Crossing over to Italy, Thailand, Japan & all over
Don’t be surprised if you walk into the lobby of Dusit Thani Hotel Makati at noon on a Sunday and are met by people crossing over from one country to another, literally via platefuls of food. Don’t be surprised either if you see entertainers in costumes and on stilts as kids are playing around in the otherwise quiet lobby.
This is the Sunday brunch and lunch scene at Dusit, which holds the Family Crossover Brunch every Sunday from 11:30 to 3 p.m. — that’s a long period to enjoy the hotel’s four specialty restaurants — the Thai restaurant Benjarong, the Italian outlet Tosca, the Japanese resto Umu, and Dusit’s Asian-Continental buffet restaurant Basix.
What’s so great about the Crossover Brunch is that the three specialty restaurants — Tosca, Umu and Benjarong — which are normally a la carte also bring out a buffet spread of their specialties. The only problem is that everything is so good that before you can try everything you’re already full. The solution: strategize your meal because that’s the only way to sample the best of all four restaurants.
That’s what we did some months ago when we found ourselves criss-crossing the hotel’s lobby and mezzanine levels where the restaurants are located. First, book a table at one of the restaurants. This is your so-called base during lunch as you do the outlet rounds. You are given a bracelet that identifies you are availing of the Crossover Brunch and your restaurant seating.
My husband R. and I chose Tosca for our lunch because the restaurant is quiet, the seating more intimate compared with the others (Basix mostly has the families, being near the lobby) — and to be near the bar that offers Proseco sparkling wine to Crossover guests. Tosca’s interiors are a cool black and white and there’s something about black goblets that sort of elevates the whole dining experience.
During Crossover Brunch, all the outlets’ restaurant managers attend to guests personally — and even they, too, cross over to compare notes and check out their spreads. Tosca restaurant manager Kerstin Glaesser was very solicitous, chatting with guests about the food.
I’ve always been partial to appetizers and often find myself skipping the main dish in favor of having several plates of appetizers that I can nibble and enjoy with champagne. I chose Umu for a light start of sashimi and sushi (in any buffet, actually, good sashimi is a must for me). The restaurant also has teppanyaki and tempura stations, and is the only one of the four that offers outdoor seating, which overlooks a Japanese garden and koi ponds. My husband got a bowl of sukiyaki from Umu and chicken teppan. The teppan selections include ebi, salmon, lapu-lapu, US ribeye, hotate, mixed vegetable and chicken.
For my soup and salad, I went over to Benjarong, whose signature pomelo salad and tom yam soup with large shrimps are hands-down winners. There are several more salads on the Benjarong spread that I made a mental note of trying next time around. Thai chef Khun Tun prepares authentic pad Thai gung (noodles with bean curd, prawns, egg and bean sprouts). My husband couldn’t get enough of the shrimp cakes with sweet dipping sauce.
Benjarong has a wide assortment of main dishes, such as stir-fried prawn with garlic and pepper, stir-fried seafood with curry sweet and sour fish, and chicken drumstick in massaman curry.
Next, the anti pasto of Tosca whose table inside offers orange duck terrine with sauce cumberland, variations of seafood terrines, beef carpaccio with fresh mushroom and Parmesan salad, and Parma ham and honey melon with kalamata olives, grilled, marinated antipasti vegetables with pesto. Outside the restaurant, you can make your own pizza and pasta, in addition to a specialty Italian bread arrangement.
My husband got the more familiar dishes at Basix, which offers fare like prime ribs, lamb chops, Peking duck, green salads, and fresh oysters, mussels and shrimps. Main courses here include veal with mushrooms, pork medallions with port wine sauce, chili crab with garlic, lapu-lapu on artichoke, and fish fillet in lobster sauce.
For dessert, I would have to say Tosca offers the best with its gelato and its flourless chocolate cake, followed by Benjarong’s native Thai delicacies like taro custard, mango with sticky rice, Thai jelly with coconut cream, and sweet water chestnut and coconut cream in pandan cup.
Basix desserts are halo-halo, sliced fruits, sherbet, leche flan, chocolate fountain, apple struddle, and a crepe station. The restaurants also share identical desserts like chocolate and strawberry mousses in shot and wine glasses.
“More and more discerning palates have come across the most exciting treasure in the heart of Makati,” says Dusit Thani food and beverage director Gilbert Uy. “We are very pleased with the feedback we have been getting from our diners who have tried our Sunday Family Crossover Brunch. Aside from high praises to the premium quality of food and service we have been getting, they just couldn’t stop raving about the entirely new idea of crossing over one bistro to another.”
The kids have a good time, too, and not just with the food. The entertainment at the lobby, which includes mimes, glitter tattoo and face painting stations, keeps them occupied and lets the family bond.
“Most of our Sunday Brunch first-timers have now become our regulars,” says Uy. “The very essence of this special offering is to encourage family gatherings and to somehow rekindle in this new age the Sunday family tradition we all grew up with.”
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Sunday Family Crossover Brunch at Dusit Thani Hotel-Makati is priced at P1,450+ for adults, P775+ for children 6 to 12years old. Five years old and below dine for free. For reservations, call +632 867-3333, e-mail dtmnfb@dusit.com.
