The return of a fairy tale

MANILA, Philippines - Everybody loves a story of survival — and Spiral’s tale of overcoming setbacks is one triumphant fairy tale.

Launched in 2006, Spiral, the flagship restaurant of Sofitel Philippine Plaza, easily became one of the favorite dining destinations in the metro. But because of the damage brought by typhoon Pedring in September last year, the restaurant closed for renovations. And as in any fairy tale, to get that happy ending, so to speak, was not an easy walk down the yellow brick road.

During a recent press conference announcing the rebirth of the restaurant, Sofitel GM Goran Aleks recalls that for the past year, the Spiral team planned and devised measures on how to not only bring back the taste and feel of the restaurant that their patrons have come to love, but to create a new Spiral, a larger-than-life dining destination.

Knowing fully well that world-class cuisine, first and foremost, is what guests look for in a restaurant, Spiral aims to serve the best signature dishes from around the world. “But we’re not just saying we’re going to copy these dishes,” Aleks says, “but what we want is to bring the original to the Philippines.” That’s why Spiral has assembled a stellar cast of chefs flown in from different countries. Led by new executive chef Eric Costille, who has worked for three-star Michelin restaurants in France and has opened 12 restaurants at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, every chef guarantees to whip up food delicacies that will satisfy the discriminating taste of the Filipino diners. Moreover, the elite team of chefs travelled to different parts of Asia and Europe to learn the best dishes a country has to offer and how to best prepare them. They spent a week in Thailand, for instance, finding out how to prepare the best tom yum goong soup, and spent additional weeks walking down the known street food corners in Hong Kong, India and South Korea, and trading with street hawkers, to discover new cooking secrets and techniques that they can bring back and apply to the restaurant.

But Spiral’s goal of bringing the authenticity and warmth of the traditional French markets and Asian hawker stalls into a five-star hotel setting does not end there. “That’s one, we bring the best from the world,” Aleks says. “And number two,” he adds, “is to make dining interactive.”

Part of the new concept of Spiral is to divide the restaurant into 21 dining ateliers, which include salad and appetizer,  L’Écailler, Sushi Sashimi, L’Epicerie, Hot Japanese, French Stove, Rotisserie, Wood-fired Oven, Churrasco, North Indian, Asian Noodles, Peking Duck Oven, Steam Baskets, Chinese Wok, Filipino, Thai, Korean, La Boulangerie, La Patisserie, Chocolaterie and Creamery. In every atelier, which in French means an artist’s special workshop, much like an artist giving extra attention to every detail, the cooks will cater to the distinct taste of every guest. Costille explains, “All the guests have to do is choose their favorite ingredients and we cook these in front of them.”

Aleks says, “Let’s bring the bakery in front, let’s show the guests how we cook bread, how we make the croissants. Now the way to see that is there’s a bakery in the middle of the restaurant. And then we have the ham room, the cheese room in one part.” Aleks adds, “You experience different things. It’s Spiral Italy here, and then the next one is Spiral Japan. Then we go to Asia, we have all the Peking duck, and so on.”

But more than a culinary delight, Spiral also aims to treat its guests visually. Aleks says, “We tried to put ourselves in the mind of our clients, our guests. When the people go down, they should feel like Alice in Wonderland, larger than life.”

And indeed, one can experience utter wonder when one takes that step down the iconic staircase, just like Alice descending down the rabbit hole. Designed by Spin Design Studio of Japan, the company that also designed the original Spiral and the new restaurants of Ritz Carlton Hong Kong, the distinct aura of the restaurant is the result of brilliant interplay between Eastern and Western elements. This unique combination of Filipino and French engineering is further emphasized by four giant capiz chandeliers, hanging magnificently while emanating a very pleasing ambience suitable for a sumptuous meal. Also, the 21-foot grand sculpture entitled Rhythmic Movements by Eduardo Castrillo is definitely hard to miss. And one should expect to hear bon appetit in a fashionable manner as the ladies don uniforms designed by Rajo Laurel.

Moreover, the restaurant extended its dining space by adding a glass-enclosed indoor lounge, reminiscent of the bistros in Paris of the 1930s. Indeed, patrons can dine while their stares leisurely linger from the verdant grass and out to the open sea; or opt to sip wine at the Parisian-style bar, with the stars and moon as their audience.

Spiral also knows that guests will enjoy the food and the environment to the maximum if they know that their security is well taken care of. To ensure safety and security, the hotel invested around P210 million in renovating its flood and climate defenses. These renovations included constructing an almost one-meter retaining wall as its first line of defense, declogging drainages, and building a 100-meter-long trench canal that will divert water back to Manila Bay.

Surely, the protagonist of this fairy tale fought back victoriously, but don’t expect the Spiral story to be over just yet. Because there’s a thousand more chapters to this story, but those will be written by guests who will soon enjoy the distinct and world-class dining experience that Spiral has to offer.

(Spiral restaurant will open on Nov. 8. For more information, call 551-5555 or visit www.sofitelmanila.com.)