Balayong Grill and Bar by Best Western Plus – The Ivywall Hotel turned festive on February 4, 2019 as it celebrated Chinese New Year with a blast.
John Laurence Lucero, F&B supervisor of Best Western Plus, said that the Chinese New Year celebration is the first for Balayong Grill and Bar since it opened for business on April 13, 2018.
The event started off with a Chinese-themed dance performance by the Indak Palawan followed by the lighting of fountain fireworks to give the guests the excitement in welcoming the Chinese New Year.
The event offered dinner buffet with a wide variety of dishes ranging from appetizers such as pork and shrimp dumplings, beef dumplings and fried spring rolls; soup; main dishes including char siu pork, hainanese chicken, stir-fried pak choy with garlic, longevity noodles, and yang chow friend rice; and they also offered desserts such as nian gao and egg tarts. While the guests were dining, they were serenaded by the WoodString band with Chinese and love songs.
Lothar, a guest from China, said, “It’s surprising for us to celebrate Chinese new year in the Philippines. We are spending most of our Chinese New Years in China and it’s very different here. But it’s fine. At least they tried. We are not expecting that this [event] would be a very typical [and] real Chinese new year.”
Lothar also added, “I think the effort to do something like this [event] is very appreciated.”
Meanwhile, Lucero said that the expected number of guests for the event exceeded as there were more guests arriving at the event as the night went on.
“Ang target market namin is 50, pero as of now, nasa 110 na ang dumating na guest,” he said.
Lucero added that the event is a success as they haven’t had any complaints from the guests during the event. “Ang pinaka-importante kasi pagdating sa operation, from our part, is the complaints. Wala naman kaming na-handle na complaints,” he said.
He added, “Napadaloy naman namin lahat. Yung result is okay naman. Masaya naman ang guests; masarap naman yung food. Hiningi namin ang feedback nila kanina. Nag enjoy naman sila sa performers. Ang Indak Palawan are cultural dancers and this is their first time also to do the Chinese dance.”
He also added, “Yung ginawa namin is kung ano lang din yung ginagawa namin as usual, which is giving our best service tapos giving the best food na kayang ibigay ng Best Western Plus – The Ivywall Hotel.”
Balayong Grill and Bar will have more exciting events that the Palaweños and tourists should look out for this year.