Aqua Resort holdsValentine’s buffet for the first time

For more than 20 years, the Igitol couple has been celebrating Valentine’s Day at Aqua Resort.
Pete and Mathilde Igitol said they love spending dinner nights in Aqua Resort especially during the special day for lovers and couples because they feel like they’re home.

“We go here because it’s a place where we can relax, friendly atmosphere, and we really enjoy ourselves,” Pete said, “Couples come here, they enjoy, no pushing, no need to hurry.”

Unlike the Igitols’ over two decades of dining, however, last Sunday’s dinner at Ra Raina for Valentine’s Day was something new. Instead of a sit down, fine dining dinner, a buffet was set up for the guests.

According to Marie Ann Razon, ARC assistant food and beverage manager, this is the first time that they offered dinner for Valentine ’s Day.

“For how many years, Aqua Resort has been known for holding fine dining for Valentine’s Day. This is the first time that we had a buffet,” Razon said.

“We just want to try and see what the outcome is and actually it is the idea of our executive chef to try something new,” she added.

Despite the buffet setup, servers of Ra Raina served guests’ initial items.

“So that the couple can still have a little moment to themselves, we served them appetizers and main course first,” Razon said.

For the appetizer, a cocktail shot of Bloody Mary with fresh oyster was served.

“That was the first that we served to everybody,” Razon said.

It was followed by the main course, which is the Certified Angus Beef Captain’s Cut Prime Rib.

Over 40 other items were made available to the guests via the buffet table, which includes their carving station featuring lamb shawarma with condiments and pita bread, and baked whole salmon in sea salt meringue and tomato pesto remoulade among others.

The eight items under entrees include pork hocks, tilapia fillet with cranberry butter and asparagus in orange ginger salsa, and chicken brochette with forest mushrooms

For seafood, they also served crab legs with mignonette sauce, poached shrimps with cocktail sauce, and green mussels with chimichurri sauce aside from the sashimi and sushi items.

Eleven items were served for dessert including white chocolate raspberry cheesecake, mascarpone strawberry cupcake, and assorted valentine cookies.

“To cater to the occasion, our pastry chef made different than usual desserts,” Razon said.

Free flowing wine and beer were also served with the help of ARC’s sponsor, MarPac.

Razon said they had reservations of over 100 as opposed to when holding fine dining where they can only accommodate around 60 people.

The dinner buffet is much more cost friendly for the guests also as it is priced at $45 per person as opposed to their four or five-course meal which is about $60 and above.

Razon said they are targeting more of the younger generation to try the dining experience at their hotel.

“I can see we have more of the younger generation,” Razon said, “We are trying to get that kind of market and at the same time accommodate the older market.”

Razon said another usual customer that they have didn’t want to do the fine dining this year and was thinking of going to another restaurant. However, when they knew that it was buffet, they went ahead and made their usual reservations.

Razon said they might continue with the buffet dinner next year, but they will still do add in extras for the guests like serving them special items per table.