The sea food section at the Shang Rila Makati Buffet photographed with a Canon IXUS using the color Accent mode which isolates color and renders the rest of the image in black and white.

Text and photos

By Jude Thaddeus L. Bautista

For several years now, there has been an explosion of cooking shows. The Asian Food channel was recently added on local cable. Anthony Bourdain was a chef that was cast in his own show called “A Cook’s Tour,” and also titled “No Reservations” aired in Discovery Travel & Living. He goes around the world in search of unique cuisines, along with his New York, no punches held back attitude. Jeff Corwin has a similar show called “Extreme Cuisine” at the Lifestyle Network. The original Japanese Iron Chef series has already been adapted to “Iron Chef America.”

The roast beef is my personal favorite. You can ask the Assistant chef to cook it to medium-well done if desired.

Watching these shows makes any viewer hungry and want something international in their meals. One of the best ways to experience and get to know a culture is through their food. Short of flying of into some exotic location why not go to a restaurant that is able to satisfy your craving? Better yet why not go to a place that is able to provide more than one cuisine in one meal? The thing is the food has to be authentic or it’s a useless exercise. If your goal is to experience different tastes from different places, then it has to be real. There are no cheap substitutes.

The sea food section at the Shang Rila Makati Buffet photographed with a Canon IXUS using the color Accent mode which isolates color and renders the rest of the image in black and white.

Today here in Manila, there’s no denying that the king of the hill has to be the buffet in Circles restaurant in Shang-Rila Makati. Every Sunday the place is full and bustling with families taking the best local and international cuisine they can get. So make your reservations days in advance so you’re sure to get a table. There are several cuisines you can choose from or combine them to your heart’s content. Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Indian, Continental and yes, our favorite Filipino cuisine can all be tasted in one buffet.

Chef Sovan Negi by the Indian section, he always has something up his sleeve every week.

BEFORE I go into detail in describing a few of the dishes I’ve tasted, please BE WARNED: there IS a strong tendency to over eat. God knows me, my brothers and the rest of the family have this tendency too when we were there the past two weekends. The food is so unbelievably good apart from being 100% authentic, that it will take all of your will power to resist eating more than you’re capable of.

Rose Sarbat is a refreshing Indian drink unique to Shang Makati (in the Phil.) as far as I know.

I want to start with Indian because it’s not as common as the other cuisines, at least not here in the Philippines. I also want to reward people who work hard and do well in their job. Chef Sovan Negi, a young Indian chef was warmly greeting customers and explaining what he prepared. He was also serving some of the dishes himself. Each week he has something new up his sleeve that I can’t wait to try.

Last week it was an array of Indian street food. He showed me a row of small pink drinks topped with little tapiocas, called “Rose Sarbat.” The taste is creamy, light, fragrant and refreshing like our own “Sago’t Gulaman.” I’ve never seen anything like it here in Manila. Sovan said, “Most of our Indian customers are international businessmen. So when they see something like this, Indian street food here, they’re quite surprised.”  Beside the Rose Sarbat is the Bhel Puri or Indian rice puff, which was crispy and light too a perfect appetizer.

Crispy Indian breads

Just yesterday, he added something that I had wanted to eat for a long time myself: Chicken Shawarma. Yes, the chicken meat is grilled vertically on a revolving skewer like the common shawarma. Except here you know that it’s clean, safe and several times more delicious. Usually its beef that’s served like this and not an internationally renowned Chef like Sovan who’s serving it. The grilled chicken meat is placed in a small white shawarma bread topped with tomatoes and lettuce. The meat is not overwhelmed by mayo or sauces so the flavor of the meat will stand out on its own.

Tandoori Chicken

Yesterday there was also an interesting variation to the classic Tandoori chicken, the variant had green sauce. I loved Tandoori with rice, I thought it’s similar to our own Bacolod Inasal chicken which is also grilled. The green sauce added a subtle herb like taste similar to curry but not as spicy. Not to be missed are the several kinds of chapatti and roti which are Indian flat breads. The lamb curry goes perfectly with the roti’s.

Even when me and my family had gone back a second week in a row, we couldn’t get enough of it. There’s so much variety, every week there’s something new. I’ll write again about the other cuisines. Remember the Indian section is just a part of the whole buffet which includes several other cuisines, salads, fruits and pastries all freshly baked in a place called Shang-Rila.

(to becontinued)