The Unlawyer

As I once remarked in a very early photoblog entry of mine, Philippine buffet restaurants are a very popular choice among Filipino diners, and hotel buffet restaurants in particular do a roaring trade catering to the cream of the crop of these customers. Many think buffets are an immense value for money, I suppose, because of the plentiful dishes on hand just waiting to be taken up.

So which is why my family hied of to the Mandarin Oriental Manila and its celebrated Paseo Uno buffet restaurant to celebrate my Mom’s and Dad’s 42nd wedding anniversary.

So let’s take a look, and I beg your pardon – this is going to be a picture-heavy entry.

On entering the restaurant, you will actually first encounter the dessert station on the left, and the shrimp and oyster station immediately to the right, but you didn’t come to this place to immediately partake of sweets, did you?

First you should proceed to Paseo Uno’s salad station. In the foreground is the spot where different kinds of bread and cheese are laid out, and in the middle you can find entree salads and farther on, green salads, Caesar’s salad in particular.

Here is Paseo Uno’s sushi and sashimi station. Just beyond it is the restaurant’s signature fresh shellfish station.

Here it is: all the shrimps, oysters, crabs, mussels, and other kinds of seafood wait in readiness on mounds of ice, all you can eat, all for you. Although I must say I prefer Asian green mussels harvested from local seabeds – the lowly tahong in other words – rather than the imported kind served here for its tenderness and flavor. New Zealand mussels tend to be tougher and lacking in taste.

Further down is Paseo Uno’s Asian cuisine station, which is dominated in the middle by a deep fryer where all sorts of tempura is freshly made, as well as vats of stock and noodle pots where diners can ask the chef to prepare a bowl of noodles to their liking. You can also find a steamer basket or two of dim sum, and char siu pork, roast duck, as well as steamed chicken are on hand as well. At the far end are a selection of Asian dishes for your delectation.

To the left of all of this Asian food is Paseo Uno’s Western cuisine station. Here you can find diverse meats, poultry, and fish, as well as vegetables, prepared in the French or Italian style.

Here is one dish that made an appearance at this station: peppered tuna loin.

The highlight of any buffet is its carvery station, and Paseo Uno’s does not disappoint in the variety of meat it serves. You can have your choice, depending on the day of the week I suppose, of prime rib or rib eye, roast turkey, pork knuckles, and more. When carved out of the primal, the beef is usually done rare to medium rare; you can request the chef to cook it some more to your preferred level of doneness.

Last but not least is Paseo Uno’s dessert station, where crepes made to order are the star of this particular show. A selection of fresh fruits, ice cream with an assortment of toppings, pastries, even a chocolate fountain, are also available. I almost forgot: they serve one of my favorite desserts, which is bread and butter pudding.

Paseo Uno is open daily for lunch and dinner. Reservations highly recommended. Phone them at (02) 750-8888 for details. Major credit cards accepted.