a bite of brownie

Last pitstop for ReiMart’s special day (looks like a week to me now), is Feria. A restaurant in Radisson Blu hotel serving international cuisine (more on Asian and Mediterranean) to their patrons, they have a promo during Tuesdays, for 800Php/head. Perfect for celebrations like this one! We were joined by Gladys, Kuya Nik, and Teresa.

We immediately went to the sushi section and were greeted with sashimi slices and maki rolls. I had a plateful of sashimi for the first round. I had lots of salmon sashimi, some tuna sashimi, and an unidentified maki. The salmon sashimi had some hard parts when I ate them, not bones, maybe just a little frozen than it should be. None of that melt in your mouth goodness, times like this I miss being in Vancouver.

For my second plate, I took a more diverse route, getting paella, lechon slices, pork menudo (ikr?), pizza, and made my own Mexican chicken shawarma. I should cut down on carbs, I know, but it’s a buffet! Haha

Third plate, I’m pretty much getting ready for dessert, I got some elusive xiao long bao’s (yay!) and some more of that chicken shawarma hehe. Paired it with a very refershing basil infused cucumber lemonade! Waaa I should have taken more of this drink, if I only knew!

I think I got the prettiest dessert plate, and I mean just look at that beauty! 2 scoops of chocolate ice cream topped with rice crisps and chocolate drizzle, meringue, macarons, and chocolate coated marshmallows! Whaaaaat??

Verdict: 2/5
When I go to buffets, I usually just concentrate on one section, but here, I found myself circling about. Looking for other stuff to try, there’s not a lot of choices, maybe they toned it down for the promo, but they do have a nice desserts section. Bottomline, I’ve had better.

Determined to run through all restaurants here in Podium, we decided to take on The Blackboard by Chef Michel, a restaurant with intimate ambience serving international dishes thought of and created by renowned chef Chef Michel. What’s interesting in this restaurant? No printed menus! If you want something, you have to look up. Literally. Their menu is printed on the huge blackboard, which by the way, changes daily! Yep, everyday is a brand new day to whip something amazing from their kitchens. Wow, typing that down (writing this review a few months later) makes me want to go back there! Maybe they’ll have my initial order! Haha

There was a lot on that board from different cuisines, too. I remember ordering something that wasn’t available, uh-oh! So I settled for their Chicken Cordon Bleu with Potato Mash. Looking at my dish, the roll was evenly sliced. The meat looked tender and moist, The ham perfectly wrapped the oozing cheese. The 5 slices were expertly placed on top of a potato mash that looked and tasted good, not like mush, more on the rustic side with little lumps of potato to excite every bite. The gravy drizzled on top of everything, running down on the sides licking the plate. The overall taste and texture did not disappoint and it was very filling. The hosts were on the snobbish side, had a hard time calling their attention to give me something, like a refill of my water or my bill. Haha I know, little things. But no! I was the only customer in the restaurant, you would expect they would give you their superb attention to details.

Verdict: 2.5/5
I don’t know their bestseller, but from research, apparently Chef Michel would sometimes really be the one cooking your food! In the flesh! It would have been exciting to witness that, so that of course will be one of the reasons why we should come back here; apart from trying the rest of their ginormous menu haha