Don't forget for buffets to order just water for drinks (juices and soda fill you up with sugar, which occupies space for more food) and not to load up on rice (which you could have everyday!) variety instead of quantity is the key.

Diamond Hotel, I am so seeing you again. Keep those soba noodles too for me!

My Big Fat Ensaymada Love

Remember when I attended the Diamond Club Dessert Buffet? I got introduced to the mini-version of their best-selling Ensaymada. Carlos Celdran highly recommends this pastry and since the mini-version was not enough and I haven't reviewed it yet, I craved for the Ensaymada and wanted to experience it in full.




Php100.00 (Ube Ensaymada) at the Cake Club at the Powerplant Mall

It got to my table heated with the cheese and butter-sugar frosting melting. It's actually served better warm. I like the ube filling and for someone who does not eat root crops or legumes... that's plus plus plus! I had to hover to all corners of the ensaymada with ube.

With the sweet and creaminess, it's best served with tea or just water. The frosting and cheese happens to be my favorite part (literally icing on the cake), I scraped through the plate to get through the cheese part.

Yum yum? Sure is! There's also an original variety but for the same price, I went for something with more flavor and this did not disappoint me. Remember, if you're gonna take this home, it's best served heated.

An Extended Birthday Treat

The Diamond Hotel seems to see a lot of me in my birthday. Aside from being my birthday cake supply (Had the Supermoist Cake), I finally used my lunch buffet for two complementary GC yesterday. I did all the reserving on Saturday afternoon, which was surprisingly easy because I thought, being a Sunday, the place would be jampacked with patrons. When we got there though, we had our table waiting for us. And after checking and appoving my GC... let the feast begin!

The Palm Court Cafe International buffet had rows of appetizers, food, and seafood that I always dream of eating. After breezing through the appetizer section, I helped myself to their selection of seafood and japanese food. You guys know I'm such a seafood lover so I devoured prawns, mussels, sushi, and fish to my heart's delight. And of course the star of my meal was:

This humongous crab that will scare the living daylights of non-seafood eaters but seafood lovers would eat with gusto. And since I had this baby all to myself, I wolfed it down in 30 minutes.

Dessert was just as scrumptious. I was reunited with the Supermoise cake, but I traded it for Le Royale instead and brazo de mercedes. Since I'm not a halo-halo fan, I made one of my own using leche flan, fruits, sago, and I topped it with chocolate and cream. YUMMM!!!!! I guess this is the longest lunch I had in my life, a 2-hour lunch that had to be capped of with a cup of tea. What "trick" I did so as to enjoy a buffet without feeling bloated is to go for variety instead of quantity. I put small amounts of food on my plate so I can sample a variety of treats. Also, I forgo rice (unless it's rice on my sushi) since that would stuff me more. Water too would be a better option to juice. And never go to a buffet in a super empty stomach. What I do is I do have a light breakfast so as not to overwhelm my tummy.

And the crew really was accomodating and they knew the meals well. I love how they cooked the crab. Yummm!!!!!!!! This would be fun too with friends as well, especially the seafood lovers like me

Did someone say Dessert?

Who does not love dessert? Dessert the course that "seals the deal" in a meal. It's a meal's own way of bowing out. Every country has its own dessert. Here in the Philippines, we have our halo-halo and buko pie. Go to any Chinese restaurant and you'd order Almond Jelly after a smorgasboard of dumplings and lemon chicken. Certainly dessert is there to complete a meal. Sometimes, it's what some people look forward to.
At the Diamond Hotel, they took dessert to a new level by creating their version of Dessert Nirvana - a scrumptious dessert buffet offering

"one of the most extensive, if not the most extensive, stand-alone dessert catering service in the metro by putting together an array of treats concocted with skill and expertise borne out of its five-star heritage."

The event was held at the Cake Club at the Powerplant Mall where food bloggers and bloggers met, dined, and enjoyed a night of good food and good fun. When I got the invitation to join this event, I couldn't say "no." I'm a sweet tooth myself (hence my blog's name) and what better way to start my new baby food blog but an event such as this? Despite that I had a marathon photoshoot the day before I made it a point to attend this event.

I got to Rockwell a little past 6 (the event was at 7 pm) bearing Makati Friday traffic so the cab had to take a detour to Kalayaan just to get me to Rockwell on time. When I got there, the event was just being set up so I did some window shopping first. When I got back, I spotted Sophie of Beautynomics.com, looking radiant with her newfound makeup skills. I also chatted with the event host, Val.

While I was chatting with her, the makeup artist in me was tempted to ask her if I could be her makeup artist some time. I wanted to put makeup on her! Her skin is flawless!

Okay... Back to our event. Diamond Hotel also provided us with a light dinner of salad, cold cuts, fruit slices, and a croissant.

There were also games, where a mystery cake was presented to the bloggers and a bloggers' team was asked to guess 5 ingredients on the cake

It's a cheesecake actually, and we were asked to guess the 5 nuts in the cake. Our expert food decoder, Phoebe was able to distinguish walnuts, pecans, almonds, and confirmed my theory that the dessert had pine nuts. Fran also confirmed walnuts. When we submitted our answers, guess what? We won the game! The prize was a gift check for one whole cake for each winner!

If the happiness was not enough, they also raffled out GCs and I also won another GC for knowing what a Mont Blanc dessert was. I managed to sample out a Mont Blanc, which was a

"French chestnut paste with dark rhum on almond tart"

So that's what the familiar taste was! And it really looks like a white mountain, hence the name.

Speaking of trivia, I also found out trivia that a famous Christmas icon actually originated from Egypt and was believed to be food for the afterlife. Guess what it was? Fruitcake!

Also, if you want this Dessert Buffet at your next event be it a corporate event or wedding or debut, Diamond Hotel also offers specially-created dessert buffet packages. All you have to do is to call Diamon Hotel or go at The Cake Club to place your order. You don't have to pick all the desserts up yourself- they'll be delivered right to your door by Diamond Hotel's temperature-controlled vans. Yeah!

Okay, so after which, the dessert buffet was open and we got to take pictures and sample out all the lovely desserts Diamond Hotel has to offer...

The macarons are classics! I got a rose macaron, which I've tried before. The rose actually has this interestingly exotic flavor associated with it. Sort of like a florally sweet type. You just gotta try it!

I was also able to sample their sugar-free desserts - green tea pannacotta and aloe vera jelly. The aloe vera jelly is another interesting delight. It was light on the stomach with an exotic sweet fruity taste. It was amazing how they put something I usually associate with skin care and makeup into a dessert.

Green Tea Pannacotta fuses both East and West with the creaminess of Italian Pannacotta with Japanese Green Tea. I just could not believe it was healthy! I also fell in love with the Green Tea Creme Brule and the Baked Cheesecake, a classic Diamond Hotel favorite. In fact, I had the Baked Cheesecake for breakfast this morning!

More dessert pictures that let them speak for themselves....

I also took the time to chat with other bloggers. Jane of The Yogini from Manila was with her son and her son said that the event was worth missing all his favorite shows. I also met Arpee Lazaro, a food blogger who shared with us his insights on food, good eats, and all. I also managed to share a few of my own makeup tips and reviews. It was really cool meeting different bloggers from different genres.

After all the dessert has gone, it was time to call it a night. Definitely, I'm sure to catch some more desserts at the Diamond Hotel or its extension coffee shop at The Cake Club at Rockwell.

(Diamond Hotel Philippines is located at Dr. J. Quintos St., Manila 1000 Philippines. Tel. No. (632) 305-3000)