City of Dreams Manila adds the sizzle to Thursday summer nights with a well-curated spread of Filipino street food favorites at the Wave poolside restaurant.
This is a great way to feature a lesser-known corner of the Nobu Hotel surrounded by the lush greenery, hedges, and water installations of City of Dreams Manila. The restaurant is an alternate venue for hotel guests to have breakfast if they want to have their first meal of the day al fresco.
Every Thursday evening until the end of April, they fire up the grills to serve up a wide selection of Filipino barbecue, street food, and bar chow that cater to every palate.
As the sun sets, the tito and tita-friendly music of acoustic pairs Philip Arabit and Cindy Honra, and Michelle Ayalde and Josh Braganza work together with the aromas coming out of the grill and the live cooking station to draw the crowds in.
This offer includes free flowing iced tea, juices, sodas, sago’t gulaman, and San Mig Light.
My first stop was the extensive pulutan section with cold beer to start the evening of eating.
Stop by the ensalada and kinilaw station beside it. The kinilaw was a preview of the spice level present in the buffet’s special dishes. I liked it since I do like my food on the spicy side, especially between sips of more cold beer.
The street food station features Filipino barbecue, which has an assortment of cooked skewered goodies like chicken inasal and pork barbecue. On the other end are fishball, kwek-kwek, kikiam, fried tofu, and their super spicy dinamita. I’d recommend handing the barbecue to the grill master to make sure you get your food hot with some of that lovely char.
Filipinos sure love our suka, sauces and sawsawan. One of the small touches I really liked is that they have different kinds of vinergar, sauces and additions like chili salt for guests to tweak their food as they see fit.
There’s even balut and chili garlic balut where they add a generous amount of chili oil to spice up an already adventurous dish.
Wave set up a live cooking station where the chefs made fresh hot sisig, Batangas lomi, and pares. Not for the weak of heart, I’d say the must-try dish is the cholesterol-iffic Pares Overload which is essentially beef and pork pares mami supercharged with all of the "good" stuff like chicharon bulaklak.
I discovered that the live cooking station can accommodate special requests if they're not loaded. At the time I went, there was no garlic rice in the spread. So, I asked them to make me Spicy Sisig Fried Rice to which the assigned chef gamely rose to the challenge.
Leave some space for dessert. True to its Filipino menu, Wave has camote and banana cue, ginataang bilo-bilo, and turon de rhuma. Wash these all down with a loaded glass of halo-halo.
This is a great way to enjoy those favorites Filipinos grew up in a comfortable setting, as well as introduce Filipino food to guests visiting from other countries. With the free flowing beer alone, and with the offers at the live cooking station, this is a nice way to eat your way through a Thursday night.
City Of Dreams Manila’s Filipino Barbecue Buffet is held every Thursday evening at the Wave Restaurant of the Nobu Hotel Manila and is priced at P1,999 net/person.
Photos by Jeeves de Veyra