Gluttony with a Side Order of Salsa

For our post-V-Day date this year, H and I headed to Mandarin Oriental for their poolside buffet barbecue. I first read about at uber-popular Dessert Comes First, and was taken by the fact that a) it was all you can eat, and b) there was a salsa band playing. The selling point for H, of course, was the free-flowing beer.

H shows his approval.

So we had to move our date a couple of times, and since this Barbecue by the Poolside shindig only happened on Wednesdays, we agreed to go on Feb 28. Good thing we didn't push it back further--found out that that was the last night Mandarin was having it.

The poolside buffet is a scaled-down version of the Paseo Uno one--there's a salad bar, rice, baked potatoes, and lotsa barbecued offerings: chicken, beef, pork, lamb, red snapper, lapu-lapu, and different kinds of sausages. H feasted on the lamb and sausages (and I don't know how many rounds of beer...). He loooved the mustard--it had this wasabi kick that literally brought me to tears! Not being a lamb person, I opted to stuff myself with other goodies, such as the chicken and red snapper. My favorites were the beef (which a roving waiter sliced onto a waiting plate on our table)--I drowned it in black pepper sauce (essentially yummy runny gravy with whole peppercorns mixed in)--and the lapu-lapu, which I smothered in creamy lemon-butter sauce (dare I say the best I've tried so far?).

(From top) The chef at the barbie; the waiter gives me beef, Brazilian style; the ice cream bar.

Dessert wasn't anything to sing about, especially since I had to stay away from the ice cream bar. Oh well. I don't know if it's just me but I normally don't enjoy pastries and cakes at hotels. I usually just pile some pudding onto my plate and I'm good to go.

The aftermath.

We spent the rest of the evening bobbing our heads to the salsa music--the singer was quite a performer, I loved it!--watching the DIs try to persuade people to dance with them, and rubbing our bellies contentedly. There were candles and flowers, the usual elements of a V-Day date. But more than these and the free-flowing beer, what made the night truly sexy was the free-flowing conversation.

Too bad I had to go back to work!