Chinese New Year Feast at Diamond Hotel’s Corniche Restaurant

People regardless of race and culture will celebrate the New Year because it rekindles a person’s enthusiasm towards life. The start of the year is synonymous to hope –with or without money, new clothes or food to feast on.

Feb 10, 2013 marks the celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year, the year of the Water Snake. My husband and I chose have a feast because alas, the year of the Water Dragon is done. (If you know Feng Shui, you will understand how we felt because we were born under the year of the Dog).

We went to Corniche Restaurant at Diamond Hotel to enjoy their Chinese New Year feast and to watch the lion dance. Price of the Chinese New Year Feast is Php1,800++/head, Php300++ difference from the regular Saturday lunch buffet at Php1,500++/head. The rate does not include drinks, service charge and taxes. A can of soda is priced at Php135++/can while bottomless house iced tea is Php240++.

Because I am a member of Diamond Hotel’s Diamond Indulgence, I am entitled to dining discounts which means most of our family’s special occasions are celebrated at Corniche. Due to this, I came to a conclusion that the Chinese New Year Feast is worth more than the additional Php300++. There are stations that are not available on their regular weekend buffets and several seafood dishes were only served during Seafood Buffet Thursday.

The buffet spread was opened before 12:00NN and we started our meal with cheese and cold cuts.

There were around 8 cheese options, and these are the variants that we tried: brie, brie with olives, blue cheese, edam and goat cheese in red wine. My favorites were brie and goat cheese in red wine.

The cheese can either be eaten alone, mixed with salad or along with bread. Corniche has a wide selection of bread but I never tasted any of them.

For the cold cuts, there was a variety of meat and fish choices. I personally enjoyed the smoked salmon and smoked tangigue.

Because I am a seafood lover, specifically salmon and shrimps, I was impressed with their wide selection of shrimp and salmon dishes such as, Parmesan Crusted Salmon, Salmon Teriyaki, Salmon Sushi, Seafood Teppanyaki (combination of shrimps and salmon), smoked salmon, king shrimps in sweet spicy sauce, shrimp tempura and fresh shrimp that are ready to be grilled or cooked in butter.

They also have other fish dishes such as steamed fish in garlic, fish fillet with tausi and fish with dill sauce. I personally like the fish with dill sauce but decided to eat just a small portion because it is too rich.

Seafood lovers will also appreciate the spread of lobsters, oysters and mussels that can either be grilled or baked.

If you are into meat and looks forward to carving stations, Corniche offers a good variety. They have roast beef, parmesan crusted salmon, grilled pork ribs, duck, chinese asado, lechon macau and embutido.

With Corniche, it is a must to reserve a space in your tummy for dessert. Unlike some hotels who provide mediocre sweet treats, Diamond Hotel is serious with their ice cream, cake and chocolates.

My personal favorite is their ice cream and I always have it prepared teppanyaki style with chocolate rocks and shaved almonds. Their vanilla is a must-try, best thing is you can see the black vanilla bean specks on it.

For people who are watching their sugar intake will be glad to see a great selection of sugar-free and “no sugar added” desserts.

Corniche’s Chinese New Year feast is worth every peso spent. Just like other hotel buffets, it has its own strengths and weaknesses but somehow I tend to oversee their shortcomings because I was happy with the ambiance of the restaurant and my my dining experience. Corniche has its own charm that will definitely make me and my family come back.

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To give you a better idea on the food selection, I’m sharing a list of food stations available. Please note that this is not the full list and is only based on what I remembered.

–          Salad, cold cuts and other appetizers including Chinese appetizers such as jelly fish and century egg

–          Seafood

–          Japanese

–          Chinese

–          Indian (limited selection)

–          French (limited selection)

–          Pasta and pizza

–          Carving stations: roast beef, grilled pork ribs, parmesan crusted, Chinese asado, duck, embutido

–          Dessert: truffles, pralines, macarons, petit fours, pinoy desserts, fruits

–          Sugar free desserts

–          Ice cream scooping station and teppanyaki style