Inside Profile

MARCH IN MANILA

When it comes to luxury hotels and boutique residences, the Philippines’ cosmopolitan capital is at the top of her game. Leader Editor Gina McAdam wasted no time making the rounds. And oh, the breakfasts!

A lot’s to be said for good timing.  Metro Manila was radiant this third month of the year, with minty blue skies, uncharacteristically cool weather and a tempo so upbeat it  yelled ‘Asian century’. Even the traffic was bearable. Fate can be a blessing, and an unplanned trip turned out to be remarkable in many ways.
The Philippines, a Southeast Asian republic made up of 7,100 islands and best known in the West for its hospitable and hard-working English-speaking population, devout Catholicism, coral reefs and yes, Imelda is enjoying a belated renaissance. An earnest new government, open and optimistic economy and growing inbound visitor numbers (officially up 18% in the first 2 months of 2011 versus the year before) could spell truly good news, not least for the country’s luxury hospitality industry.

Looking up

The local population’s visceral attraction to food, drink and fun helps too. Provided quality remains world-class and competitive, the odds stack up.  Why else would Raffles Manila be opening next year on tony Makati Avenue, 20-storeys of Raffles Residences soaring above the hotel?

I drove past the construction site several times during my visit, and each day the emerging edifice loomed larger over Ayala Centre’s shopping malls. Makati City, the country’s financial artery, is home to some of the most coveted commercial and residential real estate on this archipelago, as the arrival of the cachet-filled Raffles name underlines.

Breakfast in Manila

This March there was not a speck of rain in the sky, and the morning sun was bright and brazen. The ideal excuse for getting up, getting dressed, and stepping into the relatively calm confines of Manila’s smart hotels.

Back in London, I’d announced to Mark Norris and Liz Hartstone that I was going to say hello to some of Profile’s friends in Manila.  But first I was going to sample a few of Manila’s luxury hotel breakfasts. I didn’t have to check-in, being a native, but I could check out the lobbies, restaurants and coffee shops. That said, I could also sip a cocktail or two in a hotel bar.

My family home is one of the first houses to have been built, after the Second World War, in Malate, a historic district of ‘Old Manila’ (as opposed to Makati City or the much newer Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, known simply as ‘The Fort’). It lies adjacent to the famous Manila Bay, considered one of the finest natural harbours in the world. The area, raffish and bohemian with an air of faded grandeur hanging over it, is popular with Western tourists and has never quite gone out of fashion.  The advantage of living in one of the last original homes left in the area (proud still, behind walls, but chastened by a bevy of blinking, winking bars and restaurants) is that it’s close to some of Manila’s best hotels.  

Sofitel Philippine Plaza
My first Manila breakfast was at the sprawling Spiral restaurant underneath the curved staircase of the ‘resort-sanctuary’ Sofitel Philippine Plaza. Part of the CCP Complex on Roxas Boulevard, the hotel is built on land reclaimed from the sea during the Marcos years, and run by GM Goran Aleks.

Buffet breakfasts in many of Manila’s five-star hotels mirror those in other Asian cities, except the choices here might seem more quirky and exciting. At the Sofitel, open stations devoted to Philippine, Italian, English, Chinese and Japanese cuisine formed links around the room.  A bowl of Japanese somen (noodles) and hiya-yako (curd) can accompany the local delicacy sapin-sapin (a gorgeous layered cake made from glutinous rice and coconut) or else a pizza margarita or omelette. The service? Immaculate and unhurried.

Hyatt Hotel and Casino Manila
The following morning, I visited the Hyatt Hotel and Casino Manila on Pedro Gil Street, walking distance from my house. Opened in 2004, it’s the literally well-rounded (circles are symbols of good luck and unity in Asia) domain of Malaysian GM Anthony Sebastian, and famous for its elegant Chinese restaurant, Li Li, and casino. Casinos are huge in Manila, leisurely gambling a favourite pastime.  We limited ourselves to the Filipino Breakfast a’la carte menu at the Market Cafe, gorging at 9am on chicken adobo, braised chicken in soy-vinegar sauce, served with a boiled egg and garlic rice.  It got us through the day.

