Review: Ocean’s Harvest seafood buffet at Marriott Hotel Manila

Last year, The M Cafe at Marriott Manila went head on with Asian cuisine. This year, Marriott takes us deep down into the ocean. Entitled Ocean’s Harvest, guests are treated to a sumptuous feast of the freshest fish, clams, crustaceans and other fresh catch cooked just the way you want it, a la the local dampa (seafood market). A Friday and Saturday dinner exclusive, experience the finest culinary delights under the sea for only 2300 PHP.

For the uninitiated, the local dampa (pronounced damn-pa) is not a curse word but a magical place for seafood awesomeness. It refers to a place where you will find both a seafood market and a number of restaurants. You are supposed to get your ingredients from the market and bring it to a restaurant of choice to have it cooked the way you want it. Usually the cooking charge or paluto costs just about the same as buying a similar dish in a restaurant. Its attraction comes from the experience of shopping and to choosing the best seafood and have it cooked fresh, on the spot.

Now take this picture of the seafood wonderland called dampa and put it in the comforts of an international hotel setting. That is what Marriott Hotel Manila has re-created with Ocean’s Harvest.

Is your mouth watering yet?

When I got there I was immediately greeted by a new centerpiece full of tasty ocean havest. Sitting on top of it was a tuna with a sign that said “fresh catch of the day”. On Chef Elmer’s recommenation I ordered “nilasing na hipon” (fried shrimp marinated in liquor) for my appetizer. It took a while for my dish to arrive, probably because there was so many orders coming in at the same time, but the resulting dish was very tasty.

This is how it works. First, you take a plate where you put your fresh seafood ingredients. Then, head over to one of the cooking stations (i.e. sautee, Japanese, Chinese, etc) and describe how you want it cooked. You want it sweet? Salty? Spicy? Cheesy? Fried? Buttered? With soup? Anything you can dream of, feel free to go nuts. Or go bananas. It’s up to you.

The cook will give you a number which you will place on a cute holder located on your table. Then head back to your table and perhaps do a few backflips and somersaults while waiting for your dish to be prepared.

At home I like to experiment with my cooking, and it just so happens that the previous week I had been playing around with cream dory, making something that was baked and herbed with a little acid. So I went ahead and picked some fish fillet and asked the sautee section to make me something that was herbed with acid. I also wanted cheese with it. I was not sure if the cook heard me right, but the resulting dish was not herbed or acidic, though it did have cheese in it. It was good, but I was a little disappointed. Can’t really blame the cook though I would like to try explaining what I wanted one more time.

Over the next 15-30 minutes our table began filling up until it was overflowing with different kinds of seafood dishes. From sinigang na isda sa miso to sweet and spicy crabs down to our own experimental sets of maskipops (“maski papaano”), it is exactly what a seafood fiesta (festival) should be.

All this writing is starting to make me hungry.

Guests who are not so much into seafood can still enjoy the regular dishes like pizza, steaks, sushi, noodles, etc. Marriott Cafe has something from every continent that would surely satisfy your palate. If that’s not enough you can still request for any dish that isn’t already available. Like say, sweet and sour adobong kambing ala pobre. Something like that.

After that, head over to the desert selection for your fill of fruits, chocolates, cakes and other sweet happy things. The gelato at Marriott Cafe has always been my favorite – if I were 20 years younger I could stay there all day.

Oh, and don’t forget to order a drink for a nice surprise.

Thanks to Marriott Manila, Mitch Garcia and April Gonzales.

Ocean’s Harvest seafood buffet at Marriott Hotel Manila

[slickr-flickr tag=”Marriott Manila seafood buffet”]