Tag: cebu

During the 1st night at Plantation Bay in Cebu, we ordered room service, but for our 2nd and last night, we really wanted to experience some good food and eat out.  It was great timing that there happened to be a seafood buffet being served on that 2nd night.  I’ve always loved seafoods but my specific favorites will always still be shrimps & crabs.  So, I was really hoping that they would have a lot of my two favorite seafood items at the Plantation Bay Cebu Seafood buffet.  Well, guess what?  I got my wish & more!

All the seafoods that you can think of was probably at that buffet.  And it was so fresh!  I was truly in heaven during the course of the dinner.  I remember my nonstop smile and wanting more and more of all that seafood.  I was actually craving for more after 2 hours of eating but the buffet was done by then.  The waiters were already packing up… I guess I just loved what I was eating that I didn’t realize how full I was already.

Actually, we were just walking around waiting for the buffet to start, so were actually one of the first few that arrived, and we were able to reserve a table that was near the musician as well as close to the water.  Even the table was a great touch as we were able to enjoy our meal by a candlelight!

There were different kinds of fish, shells, crabs, shrimps, lobsters & a lot more out there for us to choose from.  As you can see in the picture below, the seafoods were still raw because we were able to request a few ways in which we wanted the seafoods to be cooked.  For most of the items, we had it grilled.  There’s really nothing better than fresh grilled seafood.  The taste is just so delicious.

Basically, we just choose whatever seafood and put on our plate, get a number, and then the cooked food will be served to our table.  Fresh seafood & cooked on the spot!  What more could you ask for?  The best thing is it was just Php900!  Just imagine the lobster alone costs that much and more in most other restaurants.

You could probably tell below from that seafood spread, that I was really focusing on the lobster and all that shrimp, hahaha!

Cooked food are available too!  I loved the stuffed crab there, I do however forgot to get a second serving as I was too busy eating the crabs & shrimps that I asked the chef to cook.  I couldn’t get enough of it!

This part of the buffet, everyone just races to get on their plate.  So, constant were the lines that would you believe, behind this specific station there were probably around a dozen cooks grilling, prepping, plating, etc.  Every 5 minutes they had to keep refilling the plates.  That was how successful the buffet was.  And the wonderful smell coming from the grills, all that smoke, it was just a seafood grill heaven :p

Now, what would any buffet be without desserts?  With Plantation Bay’s Seafood Buffet, we also had some great choices of delicious desserts.  There were turon, baked goods, leche flan.  But you know, I was only able to sample 2 desserts.  As I said earlier, I was eating nonstop that I didn’t realize that the buffet had already ended.  While the other areas are being packed up, I quickly went to the dessert area & checked if there were anything left, only the leche flan & macaroons were left and which I decided to have.  And the desserts capped off my seafood buffet heaven at the Plantation Bay Cebu Seafood buffet.

Oh!  Sorry readers! hahahaa I was talking about the food so much that I almost forgot to share that they do actually have great music playing during the buffet.  So, not only did we have great fresh seafood in abundance, but we also had some wonderful live music accompanied by the flute.

Before I end this post, lemme share with you my favorite from the seafood buffet.  See them?  Lobsters & crabs!!! Yes!! I was able to eat lots of it.  By the way, a very important tip if you want to go to Plantation Bay Cebu and try their seafood buffet.  Go EARLY, get the lobsters, crabs & shrimps first.  Believe me.  It was great that we did that or else, we won’t be able to experience how yummy they are.  Everyone wanted it as well, though the buffet was unlimited, their supplies weren’t.  So be wise! 😉

Here’s Nick’s favorite: Sting Ray.  It’s really rare for buffets to serve this, and shows just the great amount of variety that Plantation’s Seafood Buffet had.  I was able to try it but it just isn’t my fave.  Glad though that Nick was able to eat this.   They were so accommodating that they were able to cook the sting ray just like Nick had requested.  It was cooked in coconut milk.

The Seafood buffet is situated in the center beach area of Plantation Bay Cebu.  And at night, under the dark sky, with the delicious food, dining with some soft and unique music accompanied with the flute, not to mention the ambiance and feeling as if you’re on the shore of a beautiful beach.   With the sand under your feet, the waters just a few meters away, the fresh air, and a great companion, it was truly a wow, wow dining experience! 😀

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Seafood Buffet
Plantation Bay Resort and Spa, Marigondon, Mactan Island, Cebu, Philippines 6015
(02) 505 9800

Breakfast at Plantation Bay Cebu is definitely the best at Kilimanjaro Kafe.  Kilimanjaro Kafe is one of the 4 major eating places at Plantation Bay, it serves international cuisine & is open for 24 hours.  We decided to have breakfast there twice.  The place is situated just in the middle of their artificial pool/beach which is perfect because you really feel as if you’re on the seaside enjoying your meal.

