Travelling the World in One and Half Hours

Oriente Poliano (Orient of the Polos) chronicled the fantastic travels of the Polo family: the famous Marco, his father Niccolò, and uncle Maffeo. Their travels took them to the heart of Asia and beyond.

What took them decades to do I was able to accomplish in one and half hours, walking, with a plate in one hand, and my nose following the aromatic trail to food bliss. The Cafe Marco buffet has steadily built a reputation as the best buffet in Cebu City with the most extensive food selection arranged in food stations serving chinese, japanese, barbecues and western dishes.

Appetizers

my food trip started with "west lake beef soup" from the chinese food station. a clear soup made from beef stock that curiously tasted like it came from a bouillon cube instead of hours boiling bits and pieces of beef meat and bones. i found it too salty for my liking although the chopped parsley created a decorative accent to the soup.


next is a sampling of chinese siomai - take note that the ones featured has chinese chorizo and shrimp as toppings. i skipped the usual quail egg, mushroom and bacon roll variety.


the japanese station offered an extensive sushi, sashimi and maki menu. unagi (eel) and takoyaki (octopus) are available as well as the usual yellowfin tuna and salmon. and since i was in a meaty mood i decided to skip these delicacies and took a sampling for the photo op. I think the california maki came out pretty nice. just in case you don't know, the orange little thingies that they use to coat the maki is flying fish roe. yup, baby fish eggs. hundreds of them.


here's lonely salmon sushi surrounded by a sprinkling of flying fish roe (in short, i was eating unhatched baby fish eggs. i guess you can classify me as an abortionist. ugh.) click on read.more...


got to have some filipino appetizer alongside the japanese and chinese selection so i quickly grabbed a succulent red slice of tomato and placed it on top of "quesong puti" made from buffalo milk and is characterized by the creamy texture similar to philadelphia cream cheese. a dash of salt and pepper, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and salted egg should have made this the perfect bite.


grabbed a couple of scallops from the cold station and asked the chef to top it with garlic, cheese, chili and grilled till the cheese melts.


the trip has just began as the main course and desserts are still waiting to be sampled... yum yum