THE Heritage Hotel Manila’s (THHM) newly reopened Riviera Café now has a more vibrant and refreshing vibe, and a menu that has been revamped by Executive chef Patrick Obia Jr. and his team.
The café’s spacious, cozy dining area can accommodate up to 180 seated guests. Its buffet — which is available every Thursday, Friday, Saturday for Dinner, and Sunday for Lunch — offers a bountiful feast of rich textures, fine flavors, and elegant Eastern and Western cuisine.
Popular for Malaysian-Singaporean dishes, the café also has private dining rooms for exclusive events or meetings, and an adjoining bar and lounge where guests can relish in special cocktail creations or a wide selection of wine by the glass alongside great music and entertainment.
“We only had the Malaysian-Singaporean station in the buffet before but now, I see to it that I dish out other international dishes,” Obia said.
Diners can check out the Mediterranean, Japanese, Mexican and Asian stations. “Every time I prepare the buffet, there must be one local dish that is well-loved by guests,” Obia also said.
It also has the lechon area as well as signature recipes like seafood laksa and Hainanese chicken, not to mention the grilling station. The main course is always changed while the other dishes stay, he added.
The café’s famous seafood laksa is made from rice vermicelli with prawns, fish cakes, egg, poached chicken and beansprouts served in rich, spicy coconut gravy.
“The signature dish has a paste that is made from scratch. The one thing that really gives flavor to our laksa is the paste,” he noted, as the dried shrimp (soaked in the water overnight), shrimp paste, galangal and lemongrass, among other ingredients, are blended together to exude a host of flavors.
Before the stock is served, “We add coconut milk, giving extra flavor to the dish,” he mentioned.
“We also feature a monthly theme for our buffet. I will be running the international cuisine as it is what the people like; they don’t want to concentrate on just one type of dish,” he stressed, saying that the café has also been certified to have a Halal kitchen.
In terms of sustainability, “we have started a program on that; in fact, we have been sourcing different kinds of organic chocolate,” Obia said. The hotel is also working with sustainable suppliers as well as local producers.
