Ring in the New Year With Irresistible Feasts at City of Dreams Manila
To usher in the New Year, City of Dreams Manila whets up the appetite for festive dining at its signature restaurants Crystal Dragon, Haliya, Nobu Manila, and The Café with special menus inspired by the spirit of the season. The Café and CenterPlay take New Year’s Eve events a notch higher as bands hype up the beat to a midnight countdown.
Crystal Dragon, The integrated resort’s signature restaurant for Cantonese and regional Chinese specialties continues to offer its seven-course Festive Season Family Set until January 1, 2026 for lunch and dinner at P36,000++. The menu, which is good for four to six persons, blends refinement, tradition, and seasonal signatures and consists of a combination platter of Wok-fried Green Lobster with XO sauce and Stuffed Tiger Prawn with spinach and crabmeat egg white sauce; and Double-boiled Abalone, Fish Maw, Dry Scallop and Stuffed Morel Mushrooms with chrysanthemum tofu in consommé. Completing the Festive menu are the Steamed Live Sea Grouper in sour broth with fresh enoki mushroom; Shanghainese-style Braised Duck in caramelized five spice soy sauce; Sea Scallops Tossed with Celery Heart in pepper truffle sauce; Wok-fried Fragrant Rice with wild mushrooms and smoked honey-glazed pork belly; and Steamed Taro-shaped Lava Custard Bun. Crystal Dragon is open from 12 noon to 11 pm daily.
City of Dreams Manila’s restaurant for reimagined Filipino cuisine, Haliya, thoughtfully curates a “Bagong Taon” a la carte menu available for dinner on December 31 and January 1, 2026. For appetizer, Haliya entices with Pulpo Tocino with char-grilled cauliflower, pumpkin puree, roasted bell pepper, pickled kamias, mesclun, and microgreens. The restaurant’s creative take on Sopas is also offered, which deliciously combines sous vide chicken breast, sweet potato gnocchi, celery, carrots, and asparagus. The Beef Mechado is the menu’s pièce de resistance consisting of slow-roasted Angus beef tenderloin, potato truffle puree, chorizo salsa, and grilled eggplant. The menu’s dessert, Coconut Foam, a medley of crème caramel, persimmon, sugar palm fruit, mango, berries, kiwi, and coconut cream spuma (foam) is sweet welcome to the new year ahead. Haliya’s New Year menu is available from 5 pm to 11 pm on both dates.
Nobu Manila Omakase and Sunday Brunch
A refined dinner awaits guests at the Manila outpost of celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s globally renowned restaurant, which puts into spotlight a five-course New Year Omakase menu available on December 31 and January 1,2026 at P6,653.57 net per person. The dinner menu commences with a chef’s choice of zensai, followed by a refreshing first course of a mouthwatering Octopus Sashimi with lemon, ginger and aji amarillo. It continues with a chef’s choice of assorted Nobu-style Nigiri and Wagyu Inaniwa Noodles with Japanese negi (leeks). Further exciting the palate are the next courses of Grilled Lobster with nashi pear, dry miso, crispy yuba (tofu skin) and chives, and Grilled Wagyu with truffle amazu ponzu, crispy onion, and truffle. The tasting menu ends with Watermelon Pavlova with meringue, fresh berries and watermelon sorbet.
Hyatt Regency Manila’s interactive show kitchen, The Cafe, is making the New Year’s celebration exceptional with its December 31 lunch and dinner buffets, with the latter offering two seatings at 5:30 pm and 8:30 pm. A live band and a DJ rev up the mood at dinner leading to a special countdown at midnight. The Café buffets tempt diners with Roasted Salmon Tuscana-style, Osso Bucco, and mouthwatering variety of premium meats at the churrasco counter, and alive teppanyaki station. The carving station features an Herb-crusted Striploin for lunch, and Slow-roasted Angus Prime for dinner. In addition, freshly cut sashimi from a whole tuna plus a whole salmon at dinner are certain crowd pleasers, together with the irresistible seafood selection consisting of prawns, Chilean mussels, Manila clams, blue swimmer crabs, slipper lobsters, curacha, served alongside an assortment of sushi, maki, and nigiri. Not-to-missed are the signature dishes of various cuisines: Italian, Indian, Chinese, Thai, and Filipino, among others. An array of cold cuts and cheeses, a variety of holiday-themed cakes and confections, an indulgent chocolate fountain, and local dessert favorites elevate the New Year’s Eve indulgence. Lunch is at P3,150, while the dinners are at P4,288 (first seating) and P4,988 (second seating). The package is inclusive of free-flowing house red and white wines, draft beer, soda, iced tea, juices, coffee, and tea.
CenterPlay’s New Year Countdown
Besides The Café, City of Dreams’ New Year countdown party is focused around CenterPlay, the entertainment bar destination, featuring adrenaline-pumping beats that start at 6 pm, climaxing at 11:30 pm as the clock ticks close to midnight from live, high-energy band performances of Part 3, Zyncxation, Eye Candies, and DJ Merlzie. CenterPlay makes available various countdown packages based on seat preferences, which all include party favors and a special media noche platter consisting of kinilaw na tanigue (Spanish mackerel ceviche), camaron rebosado (deep-fried battered shrimp), crispy lechon belly, and vegetable atchara. The countdown package rates start at P2,500 net for single-seats, inclusive of a glass of Heartcraft sparkling wine and P1,000 net consumable food and drinks from the bar’s regular menu; P10,000 net for a VIP table for four persons, inclusive of one bottle of Heartcraft sparkling wine and P4,000 net consumables; and P20,000 for a VIP table of eight persons inclusive of two bottles of Heartcraft sparkling wine and P8,000 net consumables.
