The Ultimate 18 Treasures Feast at Jasmine, New World Hotel in Makati

Kung Hei Fat Choi Foodies! I believe that there couldn’t be any other wonderful way to spend this day and the rest of the Lunar New Year celebration than having a magnanimous feast which signifies bountiful blessings for the New Year. Thank heavens New World Hotel’s Jasmine Restaurant has something in store for us.

From January 18 to 30, Jasmine has special lunch and dinner menus which symbolize prosperity and luck in line with celebration of the Chinese New Year. One of them is the Ultimate 18 Treasures Feast prepared by Chef Choi Wing Ki which my fellow bloggers and I feasted on last week.

Aptly called the Ultimate 18 Treasures Feast, also popularly known as "Poon Choi" is a combination of 18 different lavish ingredients served on a big wooden basin. Lavish because the ingredients are known to be expensive and most of them are not available locally. More popular in Hong Kong and China, Poon Choi is usually served for Chinese Banquets and for some special occasion such as the Lunar New Year.

Ultimate 18 Treasures Feast / Poon Choi

It was my first time to try Poon Choi and I was really overwhelmed by the magnanimous wooden basin set before us with layers of everything that screams authentic Chinese ingredients. While it can be pretty intimidating to look at, every bite of the 18 scrumptious ingredients simmered together in one bowl is a festivity of flavors that one should missed.

Jasmine interior / Chef Choi Wing Ki

Meant to be eaten by layer, the deeper I dig into the feast, the more I feel acquainted with it, hence the more it pleases my palate. The 18 different lavish ingredients are abalone, sea moss, sea cucumber, dried oyster, fish maw, prawns, flower mushroom, eel fillet, roasted duck, chicken, pig knuckle, goose web, fish balls, dried squid, taro, radish, and bean curd stick.

My Plate

Good thing about Poon Choi is that despite the diverse flavors from each of the 18 ingredients, there is still harmony in flavors that binds each distinct taste with one another perfectly well.

The Ultimate Treasure Feast is priced at Php14,888 for a table of 6 persons and Php29,888 for a table of 12 persons. The price can be pretty steep but note that Poon Choi is not the only dish that you will be feasting on. Aside from the Poon Choi, you will also be served the following:

6 Kinds of Deluxe Appetizers (Eggplant Sesame Sauce, Spicy Cabbage, Clam Meat Spring Rolls, Shredded Chicken, Bamboo Shoot soy sauce, and Marinated Cucumber)
Double Boiled Chicken Soup, Whelk, ‘Sun, Moon Fish’, Chinese Herbs
Poached Chinese Lettuce with Superior Soy Sauce
Steamed Thai Rice with Chinese Sausage
Sweet Ginger, White Fungus Soup with Glutinous Flour Dumplings
Pan Fried Chinese New Year Cake
LoZhou Pomkam

Aside from the The Ultimate Treasure Feast, you can also try their 11-course lauriat set menu that includes dried oysters with sea moss, wok fried lobster fillet with yu ye fungus and celery, chicken and bamboo pith, prawns with broccoli, crispy scallop medallions and other mouth-watering dishes. This 11-course lauriat is priced at Php26,888 for a table of 12 person.

Fellow Foodies Richard, Glenn, Jane and her Bubba

It’s not as if the Ultimate 18 Treasures Feast was not enough for our group, we were also served with some of the best tasting ala cart menu selections which are also available for their diners all year round.

Chinese New Year Celebration at Jasmine still continues with these awesome offerings until the 30th of this month. So, I recommend that you try it, especially the Poon Choi for a lucky year of the water dragon ahead!