Marco Polo Ortigas, Manila will formally open in June, but they have already introduced their all-day buffet restaurant, Cucina, early on. The bright atmosphere from natural light, the unique interiors, and the palatable food choices will certainly awaken all your senses after a visit. The buffet spread is not monstrous, as their goal is to let their guests enjoy a little bit of everything but not to the point of overwhelming them.
Cucina is located at the 24th level of Marco Polo Ortigas
The wooden sculpture that you will see in the wall of Cucina is commissioned by Jinggoy Buensuceso which presents how life is. According to him, we start out smoothly but in the long run, you’ll notice that there are rough edges that go with it; but we succeed and come out beautifully, nevertheless.
Cucina's spread is complete with seafood, salads, sections for Japanese, Italian, Chinese, American, Spanish, and Mediterranean cuisine; also, carvings and dessert. Other than the usual buffet spread, they have recently launched 7 Days, 7 Reasons to Visit Cucina wherein guests would have the privilege to come back and feast on a special dish on a certain day.
Quiche Lorraine PizzaThe Roasted Chicken and Rib-Eye are a hit at the carving station; pair the succulent meat with warm pepper gravy and experience fireworks in your mouth. There is a separate island for cheese and cold cuts. Located at the brightest part in the room, cheese lovers should make a beeline for this little heaven in Cucina.
Rib-Eye
The assortment of dessert is not at all massive; it is displayed on a marble table and you can clearly see which ones to try first. The Marco Polo ice cream and the live crepe station are a must-try according to Beth Gokauchi, Marketing Communications and PR Officer of the hotel. The selection of ice cream flavors is not too sweet and the texture is velvety, no wonder it is a hit among the guests.
(L-R): Passion Fruit Raspberry, Strawberry, Vanilla and Chocolate
For the 7 Days, 7 Reasons to Visit Cucina promotion, you can savor a signature dish daily that is included in the buffet. Start the week with a rich, delicate and classic French recipe that is Pan-fried Duck Liver, served every Monday. Have a healthy Tuesday by having the Warm Thai Beef Salad topped with grilled filets of US beef mixed with traditional Thai dressing and chili. A Filipino favorite on Wednesdays, sample their Pork and Chicken Barbecue marinated in lemon, garlic and soya served with atchara. The hotel's award-winning Hong Kong chefs prepare Cantonese Chili Crabs every Thursday.
Warm Thai Beef Salad
Filipino Pork and Chicken Barbecue
Cantonese Chili Crab
Fridays are for the finest imported French Mussels that are exquisitely braised in Chablis wine, herbs, garlic, dairy butter and beer to give the dish an extra kick. Their Warm Rock Lobster Thermidor will surely make any Saturday special; these are half rock lobsters sautéed with shallots, brandy, white wine and tarragon served in a mustard flavored cheese sauce. To end your week, visit Cucina on a Sunday to have a slice or two of the Filet of Beef Wellington. Savor the exquisite taste of the Prime US Beef Tenderloin wrapped in puff pastry .
Everything on the '7 days, 7 reasons to visit Cucina' menu is amazing, but the Pan-fried Duck Liver with spring salad, sautéed apple cider dressing and calvados glaze is a personal favorite as it is tender and full of flavor. Among all the other dishes, the Filet of Beef Wellington got a lot of praises. Benjamin Rendell, Executive Chef of Marco Polo Ortigas, highly recommends it.
French Mussels
Warm Rock Lobster Thermidor
Filet of Beef Wellington
Chef Ben's exposure to different cultures from countries around the globe has added to his style. He prefers simple-cooked meals, but presenting it in a different technique. We got to know him a little more as we chat with him after our sumptuous buffet at Cucina.
Question: How early did you know that you wanted to be a chef?
Chef Ben: Actually I’ll tell you something, I didn’t want to be a chef. I wanted to be a policeman; I always liked the uniform. As a kid I always use that to play cowboys and Indians and all these stuff ‘cause I really like the uniform. And then I wanted to join the cadets in England but the day they had the interview with the cadets, I was too short because in those days you have to be very tall to be one.
But you’re tall.
Not really, maybe for you but not for a policemen. But then you have to be of certain height, and I didn’t reach it. And then my father knew a manager of a hotel so he told me he put me to work as a bell boy and then he knew another owner of a hotel and this guy took me as a waiter. And then from a waiter in to the kitchens and then after that, I went to hotel school then went up to London to work. In my hometown in Bristol, we have big docks; big port and I worked for the restaurants for all the ships’ captains. And then I went up to London, actually I never wanted to work in London. I wanted to go in the ships because you go around the world but I had two very good chef teachers; one worked at the Queen Elizabeth II and one was working in The Savoy in London but I liked the way the guy was talking about The Savoy more than the ship and it seemed more interesting so I applied there and worked there for 7 years.
