Prime Rib Roast, rubbed with rosemary and garlic and served with classic sauces

MANILA, Philippines — The historic Manila Hotel celebrates the coming of 2012 with a feast of unprecedented proportions: a New Year’s Eve bash of music, dancing and a hotel-wide crossover buffet extending through all the hotel’s restaurants.

Once again, the magnificent hotel by the bay is setting the trend, re-assuming its exalted position in the industry that started the day it opened in 1912.

For nearly a century, Filipinos and Manila-based expatriates have looked forward to the Manila Hotel’s celebrations to bid goodbye to the old year and welcome the New Year in a manner worthy of the country’s oldest bastion of hospitality.

On Saturday night, December 31, 2011, this tradition will see the Philippines’ Who’s Who in government, business, entertainment, journalism and the academe gather at the Manila Hotel for an incomparable evening of feast and festivities.

The Manila Hotel’s grand New Year’s Eve Dinner and Dance Party starts at 6:00 PM with the unveiling of the crossover buffet featuring Café Ilang-Ilang, Champagne Room, Mabuhay Palace, Taproom and Lobby Lounge.

It is not a choice of which restaurant to go to, but which restaurant to visit first, as guests are invited to graze, taste, sit, walk over, cross over and enjoy all the offerings of the Manila Hotel’s celebrated restaurants.

One could plan the long and delightful evening meal by having French appetizers at the Champagne Room: Escargot Ala Bourguignonne (French snails in the style of Burgundy) or Seared Foie Gras (special goose liver), served with caramelized apples.to balance its richness.

Moving over to the Café  Ilang Ilang, the cold starters station features fresh oysters, mussels and prawns flown in daily. Smoked salmon and salmon tartare, Mediterranean dips and breads, Japanese Sushi and Sashimi could follow.

My choice of soup would be any kind prepared at the Mabuhay Palace, the Manila Hotel’s impeccable Chinese restaurant. Perfect with the soup would be the Ha Kaw (Steamed Prawn Dumpling), the best and biggest I have ever had.

More popularly known among Filipinos as shrimp siomai, Ha Kaw is more familiarly encountered as a small, crescent-shaped and transluscent-skinned dumpling containing one or two tiny shrimps, a far cry from what the Mabuhay Palace serves: a perfectly-steamed, transparent skin enveloping extremely fresh large prawns. Each dumpling is the size of a pingpong ball!

Another memorable prawn dish has giant sugpo (tiger prawns) delicately wrapped in imported shredded wheat dough (the kind used for Middle Eastern Baklava) and quickly fried to a light golden hue.

Both the timing and oil temperature are tricky, as the gossamer-like dough browns in seconds, while the prawn gets tough and dry when cooked too long. Needless to say, the Mabuhay Palace chefs produce perfect noodle-wrapped prawns every time.

For more adventurous Asian delights, it is back to the Café Ilang Ilang to face a stunning array of Korean, Japanese, Indian and Filipino hot courses, prepared by Pinoy and foreign chefs, each backed by dozens of years of professional experience in acclaimed establishments around the world.

My advice is to eat small portions of everything, in order to fully enjoy our recommended stellar main courses of the evening: The Champagne Room’s US Angus Prime Rib and roasted Long Island Duck Ala Orange.

Yes, on the evening fraught with tradition, there’s nothing quite like good old standards of gastronomic excellence. It is not the time for molecular foam neon-hued fusion. The night calls for candlelight, gleaming cutlery, chandeliers and tried-and-true dishes that warm the heart – the kind that Executive Sous Chef Christine Zarandin has been prepping the Champagne Room kitchen and staff for.

Chef Christine had spent years studying at UP Los Banos to be an Agricultural Economist before realizing her passion for cooking, which she seriously took to heart at culinary schools in Nevada. After school, her talent was immediately recognized and utilized in various positions at famous restaurants at Belaggio Resort Casino and Caesar’s Palace. Like a true Pinoy, she’s happy to be back home doing what she loves.

For New Year’s Eve, Chef Christine will stick to tradition, serving five well-loved sauces for the main courses. Sauce Bigarade from Provence, made with essence of bitter oranges, echoes the sweet Valencia orange slices roasted with the duck.

Port Wine and Ginger Sauce, tart and slightly spicy, serves as foil for the rich gamey flavor of the free-range organic poultry. The Light Gravy with Rosemary could enhance both the duck and the beef.

She’s given a slight twist to the must-have standard sauce for all roasts; her gravy is lightly scented with fresh rosemary. The other classic, Au Jus sauce, is treated to carefully bruised black pepper and fresh thyme. Rounding up the carving buffet is the most essential of beef roast sauces: Horseradish Cream.

Sidings at the Carving Station are just as classic: Wild Mushroom Quiche, Lentil, Cabbage and Sausage Stew, Sweet Potato and Sage-Butter Casserole, Potato, Apple Gratin with Celeriac, Mashed Potatoes and Chatouillard Pomme Frites. In true Champagne Room style, the Mashed Potatoes are sprinkled with French truffles for extra oomph.

If there is time, and room in the belly before the 9:00 PM party begins, one can drift from the Tap Room to the Lobby Lounge and the other restaurants for dessert and coffee. And then the countdown begins at the Lobby with live entertainment -- music and dancing -- from Filipinas Band.

This is one big party you should not miss! Dinner is from 6:00 PM and party starts at 9:00 PM. Tickets to the Manila Hotel New Year’s Countdown 2012 are priced at PhP 3,000++, inclusive of crossover buffet and sparkling wine for the midnight toast.

For inquiries and reservations, please call 527 9469.

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