A taste of the world
An international degustation at the Shang
I’ve always loved this mall. It’s my favorite in the metropolis, and in my top three, nationwide. I’ve been coming here for over twenty years now, and it’s always been the classiest~ a sophisticated-collection of premium brands, elegantly cozy restaurants, and that toweringatrium over it all, dappling everything below with sunbeams. It’s also, by far, the cleanest: that gleaming marble flooring looks as immaculate as it did back in the ‘90s. Two decades on, Shangri-La Plaza still feels perfectly right, with the perfect vibe. It’s certainly the best “first date mall” around. Everything right where it should be, yet with surprises in every corner of every floor. Every single time I visit, there’s always something new to delight me. New shops, new experiences, new tastes. It’s always good to be back at my Shang!
Chef Peter Ayson and I share a common love of steaks. And whenever he cooks a steak, you can be sure that it will be one of the most flavorful, the most tender, and most decadent steaks you’ll ever have! And whenever I’m in the mood to give in to my carnivorous desires, I head to Chops. It started off as a macho butchery concept, but has since evolved into a more family friendly destination, as befits the mall it’s located in. It always feels like the holidays in this restaurant~ one of the specials is the “Turkey Lurkey”, a humongous applewood smoked turkey drumstick that looks and tastes like Christmas ham. Then there’s the massive Buttered Tomahawk Steak. It’s soaked in clarified butter overnight, and then, grilled. So, Chef Pete’s not kidding about how rich this beautiful hunk of meat is. It is good for four, perhaps even five hearty appetites! So if you want to channel your inner caveman, this is the place to go when at the Shangri-La Plaza!
SPÄTZLE.
I’m really not sure how to pronounce that word, but I am certain that it’s one of my favorite Swiss staples. Spätzle are very tiny dumplings, smaller than jelly beans; some would call them small round egg noodles, but either way, done right, they have an al dente texture that makes them a lot of fun to eat. And my favorite place to enjoy them is at a Euro Market Café that’s named after them. It’s a Pan European restaurant, with a menu offering a selection of Swiss, French, German, and even Italian classics. Jennifer Quepe, one of the young partners, is proud of the twists that make her restaurant’s specials more endearing to the curious palates of Filipinos. Her bestselling Carbonara Spätzle has pancetta, and a golden orange egg to bind everything together decadently. Röesti is my other favorite here; it’s a potato pancake, freshly shredded upon ordering. It’s a more civilized hash brown, and it is as good for dinner as it is for breakfast. Next time, I’m having mine slathered with Nutella!
CORAZON
In a mall filled with a plethora of choices of cuisines from all over the world, a Filipino restaurant stands out as one of the most beloved, and no surprise, it’s from the renowned chef, Florabel Co-Yatco. It’s a restaurant that’s very close to her heart; it’s her passion project, her Corazon. True to its name, the menu is Filipino-Hispano, replete with the Spanish-influenced dishes— embutido, callos, pochero-- our grandmothers loved to make from scratch, and that’s exactly how it’s done here. Morcon, for instance, tender beef hand rolled and tied with string, as tradition dictates. The Chef does a wonderful job of transporting Pinoy diners back to their childhood, and a spectacular job of introducing expats and tourists to our heritage dishes.
DUCK AND BUVETTE
And finally, the restaurant that I brave the EDSA traffic for. I love and adore Duck and Buvette. It serves the best Duck Confit in Metro Manila, bar none. It opened a decade and a half ago as Cafe Provençal, authentically French, and it quickly became one of the mall’s anchors. But when Shangri-La Plaza began building the East Wing and started renovating the Main Wing, Chef Jacq Tan, one of the restaurant's owners, came up with a new concept that brightened up the menu for a new generation of diners, and D&B was born. “B” is for “Buvette”, but I feel it should stand for Bacon, as the restaurant serves the most addicting bacon dish in the city: pristine pork belly smoked in-house, candied with maple syrup, and served hot and crisp from the oven. I always ask for two orders, because I never want to share. Oh, and D&B’s Duck Confit? It’s now available for take-out, in a beautiful blue and white box. Très bien'!
Those are four great reasons to head to Shangri- La Plaza, but as I said, there’s always a surprise in store there: there’s an ongoing promotion until March 30, “Ten Unforgettable Journeys from Shang”, and every single receipt worth P2,500 entitles mall guests to a raffle coupon that can win them an unforgettable vacation at a Shangri-La Hotel in the most glamorous destinations in the world, from Boracay to Dubai, Sydney to Vancouver, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, Singapore and all the way to London and Paris. Luxury as only the Shang-- both the mall and the hotels-- can provide. I guess I know where I’ll be dining this weekend!
Every single time I visit, there’s always something new to delight me. New shops, new experiences, new tastes. It’s always good to be back at my Shang!