When you were younger, was there anyone who influenced you to cook?
These two chefs that I worked with, but who influenced me to cook? None really.
So it’s all you?
Yeah. Now you’re superstars when you’re a chef, but that time in England, if you were a little stupid, the teacher will tell you to be a cook and go in the kitchens and be a porter. And actually one guy called me that. I asked the career advisers in school, “what do you think I should do?” “well, you’re grades are not so good” and I said “but I wanted to be a hotel manager” because my father wanted me to be a hotel GM, but he said, “you know, you’re not clever enough to be a hotel GM. Why don’t you just be a pot washer?” And then three years later, I saw him on the bus. So he asked me, “everything good? What are you doing now?” I said, “I actually took your advice, well you told me to be a pot washer because I was stupid right? Actually what I did, I went to The Savoy in London and they first call me on the sauce.” His face was really shocked. We get back a little bit sometimes. (laughs)
So you’ve travelled right?
Yes, a lot.
How was that like with the different market and different palate?
I worked in the Middle East in Bahrain, that’s the first place I moved to. I’ve worked in Thailand, for many years off and on in different hotels. I’ve worked in Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and now in Manila. For me – my home is Thailand, my wife is Thai and the three kids are there – so actually the Filipinos are very much like the Thais and the Thais are very much like the Filipinos; happy, attractive people, loves to eat, loves to cook and loves to enjoy so that’s easy to work with. I think the palates here in the Philippines are looking for a little much stronger food.
If you were to eat here in Cucina, with your own buffet plan, what is your usual attack plan?
If I eat here, I always go for the salads because I think we have the most beautiful salads here. I don’t think you can find nicely seasoned tasteful like we got here and all the ingredients because we use all the best vinegars: sherry, white wine, red wine, passion fruit and we use all the mustards: grain, Dijon, pommery these to season with and use the best olive oils. So for me, I’ll always go for the salad and then I would go for the dim sum ‘cause I think the dim sum they make here is fantastic especially the siopao, the dumplings and the siomai. And then if there’s roast lamb in the buffet or a little bit of roast pork I would go for that. And maybe fruits, or maybe if I really want to be indulgent, a little bit of cheese but nothing very extravagant, not too fancy.
And then for the 7 Dishes and 7 Days, what would be your favorite among the selection?
The Beef Wellington and also the Mussels and even the Chili Crab. I think they’re amazing. The duck liver I love, but I prefer it as a terrine. But yeah, I think I will go for the Beef Wellington; the taste of the parma ham, the mushroom, the beef and the pastry.
Do you still have time to cook for yourself?
Yeah when I go home, actually every Christmas normally I cook for about 70 people in my house.
Wow, that’s a lot!
It gets more and more. Yeah, because when I was in China I would go home on Boxing Day on Christmas. Here, I don’t know when I will go but we’ll do it in the New Year because Christmas here is the biggest. My wife and kids will come. Well usually, we invite all of our friends.
If you were to innovate a Filipino food, what would it be and how would you do it?
We’re trying to do the adobo and use it with balsamic vinegar. We just reduce the amount of soya we use, put some star anis, garlic and just play around a bit. That’s the thing though, when I go to different hotels, on the buffet I see Filipino dishes and they don’t look so nice because they’re not properly tendered on the buffet. There’s one more thing I like to do, I like the pork belly. We roast it in big pieces of garlic with white wine and put it in the oven and when it’s cook we make a sauce from the reduction from the garlic and we put it on the side. Then we take it overnight and press the pork and the next day we pan fry it, make it really crispy and put the sauce around it.
A lot of people now are looking up to chefs and the food industry especially now, it’s really booming in Manila. What are your advices for people who want to do this for a living?
Make sure you have a good learning, you learn the basics first and you go to somewhere where you can get taught the basics; go to a good hotel school and make sure you really learn the basics because so many cooks right now don’t know the basic. So you should know how to make the basic stocks, sauces, and pastries, all these kind of stuff and after that, you can develop further.
Is there you don’t want to eat or will never eat?
The stinky tofu, it’s really stinky. I like the Durian but the stinky tofu, I really don’t like it. I like the simple tofu but this stinky tofu; I don’t know what they do with it. I will never eat it.
How about balut?
No.
Not yet?
(laughs) Yeah, not yet. I might be forced one day.
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Cucina is open daily for lunch from 11:30am to 2:00pm and dinner from 6:30pm to 11:00pm. Buffet price starts at P1,400++ per person. Marco Polo Ortigas, Manila is located at Meralco Avenue & Sapphire Street, Pasig City. Follow Marco Polo Manila on Twitter and Instagram (@MarcoPoloManila), and visit http://mpmdining.com/ for more information.