InterContinental Manila
For my final hotel breakfast, I chose the sparkling InterContinental Manila, wanting to show my young guests the favourite watering hole of Manila’s scribes and thinkers, that is, the hotel’s Jeepney Bar. Now it’s called Cafe Jeepney, but the name still evokes the Philippines’ most popular mode of public transportation, a contraption crafted from an old American military jeep, festooned with all manner of colour, script and religious paraphernalia. The cafe was full this Saturday morning, so instead we had our Jeepney Breakfast of longanisa (native Filipino sausages) and corned beef with sterillado (fried) eggs served to us at the poolside Gambrinus bar.

Lunch at The Tivoli

I’d phoned Mark Bradford, GM of Mandarin Oriental Manila, to ask when would be the best time to drop by to say hello, as I happened to be spending a few nights at a flat next door.  I ended up sharing a wonderful lunch with Mark and his Director of Communications, Charisse Chuidian, at The Tivoli -- their beautiful fine dining restaurant. I’m sure Mark charms all of his Filipino colleagues, being so naturally hospitable himself. He must have slipped easily into the relaxed and coddled Philippine lifestyle, having lived and worked in Asia for over fifteen years, latterly as GM of the Mandarin Oriental Shara Shevi in Chiang Mai. (Ed’s note: Look out for Mark’s feature in a forthcoming issue of Leader.)

Helping me to pick items from the buffet, including freshly shucked oysters and sushi, Mark suggested I try the manchego cheese, no, not from La Mancha, but from a producer in the southernmost island of Mindanao. I think I’m qualified to say it was indistinguishable from the Castillian version.  Mark volunteered that Manila was very much in step with the sustainability agenda being set in Europe and the US, and that his kitchens source much of their produce locally.  One of their sources is the Salcedo Community Market, now an established Saturday ritual for locals and expatriates alike, where some 160 vendors offer Philippine regional and heritage food, organic vegetables, fruits, baked products, international dishes as well as plants and flowers.

Homage to an artist

By coincidence, my next appointment -- at the ‘must see’ Picasso Boutique Serviced Residences in Salcedo Village -- had been arranged by a member of the market’s organising committee, the indefatigable Des Rodriguez-Torres. As Mark commented over lunch, Manila is a small world.

A new ‘concept’ hotel and hidden gem, the Picasso is a homage to the twentieth century’s greatest artist, Pablo Picasso. Both the architecture and interior design reflect periods and themes drawn from the artist’s prodigious life, most notably Cubism, and the studios and suites are named after the cities – Malaga, Barcelona, Madrid – where he lived. 

The hotel’s in-house art gallery, Art Cabinet at the Picasso, is curated by Dindin Araneta, and showcases the work of both new and established Filipino contemporary artists. Most, if not all, of the art in both bedrooms and public spaces are for sale, with fresh works brought in every eight weeks. Benjo Marquez, the hotel’s sprightly Head of Marketing Services, says that the hotel aims to attract both artists who wouldn’t normally step foot into a hotel and business people who may think they have little time for art.

Later, I chat over coffee at Brasserie Boheme to Luis Monserrat, President of Hospitality International Inc (HII), the Picasso’s managing company. A former banker and ex-Marketing Director of Coca Cola, Luis is extremely proud of his ‘unconventional hotel’; he also runs the property development company that transformed an aging residential condominium into the chic Picasso.  To him, the hotel should be a bona fide engine for art. It’s achieving that aim and it’s also fully booked. The next step could be another property transformation, this time in ‘Old Manila’. We’re watching.

Marching home

My true mission in Manila this March had little to do with hotels and yet hotels are so much a fabric of Asian cultural, social and family life that you can’t avoid them, whatever you do. 

I ended up having cocktails in a hotel bar with my two brothers-in-law on two separate occasions. One night we downed Ming Slings and potent Thriller in Manila martinis at The Peninsula’s glamorous Salon de Ning. On my penultimate night, we crept into the Martini Bar at the Mandarin for 007’s and Bone Smashers. 

I even managed to catch Rick Saul, GM of Marriott Manila, on the phone before boarding the plane to Heathrow. I’ll meet with him on my next trip, hopefully soon.
Roll on June!

To find out more about Gina’s trip to Manila, contact her at gina@stratemarco.com