CIRCLES at the Makati Shangrila

Last Christmas, my sister gave me 3 gift certificates for buffet lunch at Circles. We weren't able to use it until a few weeks ago. But even before we received the GCs, we had heard of the place.

We reserved a table for 3 and were led to that table after we surrendered our GCs. Saw an acquaintance and thought, well, I guess after a grueling week at work in the business district, one deserved to eat in such an expensive place. I think lunch costs P1200 at Circles.

There were a lot of food choices: japanese, Filipino, Asian, continental and several types of breads and desserts. But how much can any one person eat in one meal?

The lechon was tender on the inside and crispy on the outside. The sushis and sashimis were plentiful and one could just eat those and be happy. But do watch out. Just beside our table was this column with a hook. My eyes aren't very good so I wondered what were suspended in that hook. They looked like plastic bags with something appealing inside. So I asked the waiter who must have thought, "She's new to this place." He nonchalantly said: "Potato chips". Now, though I'm 51, I'm an occasional junk food lover so I asked my son to get two packs. He is the bigger junk food lover and tried a chip immediately. whoa: wasabi potato chips. For curiosity's sake, I got one and that was it for me. I have this tendency to cough incessantly when my throat is irritated by something spicy and I didn't want to attract attention via a coughing fit or for any reason whatsoever. So don't be deceived by the inviting appearance of those chips. You have been warned.

I can't remember now what else we ate but I was happy to have tried Circles. Go back? I don't think so. I don't eat too much so I'll just stick to a la care menus.

Before I end this blog, my sister told me about the perfume-like bottles which she said were actually desserts that one could get for free. When I asked the lady in charge, however, she told me they were for sale. She did give me a plastic bag that looked like the one with the potato chips but this one contained two items. One was a round thing that looked like the receptacle of pressed powder, the other item was a bottle with a sprayer (spritz?)-- think Victoria's Secret splashes. The round thing had a brownish thing that looked like pressed powder on top and when you flipped it over there was a mirror! The bottle, the girl told me, contained flavored water. Just now, as I was typing this, I realized I hadn't tried either. So I got a spoon and had a taste of the light brown, chocolatey thing. Very mild chocolate as the color hinted. I couldn't muster the guts to try out the flavored water yet. I'll try to convince my son to do so. I only drink stuff colored red if they are cough syrups and only when I have a bad cough. the only other drinks I take are colas, sprite or 7-up, very rarely Tru-Orange and orange juice. Water too, of course. Mompo if the priest at Communion gives it. But spare me the rest.