So, we have arrived at the last part of my Staycation at Oakwood Premier Manila Blog Series. The last day of my stay at Oakwood was as nice as the first day having the Jazzy Sunday Brunch Buffet as its highlight. Bonus part was that I spent it with some of my favorite Manila food bloggers which I consider my family in this industry.
I admit that I had a great time recalling that weekend at Oakwood to weave stories to share with you. Although I do not have all the time in the world to finish writing everything in one sitting, I am glad that you have stayed with me. Good memories are not meant to be rushed, only savored. Thank you for your patience.
It tickles me to the bone that some of you sent me emails and
messages through my Facebook page just to let me know that you are
enjoying this mini series. Do not worry, I am working on making the
comment system here at YedyLicious way easier to deal with. Meanwhile,
you are always welcome to get in touch with me by any means we see fit.
Before I start, if this is your first time reading this blog post series, may I suggest that you also consider taking a look at the first and second part of my staycation. I shared a little tour of my room at Oakwood and my kitchen bonding moment with my friend Glenn.
Now, on to the 3rd part.
My friend Glenn and I woke up early that Sunday morning. We were both excited that day. Glenn was looking forward to once again dine with old friends he used to share food with during his blogging days. While in my case, well, I am always excited to be with my foodie family, always.
Breakfast buffet is served at Oakroom Restaurant of Oakwood from 6am to 10am. We were there quite early because we are strategically pacing ourselves since aside from the breakfast buffet, we will be partaking with the Jazzy Sunday Brunch as well. Needless to say, we decided to go light on breakfast.
Of course, breakfast wouldn't be complete without bacon. So much for going light, eh? You cannot blame me, really. Bacon at Oakroom was perfectly cooked into crisp submission that skipping it would be unforgivable. I had my bacon with sunny side fried egg, freshly baked scone with cream and jam. This I tell you, it was the best scone I have ever had to date!
The warm scone was so good it had a repeat appearance on my second plate together with Danish pastry, smoked salmon, and cold cuts. The freshly brewed coffee completed my breakfast but I did not regret having a glass of cold apple juice. It was a nice breakfast and if you don't think that it was light enough, you should see how much big of a breakfast I eat on an ordinary day.
We were dead set on visiting other parts of Oakwood after breakfast but most of them wouldn't open until 8 in the morning. I decided to go back to my room to pack my things and prepare since we will be checking out later that day.
While I was getting ready, Glenn decided to take a dip into the indoor pool of Oakwood. I would have loved to join him but I needed to attend to some emails that morning so I told him to go without me.
I finished packing my things, preparing myself, and answering work emails just in time when I needed to log in to my social media account pages to promote my TV guesting for ChinoyTV of Living Asia Channel that day. After watching the show, Glenn and I decided to head out of our room to check out other hotel amenities.
And because just for a while there, we thought we were cool kids, Glenn and I did the proverbial mirror selfie until such time we realized that we were not. Then, we head out instead and resume to the original plan of visiting other parts of the hotel.
Navigating Oakwood is not really hard since you have the elevator guideline as a reference. Still, kindly people at Oakwood are always willing to guide their guests through as they take a tour of the hotel, all you need to do is to kindly ask.
Unfortunately, the conference room and the ballrooms were still close the time of our visit. But I took a peek in each room and saw that all of them are spacious enough to be a great location for the simplest of party to the grandest one. Packages on events are available at Oakwood so if you are looking for a great reception for your events, I suggest that you check them out.
The Kids Playroom was devoid of guests so, I was able to snap some shots and enjoy the area for a little while. I love how clean the room was and how organized the things were during our visit. Should I bring my nephews for a staycation at Oakwood, I now know where to tour them.
It would be really cool to tell you that I did get some sweaty time at Oakwood's Fitness Center to burn all the bacon and scones I ate during breakfast but that would be an outright lie. So, let me just tell you the truth that we took a peek inside the gym and chatted with the friendly receptionist there.
There were few people inside the gym who were all kind enough to throw a smile or two and an encouraging nod to join them while I was there with my bellyful of bacon checking the place out. I can almost read their bubble thoughts... "Get in here woman and work out like you've got your life all figured out." To which I respond, also in bubble thought, "Okay, handsome muscle men, Respect on the swagger, but I got a Jazzy Brunch to attend to. Maybe later... in life."
We also went to the indoor pool of Oakwood which Glenn was so happy to dipped into earlier that day. I saw couple of guests having a great time at the pool, obviously devoid of fear of direct sunlight on their skin. My heart bleeded with envy. I thought to myself that it could have been a perfect pool for me since I have a medical condition that hinders me from staying under direct sunlight. Next time, I will never miss this pool.
It was almost time for our brunch, my father who was supposed to pick me up agreed to drive home with just my things instead so that I could enjoy a long leisurely brunch with my friends. After dropping my things in the car, Glenn and I went up to the Oakroom where our foodie family was waiting for every one to arrived.
I have written about Oakwood's Oakroom Restaurant for number of times already but I have not mentioned that aside from the restaurant, they also have bar, shown in photo below that serves mean food and impressive line of wine, imported and local beers, and all things one may expect from a well kept hotel bar.
