Reine celebrated her 14th birthday in one of our favorite hotels, Marriott Hotel Manila. Supposed to schedule a dinner after we watch King & I, also at Resorts World Manila. But we opted to choose lunch over dinner. We thought our stomachs are better full during lunch and avoided bloated stomachs in the evening. Reine didn’t know about this lunch. What she only knew was the plan of watching King & I, nothing else. Her eyes wandered and became bigger when we were entering Marriott Cafe. I saw her controlling the excited smile on her face when we were about get to seated and head to the buffet tables. 🙂

Compared to the last time I ate at Marriott Cafe, which was last December 2011, the buffet area is now bigger, longer and better. Wider food selections with extended buffet room for martini bar and steak section. I also noticed that they added an extra room specially for their desserts, which I’ll be showing later on.

A plate of fresh seafoods were served with lemon and butter sauce on our table, a special request from mom from the chef.

She wasn’t delighted with how her seafood plate was prepared. According to her, Edsa Shangri-la’s HEAT did it better. That includes the presentation, freshness of shrimps & crabs plus the total flavor of the dish.

A special room for desserts is pretty new to my sight. Marriott Cafe has more choices now, which is comparable to Edsa Shangri-la’s Heat buffet. There is an area for cakes, chocolate fondue, chocolate truffles, candies and the best area for me, which is a huge table of lip-smacking chocolates. Sweet temptations everywhere! I didn’t want to leave Marriott Cafe anymore. I was in wonderland.

White chocolate, dark chocolate and milk chocolate – various types of chocolates that made me drool. (Still drooling until now!) Skeptic if the table was also made out of chocolate so I scraped and see if it really is.

We all got excited, getting one big square each. The plan of taking out some chocolates and have it as a snack while watching King & I didn’t work. 😐 I couldn’t sneak out a single piece. Too bad! 🙁

A pot of flower decoration made out of chocolates as well. It looked too delicate to touch and taste. I settled with my chocolate bars instead.

Happy Birthday to my one and only sister! My life is literally incomplete without her presence. Becoming an “ate” is a responsibility I would carry my whole life. God knew my heart is longing to take care of a younger sibling and I praise God He didn’t disappoint me by giving Reine to our family. Indeed, she’s a Heaven sent sister 🙂

King & I amused me but not as much as I was entertained by Phantom of the Opera. I know both stage plays shouldn’t be compared but I couldn’t help it since the last stage play I’ve seen was Phantom. Phantom of the Opera is simply fantastic that I couldn’t find what’s wrong and say negative comments about it.