The view anywhere in Plantation is great, but Kilimanjaro is definitely the place to be during breakfast as you are surrounded on all sides by the beach, the trees, and the beauty of such a resort.  In fact, you definitely see a lot of people enjoying their swim, even as early as 9 or 10 in the morning.  With Kilimanjaro, you not only get a great breakfast, but you also get the relaxing atmosphere of that beachfront setting.

Kilimanjaro Kafe is especially full during breakfast, because of its central location, relaxing atmosphere, great food, and definitely their amazing breakfast buffet.  As you see in the picture, most of the guests are foreigners.  We, on the other hand, are Filipinos but I must admit I feel like a tourist there.  I really have to take some time to tour our beautiful country.  Lots of sights to see, Plantation Bay is one of them.

In Kilimanjaro Kafe, you can either go Ala Carte or avail of their buffet.  We tried both since we stayed at Plantation Bay Cebu for 3 days & 2 nights.

Ala Carte

If you’re not that hungry, then I would suggest you just go & opt for Ala Carte.  There weren’t too much choices (I distinctly remember their breakfast menu only has 6 items hehehe!).  On our first morning at Plantation, we arrived just as the buffet was ending, and there weren’t as many diners as probably earlier.

We were served bread while we waited for our orders, with butter on the side.  It was newly toasted and tasted yummy!  the pandesal was especially nice, and most probably baked that morning.  There’s nothing like fresh baked pandesal to start off any breakfast!

Nick ordered the Filipino breakfast (Php 450) which includes longganiza (Filipino sausage), 2 eggs (cooked any style), with garlic rice & coffee or tea.  You can also opt for the danggit (crispy fried fish which is pretty popular in Cebu).  While this particular dish wasn’t that much of a full plate, nor was it made in any special fashion, for tourists, this would definitely be a great way to be introduced to a Filipino breakfast.  It’s exactly what you would expect longganiza to be, a bit sweet, nice seasoning, and just delicious.  Eggs and garlic rice definitely make this a complete Filipino breakfast.

I ordered their omelette.  I guess I wasn’t too hungry that time.  It was basically mixed omelette with ham, cheese, mushrooms & eggs 😛  Again, nothing special, but just the right amount, made like any ordinary omelette, but doesn’t disappoint either.  I shouldn’t eat too much of this though, can’t have too much eggs in a day.

Breakfast Buffet

We didn’t avail the rooms w/ breakfast, so it wasn’t really mandatory for us to take breakfast, just depended if we woke up late or if we weren’t hungry at all :p

On our 2nd visit to Kilimanjaro Kafe, it was still early & I was starving.  I asked if we could have the breakfast buffet (Php 900) for that day.  Nick, who wasn’t even that hungry that time, ended up just availing of the breakfast buffet too 😛  Actually, because the ala carte menu is just a bit too limited, and for just a few hundred pesos more, you can at least get more variety.  And boy, do they have VARIETY!

They have more than enough choices for breakfast.  Croissant which according to the Plantation Bay brochure is the best out there.  Not shown in the picture are also a lot of choices for bread.  Nick seemed to like their banana bread, which he went three times to get :p  He said that it was moist and baked just perfectly making it not dry and very flavorful.

They have different choices for cereals with milk available too ofcourse!

And even with a buffet, one can still choose to go the healthy and light route with salad.  Kilimanjaro Kafe’s breakfast buffet also included a salad bar which had items such as kimchi, crunchy cucumber, insalata verde, frutti misti aceto balsamico, insalata caprese, garlic & chili fingers with dressings such as blue cheese dressing, thousand island dressing & french dressing.

And of course, the usual choices: bacon, rice, pasta, sausages, squid, pork, beef & vegetables.  What was also nice was that they also had pizza, although i didn’t take any since I was more interested in the bacon.  I took like 3 servings of bacon, I just missed it!  I think though that I’m experiencing the result of such choices, as my physical exam results showed that I have extremely high cholesterol level.  The lesson here is to take moderate amounts of food especially the ones full of cholesterol & fats..

My favorite section has always been the ones with the chef cooking the food in front of diners at the buffet.   In Kilimanjaro Kafe’s case, it’s the omelette section.  You can ask the chef to cook omelette (mixed, ham, ham & cheese or mushroom) or ask to cook sunny side up or scrambled eggs.  I asked for a mixed omelette, delicious!

Fresh juices are also available (bottomless).  I tried both (mixed fruits, orange) but I liked the orange juice better.  When it comes to fruit juice, I prefer just having one fruit instead of mixed.  It just doesn’t taste the same.

