Chinese New Year Sumptuous Buffet at Hotel Ramada-Manila

 Hotel Ramada Central – Manila , Philippines

Ramada Manila Central

Binondo Fireworks and Firecracker Lovers Organization in partnership with Walk with Chan organized a Chinatown tour together with freelance writers, bloggers , instagram users, advocates and balikbayans from the United States.

 

We decided to book at the Hotel Ramada, Manila – Special Chinese New Year buffet to spend quality eating good food , cozy atmosphere , away from the crowded restaurants and have our moments inside the hotel.

stuffed monkey

This is the best and classiest hotel within Binondo district with 4-star rating classification.

buffet table

They also offers regular breakfast and lunch buffet at the second floor ( News Cafe) which cost around Php 390 to Php 400 plus .  With tens of thousand of people, foreigners , balikbayans , tsinoys and even pinoys are within the vicinity of Chinatown attending the event . The restaurants within the area cannot accommodate all these people with hungry appetite for food and adventure. It is wise to try their buffet meal for a little change.

Luna Function Room

The management choose a ballroom which can accommodate between 250 to 300 PAX specially intended for the occasion . A big leap from 150 to 200 PAX last year held at the Luna Function Room with a spacious balcony overlooking streets and skyline .

Plaza Calderon dela Barca  aka Plaza Binondo , Plaza San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila with iconic Binondo buildings

Despite last minute advisory about the buffet schedule ( They have an earlier and longer promo last year 2015 )  , We still manage to huddle around a dozen people and referred at least some more thru our social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

 

Chinese kikiam ( quekeng ) ala Hotel Ramada

The group was later joined by Mr. Ralph Soriano and Mr. Ronald Ongham after about half an hour later at past 12 noon .Mr. Ronald Ongham is a regular client at the ( News Cafe) and the waiter instantly recognized him from our group.

Atty. Dulce Punzalan enjoyed the lunch buffet

pork asado and peking duck station

salad station

sushi station

steam pork with special sauce

group photo with the manager

The group stayed about an hour or so at the function room . We enjoyed the hearty meal and photo opportunities .

Here is our group review of the Special Chinese New Year buffet meal and a few other people which also ate there  . The ratings are based on our criteria like pricing , service , quality of the foods, presentation and ambiance of the hotel.

Pricing – There is not a big difference between eating a Chinese lauriat-style dining and the buffet meal, considering it is Chinese New Year and almost all the restaurants within the vicinity area are full to their capacity .

Food – In general , our group liked the foods that they have included in their menu minus the Peking duck ( which is a little wet – I think they only marinated the duck for just a day or so ) Some of our group always eat at Chinese restaurant so there is a difference over the Peking duck that we have tasted .

Yang Chow Fried Rice

Yang Chow Fried Rice , A little bit soggy ( the rice is a little bit malagkit at dik-dikit ) I am not fond of eating rice which i cannot see the grains.

Almond gelatin – We missed the white fungus soup served last year .

Desserts and Pastries are almost similar to last year . They also have fried tikoy

Chinese style-kikiam ala Ramada Hotel is better compared to other traditional kikiam in Binondo.

Drinks – Having a bottomless powdered juice by Oishi and bottomless brewed coffee is definitely a big change over last year .

Sushi bar , Soup Station, Dimsum corner and Salad bar – are almost the same as last year with slight changes.

We also think that they should have brought back the boneless lechon and marinated chicken with sauce last year .

Overall , We gave the rating of 7.80 out of a possible 10 points which is fairy good but those who have eaten in last year’s buffet would rate the 2015 Chinese New Year edition higher .