For inquiries and reservations, call 8800-8080 or e-mail [email protected]. For more information, visit https://www.cityofdreamsmanila.com/en/whats-on . Explore more of City of Dreams Manila’s promotional offers, rewards, or instantly check Melco Club points with the new Melco Club App, available for free download on iOS and Android.
The Café at Hyatt Regency Manila City of Dreams Reopens Its Lunch and Dinner Buffets
After a long three year wait, The Café at Hyatt Regency Manila City of Dreams is finally back serving its much loved lunch and dinner buffets. During the pandemic, The Café was forced to close its doors and only offered breakfast buffet to hotel guests. We actually stayed at Hyatt Regency a few months ago and was wondering when they would bring back their all-day buffet lineup. Our prayers have finally been answered as the much-awaited return of The Café this August showcases a deliciously curated local and international cuisine in one hefty buffet spread.
The Café is Hyatt’s interactive show-kitchen restaurant with buffet services for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as delicious a la carte fare throughout the day. The Hungry Kat was invited last week to Hyatt Regency Manila as they finally reopened the doors of The Café to the public who can now enjoy their buffet offerings for lunch and dinner.
This bustling 315-seat venue comes with modern, high-ceilinged interiors and is located on the hotel’s ground floor beside the front desk. It offers a range of seating options, from cozy circular booths to private and semi-private rooms to standalone tables in the heart of all the action.
Our media group was seated at the long table found on the elevated semi-private dining area. Evolving menu cycles ensure a different dining experience during the week. The buffet stations consist of the classics and chefs' innovations comprising of Western favorites, Asian comfort fare, and popular Filipino dishes.
Guests can start at the Bread Station which comes with a charcuterie and cheese plate as well. You can find different types of cheese and cold cuts such as Gryurere, Gouda, mmental Cheese, Farmer's Ham and Salami.
Just around the corner is the Salad Station with its Shrimp and Kami Salad, Black Fungus Salad, Cucumber and Peanut Salad, and more.
I love Japanese food so I immediately went to the Sushi and Sashimi Station which offers various type of delicious sushi and sashimi. These include Spicy Tuna Roll, California Maki, Salmon Hoso, Spicy Salmon Roll, Tuna Sashimi and Salmon Sashimi.
Next on my target is the Seafood Station which presents an array of fresh and wonderful seafood items such as prawns, mussels, clams, and curacha crabs.
Dishes prepared à la minute by experienced chefs animate the live culinary theater at the restaurant's vibrant cooking stations. I had my seafood plate cooked in butter and garlic.
The Chinese Station offers some of our favorite Asian comfort food such as roast chicken, roast pork, beef broccoli, crispy pork asado, and Asian fried rice.
Over at the Western Station, guests can find several interesting dishes such as the Cajun Seafood in Rosemary Herbs, Fiish Fillet in Saffron Sauce, and the Pork Loin in Orange Sauce. The Cajun Seafood was really flavorful with intense cajun spices.
There's also a Pasta Station here where you can ask the chefs to prepare your type of pasta dish. You can choose from Linguini or Penne pasta cooked as a Carbonara or Bolognese.
There are also some soup and noodle options such as the Pork Sinigang or the Singaporean Laksa.
Don't forget about our own Filipino favorites such as the Chicken Adobo, Pork Menudo, and Bistek Tagalog. There are just so many dishes to choose from here at The Café.
The centerpiece of a buffet can usually be found at the Carving Station. The Café's Carving of the Day is the Roasted Beef Strip Loin steak which is a dinner exclusive.
I asked the server for a few slices of roast beef steak and had it cooked medium well. You can add some side dishes such as roasted potatoes, mushrooms, and vegetables. Sauces offered include red wine sauce, black pepper sauce, mushroom sauce, and mustard.
You can also find this huge Baked Salmon right beside the steak, so it's very easy to create your own sumptuous surf and turf plate.
The buffet is also inclusive of free-flowing juices, local draft beer, plus red and white house wines for both lunch and dinner. You will never get thirsty when you dine at The Café.
Save room for dessert, because The Café comes with so many colorful sweets, chocolates, cakes, and pastries for everyone to enjoy. Even after having my fill of steaks and seafood earlier, I kept coming back to the dessert area for these irresistible treats.
The Confectionary Station is where you can find jelly beans, gummy bears, marshmallows, candies, assorted donuts, and huge chocolate bars.
There are also mini cakes and pastries here. You can ask for a slice of their Strawberry Dome Cake or the Almond Sans Rival cake. I loved the Leche Flan which was so milky and creamy. The halo halo station was also quite special.
The main attraction at the dessert station is the Croffle, This is the Cafés hybrid version of a croissant and waffle. The croffle is crispy on the outside but very soft and delicate on the inside. Top it off with some scoops of ice cream and whipped cream plus your choice of toppings, fruits, syrups, and whatever else your heart fancies.
Thank you to Ms. Romina, Romsanne, and Ms. Charice of City of Dreams Manila for hosting our lovely buffet dinner at The Café in Hyatt Regency Manila. It has been such a long time and I'm so happy to be back at a place that feels like home. The Cafe's buffets are offered daily at P1,250 net for lunch and P2,350 net for dinner. Guests can also come for the breakfast buffet at only P1,150 net which is inclusive of free-flowing coffee and tea. The Café buffets are available at 6:30am to 11:00am for breakfast, 12:00 noon to 3:00pm for lunch, and 5:30pm to 11:00pm for dinner.
The Café
G/F Hyatt Regency City of Dreams Manila, Aseana Avenue, Entertainment City, Paranaque
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