A Lovely Staycation at F1 Hotel Manila

If there’s one thing Ken, our nanay and I have in common, it’s how hard we work and how dedicated we could get with our jobs. Some may consider us (slightly) workaholic, but we do enjoy what we do. However, from time to time, we forget to give ourselves a break to rejuvenate. That’s why F1 Hotel Manila‘s invitation for a staycation couldn’t be any more timely.

A short staycation is sometimes all one needs to unwind and forget, at least for a little while, the stress of every day life. Ken and I were actually planning on staycationing at F1 Hotel before they invited us ’cause we wanted to stay there and eat at some of the restaurants in BGC since the area is too far from our home (like 2-3 hours travel time… ugh).

We learned when we arrived that they were introducing us to their holiday offerings. We were excited to find out what F Restaurant has to offer this year since we had a very tasty dinner buffet from awhile back. F is the restaurant of F1 Hotel Manila and they have an all-day buffet here (breakfast, lunch and dinner). We’ll show you all the food we enjoyed in a bit, but before that, let me tell you about our staycation experience.

First, a group photo of all the bloggers and their loved ones who were there with us.

We were at their Premier Lounge to check in and for our itinerary for our staycation.

Conference room at the Premier Lounge

They also handed us a box of their profiteroles. These were so delightful! We ate them after we returned from Market! Market! ’cause we decided to watch About Time (we love this movie!) after dinner. 😀

They also welcomed us with some drinks along with these Danish pastries.

After a couple of words from Mr. Tony Co, the Director of Operations of F1 Hotel Manila, we headed upstairs to our room. We’ve had a tour of their rooms and floors before, so Ken and I were ecstatic to finally get to stay there for a night.

The room assigned to us – a Fort Suite – was spacious and has a living room and a minibar too.

There’s a king-size bed, where my nanay and I slept in. It was so cozy – soft yet firm – which made me sleep like a baby. 😉

There’s a sofa bed at the living room. We decided to call room service to ask for a mattress and more pillows that Ken could use. They came in and fixed the sofa bed for him, and voila! A comfy bed for Ken. He slept very soundly… ‘sound’ being the operative word. 😉

The bathroom was also very spacious. Here’s my ‘obligatory’ bathroom photo with nanay. 😀 See, that’s why I don’t smile with my mouth open and teeth showing. I look weird. 😀

There’s also a table at the living room. You can set up your laptop here and connect using their LAN / ethernet cable or you can simply use their WiFi too, even with your smartphone or tablet.

Check it out – Friends is on cable! 😀 “How you doin’?”. 😛

The rooms are also equipped with an electronic safe that I used to store my laptop while we were out, plus an iron and ironing board too. If you need some music in the room (for whatever reason… *wink wink*), they also have an alarm clock with an iPod docking station that you could use.

By the way, in case you’re wondering, Travelsilog is our travel blog.

We headed out to lunch after resting for a little bit in our room, but I’ll tell you more about our meals in a minute. I just wanted to mention that F1 Hotel Manila also has a Spa and Wellness Center where you could go and relax, and get a massage. However, if you prefer to have it done in your room instead, you can very well do so, just like we did. I think I fell asleep for a few minutes afterwards. Here are photos of me during my full-body massage. 😀

Ken didn’t want his photos taken so I was the model. 😛

We were told they offer other services at the spa, but we opted for their signature massage. It was very relaxing and exactly what I needed that week. 🙂

By the way, we just wanted to say that everyone at the hotel was very gracious. Not all of them knew we were bloggers. We also observed how they were treating everyone else. F1 Hotel Manila’s staff seemed always ready to flash you a smile and help you out for whatever it is you need, which made the whole experience more enjoyable and relaxing for us. Kudos to their team! 🙂

Okay, now, on to the food! We had lunch, dinner and breakfast the following day, all at F Restaurant. For lunch and dinner, they were treating us to their holiday fare so some of the dishes had a Christmas-y, Noche Buena theme already. So if you’re planning on taking your family to a staycation this holiday season, you might want to check out F1 Hotel Manila ’cause they’re definitely on top of our list. 😉

Here’s what we had for lunch, starting off with the appetizers. Take note that there were a lot of choices, but we only got to take photos of about 85% of them. Just hover your mouse on the images to find out what the dishes are.

