Old Manila at the Peninsula

Old Manila is a fancy restaurant at the Peninsula Manila. I've been told the food here is really good but it is on the expensive side so I hadn't been able to try it. That is, until recently. Because of my Manila Pen membership, I had a voucher that gave me 50% off on their set menus for a group of exactly four people. I decided to take my family there one night.

Old Manila

The requirement to use this voucher is that all four people in the party have to select from the same set menu (there are three). Each set menu has two options each for an appetizer and a main course. We decided to go with the third menu because the main courses of this option were the ones that appealed to us the most. Before dinner was served, we were given an amuse-bouche. Because this wasn't on the menu, I can't remember exactly what we had. All I can say is that we really liked what we were served.

amuse-bouche

They also served us some bread. The wait staff said that they are famous for their olive tapenade bread so that's what we have and OMG it was amazing! I can completely understand why it is so popular. We loved it so much that when the wait staff offered us more bread, we each took one more.

Bread selection

There were two choices for appetizer: Crab and Green Bell Pepper Ravioli served in a bisque with peas, espuma, and roasted peanuts...

Crab and Green Bell Pepper Ravioli

...and Seared Duck Foie Gras with vegetables julienne, red cabbage, and a pepper beef consomme.

Seared Duck Foie Gras

For our main courses, our choices were Atlantic Turbot with prawns, oyster mushrooms, bok choi, potato, and ginger beurre blanc...

Atlantic Turbot

...and Australian Lamb Rack with a French potato puree, grilled green asparagus, and red wine sauce.

Australian Lamb Rack

For dessert, we were all served a unique dessert called Banana & Toffee which is served with tuille, cremeux, and rum raisin ice cream.

Banana & Toffee dessert

Our dinner included coffee (or tea, but we all got coffee). We were pleasantly surprised when we were also served some petit fours.

petit-fours served with our coffee

By the end of dinner, we were once again offered some bread. I had to tell our wait staff that we actually would have wanted to have more olive tapenade because it was so good but we were already too full. 

Olive tapenade bread

Even with our discount, the bill was still quite expensive. That said, It was a tremendously good meal and I feel that it was worth what we paid. The service was also exceptional, quite possibly the best service I've even been given in any restaurant I've been to in the world. I would need to save up for it of course but I'm pretty sure I will eat here again in the future. (I also need to find out if they sell their olive tapenade bread seaprately...)

Old Manila at the Peninsula
https://www.peninsula.com/en/manila/hotel-fine-dining/old-manila
Address: The Peninsula Manila Corner of Ayala and Makati Avenues Ground Level Makati, 1226 Metro Manila
Phone: (02) 8887 2888