Dining at Shangri-la Mactan Resorts & Spa

It’s a bummer actually that the resort does not offer services to and from Cebu City for free. They do charge, as to how much, I don’t know. We didn’t dare to step out of the resort. We were too into the beach life to see the city at all.

Tides

This is one of the places where the guests have their breakfast while at the resort. I forgot where else they extend the buffet breakfast when there are just too many guests but this is the main area where people wake up to.

  

Waking up to breakfast is something I do rarely… mostly only during vacations. And this is actually because buffet breakfast for two is included in the room’s rate. But I do love breakfast food. And my eyes actually popped out when I saw a whole lot of pastries in display in the buffet.

Located in different stations are the salads (with so many dressings to choose from), cereals (and a whole bunch of milk and juices to mix it with), sushi and sashimi (which I think is quite a staple for Shangri-la breakfasts), hot plates (that contained your usual bacon, sausages, corned beef, etc.), omelette and cold cuts. There was also some congee, fresh fruits and my favourite, freshly squeezed orange juice. I love fresh orange juice prepared during the morning.

If in case you want to avail of the breakfast buffet alone, it's Php 1,050 + service charge + VAT + food tax (a total of P1,30.25).

Beach Bar

Nothing like hearing the movements of the sea as you relax and feel the summer sun. That was what we did, we bummed. Aside from the chit-chats we had, we also had to do something else to pass the time. And so we ordered some snacks while we were by the beach to get us through the afternoon happy and relaxed.

The Pizza Margherita (Php 440 + tax + sc) ordered was pretty good. It was served in a thin crust dough topped with mozzarella and tomato sauce. I love simple pizzas. And this one was pretty tasty and was served hot.

Roast Beef Sandwich (Php 520 + tax + sc) will always be appealing to the carnivores. It came with emmental cheese, some romaine leaves and grain mustard mayonnaise. Each sandwich came with a serving of fries. This entire thing was quite difficult to finish by just one person for a snack. I think it was meant to be eaten as a whole meal. It tasted great, tender roast beef and flavourful ingredients.

We ordered Mactan Iced Tea (Php 150 + tax + sc) which was actually cold tea with syrup on the side, which is how iced tea should be done, and shakes (orange concoction which name I actually forgot and choco banana shake, both were very refreshing).

I almost forgot, there was a staff selling ice cream as how you would hear sorbeteros sell ice cream out on the streets. I love it, not only because it brings the Filipino culture closer to foreigners, but the ice cream being sold? Yes, that’s Häagen-Dazs right there. Hehe.

Tea of Spring

This Cantonese restaurant with a modern and elegant interior was where we had our dinner during our stay. We were actually looking for the least intimidating restaurant besides the ones offering an eat-all-you-can dining and so we found ourselves here.

We ordered the following:

Yangzhou Fried Rice (Php 320) – your classic rice mixed with meat and seafood. This version was great and really flavourful. I did not end up really thirsty after which probably means that it did not have too much MSG in it.

Oven-baked Sea Bass with Chinese Brown Sauce (Php 580) – sea bass is the only way to go. This was really cooked to perfection. The fish was melting in my mouth. The brown sauce was an oriental barbecue flavour sauce. This dish was just awesome.

“Bi Feng Tang” Roasted Crispy Chicken with Toasted Almond Flakes and Garlic Flakes (Php 360) – such a long name for a food, don’t you think? Anyway, this chicken was moist. It did not even need the toasted almond and garlic flakes yet these added to the already overwhelming taste of the dish. It was fantastic.

Braised Beef Brisket with White Radish (Php 380) – the beef was tender and same as the others, this dish was flavourful as well. It had that balance of sweet and subtle saltiness that was very oriental. I believe this is best paired with a cup of plain rice.

There were three of us who ate this spread so we ended up really full and we needed to take a stroll. But it was a delight. I don’t even need to mention anything about the service. Theirs was great, as always.

Tides

Garden Level, Shangri-la Mactan Resorts & Spa

(63-32) 2318224

Beach Bar

Beach Side, Shangri-la Mactan Resorts & Spa

(63-32) 2310288

Tea of Spring

Garden Level Main Wing, Shangri-la Mactan Resorts & Spa

(63-32) 2318224