Dusit Thani Manila’s hotel-wide renovation project over the past two years to upgrade its facilities has already unveiled a new club lounge and vibrant new ballrooms, namely Mayuree and Sarika. In mid-September, the hotel will launch a new all-day dining restaurant called The Pantry.
In an interview in summer, Bruno Cristol, general manager of Dusit Thani Manila, described The Pantry as an interactive, farm-to-fork restaurant, sourcing out the best products from local sources in the Philippines. “At home, if you like cooking, you open the pantry and you got the product: chutneys, jam, these little things, sauces, vegetables. So it’s really the farm to the fork. You’re cooking right there a la minute,” he told Hospitality News Philippines.
Instead of converting the current all-day dining restaurant, Basix, to The Pantry, the hotel built the new restaurant at the area near the grand spiral staircase of the lobby. Basix will be closed to give way for the relocation of one of the hotel’s other restaurants.
Hospitality News Philippines tried out The Pantry on Monday before it soft-opened on Wednesday this week.
The new restaurant can hold more than 250 persons at a time. This includes al-fresco seats at the Japanese garden and a 10-seater private room with its own show kitchen.
Cooking stations are spread around to offer Chinese, Indian, Western, and international cuisine. This includes a lechon pit – the first of its kind in a Metro Manila hotel.
The beverage will take its rightful place in the restaurant through a “beverage studio.”
“Very rarely you see in an all-day dining a bar in the middle,” Cristol said. This “very big bar” will offer coffee, cocktails, and even organic, healthy juices.
Customers of The Pantry can also hang out in a lounge to continue their drinks and conversations.
