For anyone based in Quezon City, a trip to Entertainment City in Parañaque is pretty much a half‑day affair. With the daily traffic situation, the whole thing turns into a test of wills — do I make the trek, or do I just stay home?
Kidding aside, Solaire has a couple of food promotions at two of their F&B outlets, Fresh and Waterside. A few weeks ago, I had dinner at the former prior to watching the evening performance of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” at the Theatre. The engaging musical recently ended its limited run but the foie gras promotion at Fresh is available for dinner until the end of August.
I remember the first time I tasted foie, it was as a pate and not the actual goose liver. Even then, it tasted insanely rich served on toast points and redolent with brandy.
My first actual first encounter with foie gras was decades ago over lunch at Swissotel in Hong Kong. My eyes widened at the sheer decadence of lobes of foie sliced, seared and served to order.
The dinner buffet at Solaire is already a feast for the senses but with their foie gras promotion, it’s downright hedonistic. Aside from seared foie on toast, the luxury ingredient is also served as a dessert — swirled into a mousse and dotted with berries or whipped with cream, topped with sugar and torched like a crème brûlée.
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Sebastian Kellerhoff, Solaire vice president for F&B, said they don’t usually include foie gras in the buffet, explaining that “we wanted to serve value and be different.” He described the foie gras combinations available for dinner at Fresh as traditional, noting that they wanted to “keep it simple and focused on the product.”
Mediterranean food tour
Over at Waterside, the kitchen continues its year-long Eat Around the World series with a gastronomic tour to the Mediterranean and Levantine shores.
Start your meal with a choice of assorted cold or hot mezzeh, small communal plates of hummus, baba ghanoush, tabouleh and beetroot mutabal. These dips come with warm pita bread.
Don’t skip the Warak Enab or dolma — tender grape leaves filled with rice, beef and herbs, shaped into bite‑sized nuggets. I personally liked the hummus topped with a few fried whole chickpeas, and the baba ghanoush, roasted and mashed eggplant finished with a scattering of fresh pomegranate seeds. Honestly, I could have eaten just this with the pita and been perfectly content.
Waterside regulars often come in small groups and tend to order one or two dishes to share, as the portions are hefty. We sampled two other items on the menu: the Lamb Ouzi, a classic Levantine dish of slow‑cooked lamb shank served over spiced long‑grain rice dotted with nuts; and the Mashwi Grill platter, which includes Shish Tawook (grilled chicken skewers), beef kebab and tender lamb chops. The lamb shank was fall‑off‑the‑bone tender, while the lamb chops were nicely grilled, if a bit fatty — they would’ve been perfect with more assiduous trimming.
There were two desserts that afternoon, bread pudding with a nicely toasted crust, and what turned out to be my favorite, a vanilla rice pudding with Turkish origins that was cold, sweet and velvety.
“When we prepare these menus, authenticity is always our focus,” Solaire Resort Entertainment City culinary director Marcelo Urresti said in a statement.
If you have the chance to come over with friends or family before the end of the month, try the cold mezzeh with extra pita.
Dining and Cooking