The Buffet:
Nice Chinese food spread, but I didn't try much of these.
HEAT knows how to start you off! A great selection of cheeses, breads, honey, and grapes. I loved that they have pistachios without shells. without. shells. Amazing.
Grab some greens! Different salads are available for you if you want to continue your culinary journey on a lighter diet (for now).
'Tis but impossible to have a good buffet without a good sushi bar. Theirs is pretty simple, but what the lack in variety, they make up for in quality. Great, fresh sushi and sashimi.
They have a nice looking station for Chinese noodle soup. We unfortunately did not have space nor time for this, but maybe next time! Much to the delight of my tongue and the dismay of the losing health-conscious person in my brain, we are coming back.
Though not part of the actual buffet, they have an iced tea section that you can enjoy for an extra amount. Wine is available as well. We decided to focus on the millions of kinds of food that were a part of the buffet.
It is normally wise to stay away from pasta when enjoying huge buffets, but it's great how they serve pasta in really small portions. A small selection of decent pasta. Sundried tomatoes FTW!
Like I said, good buffets have good sushi bars. However, great buffets have great steak! Good steak is hard to come by in setups like these, but HEAT has some good, tender steak for you to enjoy in all its medium rare glory.
A neat selection of Persian cuisine for a refreshing change from all the buffet usuals.
Dessert, dessert and lots of dessert! Much to my regret, I did not save a lot of room for dessert. There are delicious creme brulees, a chocolate fountain, taho (weird, I know), fruits, a crepe station, and a Cold Stone-ish ice cream station.
Here, I fervently wait for my ice cream.
What we ate:
A random mix of different salads. Delicious capers!
Rye bread with honey and cheese, ready-to-eat pistachios, and almonds. That's fancy and schmancy!
Fresh, glorious sashimi and sushi. Sashimi is the reason I think I'd still enjoy life in a world before man discovers fire.
An absolute wreck of main dishes. At first look, you'd think they have the saddest tempura, but you'll eventually appreciate that its consistency is 99% shrimp and 1% batter. The curacha (spanner crab) did not look very delectable to me because it's shaped like an overgrown tick. I just treated it like normal crab - I did not know how to eat it well anyway. My friends were also concerned with the rawness of the mussel I got. It's been three weeks and I'm still fine. Bullet dodged!
Seafood chowder that was surprisingly flavorful and good, some Persian food, and roast beef. The tender meat was quite enjoyable, almost as good as what can be prepared at home. Juicy, goodness. There's always a primal satisfaction that arises when you bite down into some bloody steak.
As I began my transition into dessert (notice the creme brulee), I went back for one last visit to my favourites, the sushi and the nuts! Pizza was meh, as expected.
People who know me well would know this is obviously not my plate. Alvie's fruit platter did not look appetizing to me, but I think she enjoyed. There was a custard thing I liked, though.
I wasn't able to try this taho but it doesn't look very delicious. Alvie says it tasted fine, though so I shouldn't be deceived by its looks.
Now, this is much more my style. Mango custard crepe, one more creme brulee and Mango-Vanilla-Strawberry mixed ice cream with sliced almonds. They were all really good. I'm not much of a dessert person, but HEAT really pulls off a great sweet ending to your gluttonous meal.
Verdict: Very Good - Great sushi, steak, dessert, and pistachios without shells. That's all you need!
The Saisaki Scale: Passing - At 888, I'd say this buffet is very much worth it, even better than Vikings. At its normal price though (I do not know the specifics but I think 1,600 is a good estimate), I'd say it's just barely passing the Saisaki scale, only because it is very expensive. I am not sure I have a good notion of what money is worth, but for 1,600 pesos, I can easily imagine a buffet where someone gives me a massage while I eat my Foie Gras medium rare Kobe beef risotto, and sip on my unlimited bailey's irish cream. Haha. In reality though, I feel it is indeed worth that much, but just barely. Call me old-fashioned, but I don't see myself treating myself to a buffet of such cost. The more frugal approach would be to wait for the next promo, or for someone to treat you! Haha. Overeating is bad, anyway! :)
We had a lot of fun, and enjoyed our money's worth. No more buffets, please!
Love HEAT? Hate it? Let me know by commenting below, or just tweet me!
HEAT
G/F EDSA Shangri-la Hotel, 1 Garden Way
Wack Wack, Mandaluyong City
(02) 633-8888 loc 2777 or 2739
Operating Hours: 6:00 am - 12:00 mn
Facebook: HEAT by Edsa Shangri-La, Manila
Website: http://www.shangri-la.com/
View Larger Map
