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The resort take pride in their kitchens, and can assure you of consistently palatable, beautifully-presented dishes at reasonable prices. For groups and conferences, its award-winning chefs can prepare just about any kind of banquet you like. Haute cuisine? Nouvelle? Theme-party buffets? Marshmallows and beach bonfire? They've got it all and a venue for you.
Four Recognized Restaurants. Palermo, informal Italian. Kilimanjaro Kafé, International. Fiji, Seafood and Asian specialties. Savannah Grill, fast-food favorites with 5-star flair. CULINARY SUPERLATIVES AT PLANTATION BAY
| Plantation Bay offers an wide range of food items that various guests have judged the best, or comparable to the best, they’ve ever had: | | | Breakfast |  | Croissants – Light, flaky, buttery but not oily. You'd have a hard time finding a better one in Paris. | |  | Danish Pastries – Crisp, not very sweet, with a perfect custard lining and a selection of fruity toppings. | |  | Dwarf pineapples – Crunchy instead of pulpy, and naturally sweet. Even the pith is delectable. Without any objection the best pineapple on earth, and available only in Cebu and nearby islands (certainly not Manila). | |  | Mangoes – Tart, firm, with hardly any fibrousness, Cebu mangoes are quite unlike their poor relations from Mexico or Africa, and are considered the world standard by connoisseurs. | |  | Pan de Sal – Possibly the only remaining properly-made Philippine breakfast bun – chewy, stretchy, with a subtle wheat flavor. Some of our Filipino guests order it by the dozen to take home. | |  | Eggs any style – Cooked the way you want it in front of you, anything from fluffy-soft scrambleds to impeccable sunny-side ups. | |  | Eggs Benedict – Altogether not bad for an open buffet item. A Hollandaise to die for, and perfectly-poached eggs with firm whites and viscous yolks. | |  | Longganiza – Philippine breakfast sausage of the highest order. Made in their own pantry, slightly on the lean side, with just a hint of sweetness and a smattering of spice. . | |  | Wheat Pancakes – Full-bodied but not heavy, smooth but not insipid. | | | | | | Lunch and Dinner | Batchoy – If it's all authentic native cuisine you're after, look no further. They borrowed the recipe for this quintessential Philippine onion-and-noodle soup from their very own staff cafeteria after it was discovered that some enterprising (and obviously discriminating) guests were eating there on the sly. | | | Caesar Salad – Nothing like American Caesar salad, Philippine version (some would say, original) is thick, creamy, garlicky, lemony, and piquant. This dressing doesn't keep at all, and so must be prepared from scratch each time it is ordered. When waiters are having a good day, Caesar outshines the best from Manila; on a bad day, it's still better than anything east of Asia. | | | Rock Lobster Newburg – Juicy chunks in a subtle cream sauce, a soupçon of Madeira, served on the shell. More flavorful than Maine lobster, meatier than crayfish, rock lobster is ideal for Newburg-ing. | | | Kimchi and Bulgogi – Don't take anyone's word for it, ask the Korean guests. | | | Prawn Tempura – Tiger prawns almost as big as chicken drumsticks, coated in rice-flour batter and deep-fried. Certainly the best in the country, tempura here would hold its own in Tokyo, or anywhere. | | | Roast pig (Lechon) – Cebu's lechon is known as the finest in the Philippines, and they do it better than anyone else. Slow roasting, herb stuffing, and a secret dressing process yield crunchy skin and delicious flesh so tender and juicy you can cut it with a fork. | | | Pastas – The pasta itself is hand-made in their kitchen at Palermo restaurant, and each dish is prepared to order (al dente, of course, unless otherwise requested) with perfectly-balanced sauces and the freshest ingredients. Linguine Vongole, Farfalloni Alla Carbonara, Ravioli al Granchio, and more. Okay, we don't use truffles, but you'd have to spend serious bucks in a major US or European city to find better. | | | Kare-Kare – Philippine oxtail stew with banana flowers in peanut sauce, served with shrimp paste on the side. There's nothing like this dish anywhere else in the world, and is about as good as it gets. Messy and fun: eat with a spoon, and leave the Hermes ties and scarves at home. | | | Char-broiled US Angus Rib-eye steak – US cornbelt restaurants undeniably have better meat to work with, but the resort try harder. They proprietary marinade combines Midwestern and other ingredients, and we wait two days for the flavors to ripen. The results are sublime – tastier, smokier, juicier than anything out of Chicago. | | | Scallopine Pizzaiola – No, it's not pizza, but New Zealand tenderloin braised with slivers of garlic, selected herbs, and tomato concasse. If you're in the mood for a robust and distinctively Italian meat dish, this is the one for you. | | | Barbecued Polynesian Spareribs – What is this obsession with baby-back ribs, we ask. Baby-back just means the pig was small and skinny. The ribs come from meatier and – yes, we admit it – fatter pigs, and our special Polynesian barbecue sauce would make even Kansas City gourmands sit up and take notice. | | | | | | | Fast Food |  | Chile con Carne – The meat is diced, not ground, and used just the right amount of chili powder and other condiments, kidney beans, and fresh bell peppers (“chile” means pepper as in bell pepper, or is a shorthand way of referring to the whole dish; “chili” is a spice). Then mix in yesterday's leftovers and simmer for hours. Trust us, this is the way to do it. South-of-the-border purists might not be impressed by “moderately spicy” chile, but if your standards are based on what's generally available in Los Angeles or in cans, this is as good as it gets. | |  | Hot Dogs – Really! They didn't make them, but the resort searched high and low for the world's best, and came up with a tie: Hebrew National Jumbo (all-beef), and Armor Kielbasa (beef, pork, and turkey). Then went through a heck of a lot of trouble importing them. Plantation Bay is the only place in Asia (and probably the US, too, for all we know) which serves the two best hot dogs in the world. | |  | Char-broiled Hamburger – The patties are made in-house with a precise blend of different cuts of beef, and go through a multi-stage grinding process to assure the right texture and cohesion. Then they're seared over a real fire, with the flames licking all around. In all their travels in America, they haven't found any burger, anywhere, at any price, as outright delicious as it is. And you can quote them on that. | | | | | | Desserts | Three Chocolate Mousse Cake – Know what Guy Lian Fruits de Mer Belgian chocolates are? The mousse cake is built on a similar concept, layering white, milk, and dark chocolate flavors in a single chocolate-lovers' delight. | | | Flambéed Mango Crepes – Fresh mangoes, of course. Really thin crepes. Rum. Creamy vanilla sabayon with a flame-kissed fringe. Most plates go back to their kitchen looking like they were licked clean. | | | Cheesecake – They realize we're treading on thin ice here, but the semi-New York-style baked cheesecake, modified for Asian tastes (meaning slightly heavier, slightly sweeter, and with a moist, dense, butter-packed Graham-cracker crust), has a lot of devoted followers. Including some New Yorkers. | | | Halo-halo – A Filipino's idea of a refreshing afternoon snack, a colorful mixture of candied fruits, jellies, and custard, collated with shaved ice and native ube ice cream. Don't leave the country without having sampled this. | | | |
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Food and Cuisine 