Food Exchange Manila - Novotel Manila Araneta Center

Elai Gonda

4.0

Mga Ka-Kulto (cult followers), this is it! With over 200 thousand followers or fans, Masarap Ba? X Novotel Manila Araneta Center proudly presents ‘Masarap Nga! Meet and Eat’. Masarap Nga! is a grand website festival in collaboration with trending food sensation ‘Masarap Ba?’. The delectable experience will feature Masarap Ba’s Top Picks made by local SMEs. Where each featured product is infused into delicious dishes prepared by Novotel Manila’s culinary team. Then served at a special buffet spread at Novotel’s Food Exchange Manila from March 29-April 7, 2019.

Anna Sarmiento

4.0

Bountiful and generous, these are probably the best words to describe the dining experience I had at Food Exchange. It caught me by surprise that the food selection was spaciously laid out, which added to the grandeur of the feast and how lightly paced the dining experience was. As anyone who’s ever dined in a buffet place that’s been designed like a tight lifeboat has felt, the feeling can be stressful and the pace can feel like you’re being rushed through a gauntlet. Thankfully, The Food Exchange’s layout was conceptualized properly.The servers were attentive, although I was a bit disappointed that the cooks and chefs at the food stations were nowhere to be found, except one dude at the end-counter near the Indian food and bread stall who promptly greeted me with enthusiasm. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to try the quality of their steak because there wasn’t anyone to cook it to well done. I waited a good 5 minutes, but no one was there to take my request. The night was relatively light, though, and there were maybe 8 or so groups dining by prime time, so maybe manpower was deployed at the back. In any case, despite this, the upside was there were few staff members ogling at diners’ plates, which can sometimes be awkward. And so thematically, I liked that the personal bubbles of diners were left intact, while we went about doing our thing (eating!)Maybe it was unintentional, but out of all the buffet places I’ve dined in, The Food Exchange managed to produce a menu that’s the most appropriate for the keto diet. So keto people should really swing by and try the food here. Except for the short selection of cheeses (I hope they expand), there was a lot of fat and foliage (for potassium). I am not exaggerating when I say they had a lot of fat in a lot of dishes. Fat can really satiate and give that full feeling, which leaves diners satisfied with the dining experience.I should mention that the WiFi reception wasn’t so great and connectivity was thinned out in most areas. Dining solo isn’t so enticing without anything to read through my phone. They may need to install repeaters and extra routers for better connection. I tried using the in-house Internet, but just the same, connectivity was poor.I would consider the highlight of my dining experience to be this one particular dessert piece whose name I forgot. It looks like a stack of chocolate wafers, but it’s not. I’m not sure if it was called a Chocolate Carnival Cake, I promised myself I’d remember, but I forgot 30 minutes right after because I was already thinking about the full writeup of the experience. In any case, I took a few pictures. That cake was subtly sweet and the cacao bitterness was perfect to the palate. It was also great that it had a marshmallowy texture that felt like soft pillows in the mouth. So it’s definitely something I hope they keep the formula of because it’s a great dessert piece.

Hanyleth Sescon

4.0

This is where we celebrated our sister’s birthday during our stay in Novotel.PLACE: Tucked within the lobby of said hotel, we found that the restaurant is pretty small compared to that of Spiral (also from Accor). Tho it lacks the grandeur that is Spiral, they manage to make the dining area comfortable yet minimalist. Also, the panels strategically installed in selected locations within the restaurant gives a sense of privacy.FOOD: Being smaller, the variety thereof is also limited. The desserts table is surprisingly dull despite its carnival theme. Nonetheless, the section for Indian cuisine is superb - probably the best one I’ve tried so far. The rest of the offering lived up to the Accor standard but seemingly forgettable.SERVICE: The crew are very efficient and courteous. Still, since we dined here during the weekends, we felt that the management should have added more servers.VALUE: despite the limited choices and simple set-up, I can say that this is of value.✌🏻