First is their salad bar. There a ton of ingredients you can put in your salad, but I really want to keep it simple. With that said, you must try their killer Tuyo Caesar dressing! I love the saltiness and zing that this adds to my salad. I think I had 2 servings. 😀 I want to recreate this at home and will share the recipe here. 🙂

They also have a selection of cheeses that you can try. I usually skip this part of buffets that we go to because there are so many dishes to choose from and I want to make sure I have space for those I really wanted to try. This time, at F1 Hotel, was no different.

Moving on to the main dishes. As I’ve mentioned earlier, most of the entrees served as a preview of what they’re offering this Christmas season. The theme is inspired by how we Filipinos celebrate Christmas, so you’d find classic festive dishes (with a twist) such as Organic Cebu Lechon, Stuffed Turkey, Beef Morcon, Chicken Galantina and many more. We especially loved the Roast Duck a la Orange, but we didn’t get to take a photo of the dish because people were usually hovering around it. 😀

I love, love this Glazed Ham with pineapple, cherries and candied fruits! This was easily a crowd favorite. 🙂

And Chili Crabs, which I didn’t get to taste ’cause of my allergies. Boohoo. There were other seafood choices like lobster, mussels, and prawns, which we had the chefs cook for us, but sadly, for some reason, we have no photos of them. 😀

Now, on to our favorite part of the meal – desserts! Aside from the cakes, they also have Pinoy favorites like suman, kakanin, sapin-sapin, kutsinta, puto and, of course, Halo-Halo!

Here’s the Fruit Salad and Halo-halo station:

They also have ice cream available and the chocolate fondue – a regular offering at buffets.

Now, on to the cakes! They have a Log Cake, a popular dessert come Christmas time.

All 3 of us LOVED their Chocolate Mousse Cake:

Here are the other cakes at the lunch and dinner buffet:

A tower of profiteroles and a Brazo Mercedes log cake? 😀

They also have their own crepe station! Don’t worry if you don’t know how to make crepes, their wait staff will do it for you. 🙂

The dinner buffet almost had the same dishes. Afterwards, we wanted to drink at the Canary Lounge near the pool area, but Ken decided we go to Market! Market! instead. We got home around midnight and we were fast asleep a few minutes after.

We woke up really early the next day for breakfast. Here are some of the dishes we got to sample. Of course, they have bacon! 😀

They also had scrambled eggs, fried rice, and these dishes:

They’ve got cereals, fresh breads and Danish pastries at the buffet table, but we all preferred to eat rice that morning.

French Toast, pancakes and waffles are also part of their breakfast buffet at F1 Hotel Manila.

Ken and I can gobble up kutsinta like crazy at home, so we were delighted to see these.

Here are Ken’s breakfast plates. Mine had more rice. 😀

Phew! That’s it! We did get to try small servings of most of the dishes on their buffet spread. I skipped the sushi, sashimi and seafood mostly. Ken and nanay also didn’t get to taste everything, but we were quite happy with what we got to eat. 🙂

We’re excited to find out what else would be included in their Christmas buffet. The last time we were there, they had Jamon Serrano, Peking Duck, US Angus Prime Rib, so we’re thinking they might offer them again this year.

It’s pretty evident we had an absolutely great time at F1 Hotel Manila, especially because of the astounding customer service, the food and the ambiance. This has completely convinced us that they’re one of the best places for a much-needed staycation in the Metro… a home away from home. 🙂 This is one experience we’d love to repeat any time. We’ll be back!

F1 Hotel Manila

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