The Macroblog

Two days ago, during my own birthday, I attended a birthday party of a relative. I know, it’s not the best way to celebrate your birthday, but if you were invited to eat lunch — buffet style — at a luxurious hotel like Edsa Shangri-La, deciding on whether to attend or bail is so easy, even if it’s your birthday.

We ate at a restaurant called Heat (the name is horrible for a restaurant, no?). The restaurant offers a wide variety of food; Heat serves Continental and Asian dishes and desserts — including Filipino food. The restaurant is really big. It has compartmentalized dining ares, so it’s perfect for small parties. And although it occupies a large floor area, the place still gives you a cozy feeling.

Heat’s tagline is “Healthy Dining, Amazing Tastes”. The second part is true, but the first part isn’t. I suggest that you disregard that part. Do you consider crispy pata, burger, and lechon kawali as healthy? Come on, give me a break!

But the food is actually good. I wanted to try all of the food that they served, but that’s impossible. Besides, there were a few things that I didn’t want to eat. The strangest food that I saw there was the taho (bean curd). I didn’t realize that taho could be served in a fine dining restaurant. On that day, they also served fried dried squid. When I first saw them, I was like “really?”. Avoid them, reallocate the space that they’ll use in your stomach with other food, there are so many to choose from. There’s nothing special to them, they’re just the same as the ordinary taho and dried squid that you could buy on the streets or at the market.

What I liked there were the ebi (shrimp) tempura (but the sauce has too much rice wine), tuna sashimi, their pizzas, a dish that I forgot the name that looked like chicken parmesan (they used beef), potato and breaded chicken. The kare-kare surprisingly tasted like my Mom’s. It’s sweet, and you could really taste the peanut sauce.

On the desserts table, they have ice cream, halo-halo, fruits, cakes, a chocolate fountain, bibingka, puto bumbong, and more. They also make crepes upon ordering. The desserts have the ability to create holes in your mouth. Definitely, you have to try them.

The chefs were very friendly and courteous. It almost felt eating like a king.

As for the price, I could only guess that it could cost you more than Php 1000. Maybe even more than Php 2000.

Only after I filled my stomach and a party started in my intestines that I realized that spending my birthday by attending another person’s birthday party wasn’t really bad at all. My dining experience at Heat was tremendously incredible. But I would still pick Spiral at Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila anytime.

Sorry, I wasn’t able to take photos of the food. I was too busy eating. LOL. At least, you have something to imagine.