A dollop of magic at ARC’s Sunday brunch

Call her depressed but that Virgina Woolf was also a wise one. It was she who said, “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”

Of a surety, dining well prepares the ground for living well, the fertile soil from whence productive activity springs from. But if there is one thing that dining at the Aqua Resort Club will teach you, it is the knowledge that excellent dining is not just about food but rather the amalgam of excellent cuisine, good wine, convivial friends, the relaxed ambiance, and the warmth of the staff that greets you as soon as you make your way inside the Costa Terrace.

That lesson was brought home when I recently checked out the Champagne Sunday Brunch of the Aqua Resort Club. I flatter myself with the idea that I have a fairly well grounded head but it was still gratifying to be greeted by name upon stepping inside the plush interiors of the Costa Terrace, an attentive Lito Espina guiding me and my guest to a well-appointed table near the Mongolian Barbecue grill station. And that was just for starters.

The extensive array of food—from the appetizers, salads and soups, to the main entrees, the Chinese noodles, the luscious desserts, and the wide selection of fruits—were in and of themselves excellent, but the piece dé résistance were the moving stations, about four or five rolling stands that move from table to table, offering guests a chance to taste a diverse selection of Aqua Resort specialties. On the Sunday that we were there, my guest was looking for the prime rib steak and we couldn’t find it so we had resigned ourselves to the disappointment that we won’t be getting some of that. Imagine our surprise and delight when one of the staff trundled up to us with this large table on wheels, whipped off the cover, and presented us with the delightful sight of a well-turned prime rib steak. We didn’t even have to get up! He carved us a generous helping of Angus beef that was slightly smoky, a tad sweet, and with enough juices to run down our chins!

Executive chef Hubert Friedle, who graciously joined us midway through our brunch, said the moving stations were a fresh innovation, inspired by comments of guests who had asked for something new in the hotel’s food presentation.

“Today we have three moving stations: the prime rib carving station, the shrimp fountain/seafood and champagne station, and the coffee and tea trolley,” he said. These are in addition to the stationary food stations, including the lechon de leche, the sushi station, and the Mongolian Grill.

Dorry Gabutero, Aqua Resort’s sales and marketing manager, also pointed out that, with the variety of food that’s available, it’s easier to miss some of the other offerings on the table. “This way, we can bring some of the food to the table of guests. Also, as our staff move around, they can see what the customers need and they can immediately respond.”

As if that were not enough, the Aqua Resort Club is also livening up its Sunday Brunch with the addition of Kobi the Magician, a sleight-of-hand expert whose smooth patter and arsenal of conjurations and tricks will have you clapping with delight and amazement. We observed him doing his thing at the next table—a group of Korean tourists—and we could hear them “oohhh-ing” and “aahhhh-ing” at his card and coin tricks. To the delight of children, Kobi is also a whiz at balloon animals, whipping out lengths of rubber that he transforms with a twist or two into giraffes and horses and hearts.

“I love doing close up magic rather than stage magic. With this, you can actually interact with your audience,” he said.

Kobi later performed a magic show for his kiddie fans at a corner of the Aqua Resort lobby that had been transformed into a small version of Mardi Gras.

Gabutero said this new take on the Champagne Sunday Brunch is their way of responding to the need to keep enticing their guests. “We wanted to think outside the box and this is what we came up with.”

Friedle added that they also continue training their staff to ensure that customer service remains above par. “There’s a lot more than meet’s the eye. There’s more training of the personnel,” he said. And it showed, with the very accessible and friendly staff who always seemed to know when to approach you and when to leave you alone.

Friedle emphasized that, despite all these additional trimmings and innovations, Aqua Resort has kept the price of its Sunday Brunch at $25 per person (with 10 percent local discount and Executive Circle card carriers). “We haven’t raised any prices, even though supplies are now more expensive. That is the philosophy that we’ve kept.” Certainly a commendable philosophy in these hard times. One needn’t break the bank to do it.

So, as it turns out, dining at Aqua Resort’s Champagne Sunday Brunch does not only mean dining well. It also means doing it with a minimum of fuss, a maximum of comfort—with a small dollop of magic to take it to a whole world away from the humdrum.