A White Night

CEBU, Philippines - The occasion was the 10th anniversary of Marco Polo Plaza Cebu. The hotel management led by general manager Julie Najar, resident manager Xavier Maisson and the communication team Manna Alcaraz, Yvonne Silva and Yummy Mariot invited their valued partners to a celebration at the Blu Bar and Grill.

It is hard to believe that ten years have passed since the former Cebu Plaza Hotel, acquired by the Metro Bank group, reopened in 2006 as the now Marco Polo Plaza Cebu. The hotel promotes various cuisines in its culinary journeys every three months. These regular promotions highlight the cuisines of the Filipino/Cebuano, Spanish, Indian, French and Swiss, among others.

Approximately 50 such culinary journeys have been held in the past 10 years. If, say, 20 dishes were served at each of those journeys, that totals a staggering 1,000 dishes so far - such a record that other hotels can only dream of!

There was also a special event, the Great Media Cookout in 2013, organized by Marco Polo consultant Jessica Avila, where several media personalities including myself were invited. Family heirloom recipes were transformed into five-star dishes with the help of the hotel's culinary team. I had a slight advantage because I had previously cooked there during the term of Marco Polo's Executive Chef Luke Gagnon. I prepared three dishes: Jade Prawn, Beef in Perpetual Sauce and Fried Squid Rings (Taiwan-style), and the first two dishes were served during the media cookout.

Back to the recent10th anniversary celebration, Marco Polo Plaza Cebu management decided to hold separate festivities at the Blu Bar and Grill for its valued partners like the travel agents, its corporate clients as well as select media people. We were asked to wear smart casual with white accents, but I completely forgot about the suggested outfit.

There was a buffet of Canapés with Meats, Ham, Fruit and Cheese, Sushi selection with Salmon, Surimi and Lumpfish Caviar, Baked New Zealand Mussels, Fish & Chips and Seafood on skewers.

Being a meat lovers myself, I paired my red wine with the Noisette of Beef & Bacon and Roast Beef. I also tried the Blu Bar & Grill's Strawberry Margarita on a Light bulb because the serving glass was pretty and unique.

We had free-flowing food and drinks and Marco Polo team wanted the media to be merry. Gifts were distributed among the winners of the fun trivia game. Our group won simply because the members were quicker-witted than the others - and we had faster internet connection for finding answers online!

Name cards were placed in the glass bowl for the raffles, where two lucky participants won the prizes - Patty Taboada got the Chocolate Indulgence Package at the Wellness Zone and yours truly, excuse me, finally, got an overnight stay for two at the Marco Polo Plaza Cebu.

The desserts included Eclairs with an icing bearing the number 10, as friendly reminder that Marco Polo Plaza Cebu is indeed timeless and with God's blessing, hotel operations will continue to be profitable in the next decade. (FREEMAN)