Now, about Oakwood's Jazzy Sunday Brunch.
By now, we are all familiar with the themed buffets of Oakwood Premier Manila's Oakroom Restaurant. I have tried some of these buffet spreads and I must say that they are one of my favorites. When it comes to food, I am confident with Oakwood. So, I am glad that this time, they decided to do one of the things I love to do on Sundays - Brunch!
Oakwood's Jazzy Sunday Brunch features creations of Chef Jerome Cartailler and his team with great focus on Western dishes. Aside from great line up of food, another thing that made this brunch really special is the Jazzy side of it. Jazz band called Sonny and Sunshine is set to serenade guests with their impressive rendition of Jazz music. Trust me on this, these kids are really really talented, everyone should hear their music.
Happening every Sunday at Oakroom Restaurant, Jazzy Sunday Brunch starts at 12noon to 3pm and is priced at Php1,500 per head.
Since it was a brunch, I was expecting that the dishes leans heavily on the breakfast food with a little bit of heavy items perfect for a full meal. When I checked the spread, I saw wide variety of dishes that are way filling than the brunch items I am used to. Maybe that is the reason why it starts at 12noon, the spread are all good to fill you up until later on that day.
As mentioned, the spread is mostly Western dishes which I love. For a brunch, these items were quite overwhelming but in a very good way. I was only able to try a handful from the choices but it does not mean that I stopped in a single plate. Trust me, I lost count.
Some of my favorites were the Rib eye which succulence is still haunting me to this day and the Leg of Ham glazed with maple syrup topped with grilled pineapple. The ham tasted like Christmas in my mouth!
I love Oakroom's Sebato Cena Italiana's themed buffet before so I was glad that they have pasta station at brunch. They do pasta in such a great way, so this station should not be missed. There are handful of ready made pasta available but kindly food attendants are always ready if guests preferred different pasta dish which they can cook on the spot.
The were different kinds of salads as well - ready made ones and customized choices. The shrimps, cold cuts, and smoked salmon ended up as my favorites too. Since freshly baked bagels are readily available at the bread station and cream cheese was also there, brunch bagel sandwich happened.
I was a bit sad when I found out the they run out of scone that morning, but it was also great that I was able to enjoy other breads which are also well worth raving. There were cupcakes as well that are too cute to eat but too delicious not to.
Of course, another thing that Oakroom has always been great at - desserts! I love the panna cotta shooters as well as the mini cakes. I did grabbed some slices of fresh fruits to offset (psychologically, of course) all the rib eye and ham I devoured.
There were also ice cream which I though as a perfect combination to the pies that are also available alongside other variety of desserts. Yet, eaten as it is, these babies of different flavors were also great.
Did I mention that there were pies as well? Yes, and plenty of them. And plenty of them, I ate alright. There were apple pie, pecan pie, and lemon pie. My favorite among them was the pecan pie which is a good reason enough for me to comeback again at Oakroom to experience this brunch again.
Photos here is not even half of what was available on the spread. There were plenty of others which judging from my friends' blog posts, were equally good as the ones which I have tried. I remember there were ribs, fried chicken, oyster, and bacon among many others.
After our long leisurely brunch, I bid adieu to my friends and head back to my room again to pack the things I hand carry with me and to bid farewell to my room.
So, that concludes my blog series.
Thank you for coming back here on YedyLicious to read my mini staycation series. I had a great time sharing my story and I hope you had a great time reading it as well.
Some of you have expressed the desire to have a staycation at Oakwood with your loved ones and have asked me about promos at Oakwood. I replied to each of your email and I thank you for taking time to send those messages.
For those who are interested, I highly recommend that you check out Oakwood Premier Manila's website and Facebook page (info indicated below this post) because they are running several different promos for this season and they are very prompt in updating their posts there. I have checked all of them and I must say that it would be sad if you missed the great deals they now offer.
Also, it would be lovely to hear your stories about your stay at Oakwood Manila, so, do share it here on YedyLicious.
Gratitude!
My sincere gratitude to Oakwood Premiere Joy-Nostalg Center Manila for such an amazing weekend. To sir Trevor MacDonald, General Manager of Oakwood Premier Manila, to sir Mike Celis, Director of Sales and Marketing, and of course to Ms. Aleah Alam, PR and Marketing Communications Executive, and the rest of Oakwood Manila's team, big big thank you for welcoming me and for making that weekend memorable. Gratitude and blessings, I am humbled by your generosity.
UPDATE!
Here's the complete Oakwood Premier Manila Staycation Blog Posts Series
Part 1 of Staycation at Oakwood Premier Manila
Part 2 of Staycation at Oakwood Premier Manila (Oh, That Kitchen!)
Part 3 of Staycation at Oakwood Premier Manila (Jazzy Sunday Brunch Buffet)
Oakwood Premier Joy~Nostalg Center Manila
17 ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City 1600,
Philippines
Tel: (63-2) 637 7888 / (63-2) 910 8888
Fax: (63-2) 706 7777
Email: premiermanila@oakwoodasia.com
Website: www.oakwood.com
Facebook: /OakwoodManila