The fruit section is another favorite of mine.  Especially because there was yellow watermelon!!!!  Boy, I have been craving for that since 1997 (13 long years!).  The last I tried it, I was in Taiwan.  I remember I always end up being the last to leave the dining table as I was finishing up all the yellow watermelon leftovers hahaha!  I was getting nonstop of the yellow watermelon in Kilimanjaro until the buffet ended.  But of course, there were choices of mango and even melons.  Again, Kilimanjaro always seemed to have just the right amount of variety, and their fruit bar was no exception.

I didn’t try their lunch or dinner buffet as we tried what the other restaurants in Plantation Bay had to offer.  I guess it’s nice too because we really enjoyed our breakfast meals in Kilimanjaro Kafe.  I would highly recommend, if you arrive early at Kilimanjaro Kafe, to avail of their buffet.  Only because for a few hundred pesos more, you really do have more of a variety.

Lastly, I just love where the place is located, in the center of their artificial pool, with the view of the rooms, the tourists swimming, and the sound of people just enjoying themselves.  The delicious food, the waters, the people, the atmosphere — Kilimanjaro at Plantation Bay is a must for breakfast.

Here are our pictures:

• Ala Carte Day
• Buffet Day

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Kilimanjaro Kafe
Plantation Bay Resort and Spa, Marigondon, Mactan Island, Cebu, Philippines 6015
(02) 505 9800

Just this past Holy Week, we stayed in Plantation Bay Cebu for some rest and relaxation.  We stayed in one of their Japanese-themed rooms which are the rooms when you get the spa indulgence package.  We did decide to get room service, not once but twice.  During our 1st night, knowing full well that we still had two more days and another night ahead of us to enjoy the whole of Plantation Bay, we decided to just get room service, stay in and just rest.   We called & ordered the ff. for dinner & planned to just watch TV while we enjoy the yummy food of Plantation Bay Cebu:

• Gambas Al Ajillo (Php 600)

I super enjoyed this dish!  Anyone who has been a regular reader, knows that I just love shrimp and in this dish, not only were the shrimp excellent but it was seasoned quite nicely.  Just enough tomato taste, and even the veggies weren’t overcooked which added to the dish just  a bit more.   It’s always great when cooking gambas the tomato sauce used to cook the dish enhances the flavor of the shrimp, and this dish didn’t disappoint.  The shrimps were just enough for the rice so I didn’t feel “bitin” either.  I was smiling all throughout the meal and actually finished every bit of item on the plate.  You know it’s delicious, when you really clean the plate! :p

• Chicken & Pork Adobo (Php 350)

You really can’t get more Filipino than adobo I guess.  And when you don’t know what to order, sometimes you just go with something familiar.  This dish had just a slight twist since it contained both pork and chicken.  Very interesting combination.  It wasn’t as refined as some high end adobo is cooked, but it wasn’t bad either.  It wasn’t oily, which is always a plus for adobo, and it wasn’t salty either.  It was definitely your classic adobo.  It did taste good, but nothing out of the ordinary, and the portion was just enough too.

As I said earlier, we did order room service twice.  The next day, after our spa treatment, we decided to rest a bit in the room.  And as usual, I was hungry, and asked if we could just order room service for merienda.  I was too lazy to get up and walk around Plantation Bay since it was soo hot out at that time. We planned to walk around and take in the scenery later that afternoon when it cooled down since early afternoon is just too hot to really enjoy a scenic walk :p

For our merienda through room service, we ordered chicken lollipops!!!  Well, they called it Sweet Chili Lollipops (Php 330).  I guess they call it that, not only because it comes with chili sauce, but it does sound better on the menu hehehe 🙂  This is basically deep-fried chicken lollipops served with chili sauce.  It was yummy!  It’s still a mystery to me how chicken lollipops are made though, do they collect the chicken bones then put chicken meat around it then fry? hahaha I have no idea.  One thing I do know is that the breading was yummy and the chicken cooked moist and not dry, which is always important with fried food too.

This is where we ate in the room.  Since it’s Japanese theme, the chair and the table were lowered and basically almost ground level.  I didn’t feel comfortable sitting (because I’m not really used to it) but I didn’t mind coz the food was delicious.

One major comment I have is the price.  It was really expensive (Don’t get me wrong though, it’s not unreasonable, it was just expensive for my taste)!!!  Well, all the items in Plantation Bay are expensive but I think this takes the prize for being the most expensive room service I have tried so far 😛

Room service at Plantation Bay is still definitely a convenience especially when you just want to relax or if it’s just too hot outside, they delivered at a reasonable time frame, and the food was always hot and cooked well.  Even with room service, I think Plantation Bay really does go out of the way to cater to your needs.

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Plantation Bay Resort and Spa
Marigondon, Mactan Island, Cebu, Philippines 6015
(02) 505 9800