Where to Treat Mom: Hotel Dining Offers to Check Out This Mother's Day

Japanese lifestyle brand MUJI has finally opened their 8th and flagship store in Manila at the Glorietta 3 mall! 

It is the brand’s largest outlet in the Philippines, spanning three floors of the Glorietta mall and filled with all their cult favorites and essentials — from stationery, home décor, skincare, clothing, travel, and more. 

Along with the opening of this new branch, MUJI also introduced their first MUJI Bakery in the Philippines, which also includes a huge dining area and a coffee counter. 

MUJI Bakery + Coffee Counter at MUJI Glorietta 3

Located on the Ground Floor of the MUJI Flagship Store in Glorietta 3, the MUJI Bakery offers a wide array of sweet and savory bread and other baked goodies that you can enjoy in-store at their expansive dining area. 

Their bread options include Plain Pandesal (P10), Ube Pandesal (P35), Salted Butter Bread (P45), Plain Croissant (P85), Plain Ensaymada (P95), Ube Ensaymada (P115), Sausage Bun (P135), Red Bean & Butter Croissant (P135), Chocolate Croissant (P155), Almond Croissant (P155), Bacon & Egg Round Croissant (P195), and Shoku Pan / Whole Loaf (P195).

MUJI Bakery bakes their bread fresh daily, only offering the best to their patrons. 

Much like their other Coffee Counters in SM North EDSA, SM Mall of Asia, and other branches, the Coffee Counter at Glorietta 3 has the same offerings and refreshments that can be served hot or iced. 

MUJI Glorietta 3 also offers their curry rice meals, soft serve, and other go-to Japanese snacks in-store too. 

Don’t miss out and check out the MUJI Flagship Store at Glorietta 3 to try out their newest offers! 

Follow MUJI Philippines on their Facebook and Instagram pages for more updates. You can check out their online catalog here.

Location: Levels 1 to 3, Glorietta 3, Ayala Center, Makati, 1226 Metro Manila

Opening Hours: 10 AM to 9 PM (Sundays to Thursdays), 10 AM to 10 PM (Fridays to Saturdays), MUJI Bakery (opens at 8 AM daily). 

Celebrate the woman who sheds light into our homes by giving her the ultimate special treatment at Solaire Resort Entertainment City.  

This Mother’s Day, treat your mom to a special weekend filled with relaxing stays, lavish brunches, and luxurious spa treatments. Solaire Resort invites you to make your mom feel like a queen by availing some of their special offers, such as booking a Sky Studio room using the Weekend Family Fun offer, which includes a complimentary buffet breakfast at Fresh for two adults and two kids up to 12 years old. By booking a stay, you can also enjoy P2,000 worth of F&B credits at the Pool Bar, and treat mom to a Solaire Signature massage or a soothing facial that will surely make her feel refreshed and relaxed throughout her stay.

Exciting Dining Offers

One thing to love about Solaire Resort is their wide range of culinary delights that satisfy every craving. Make the most of your indulgent stay by starting with a delightful afternoon tea session with mom at Oasis Garden Café, where you can enjoy an assortment of sweet and savory delights from a chamomile macaron and cassis white chocolate petit to a flavorful Salami Milano croquette and cranberry salmon gravlax topped with dill cream cheese. 

Other restaurants also offer a delightful brunch buffet perfect for Mother’s Day morning. At Finestra, you can savor an array of recommended dishes such as the Radicchio Risotto with caramel walnuts and guanciale and the Pan-fried Mackerel with broccolini and lemon sauce. The restaurant also offers sweet desserts and unlimited flutes of champagne or Aperol and Campari spritz from their roving aperitivo trolley. You can also have a grand seafood tower, as well as hand-carved roast beef and a curated selection of cold cuts and luxurious desserts served directly to your table. Talk about a feast fit for a queen!

If mom is craving for some Chinese food, Red Lantern has an all-you-can-eat dim sum buffet and offers a variety of dishes from Crystal Skin Lobsters to their Baked Signature Black Pepper Wagyu Beef Tarts. 

For meat lovers, there are eight interactive live stations at Yakumi offering a great selection of seafood and red meats from grilled Boston lobsters and scallops to Kinross lamb chops and US ribeye steak. The marinated miso foie gras teppanyaki and the Tai sake mushi (Japanese sake-steamed seabream with seasonal vegetables) are also a must-try!

Beat the heat at Waterside with a traditional “boodle fight” and savor a vibrant spread of your favorite Filipino dishes. For an even wider selection, Fresh offers diverse buffet stations featuring the finest seafoods and meats, alongside a variety of cuisines including Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Italian, and Chinese. What’s even more awesome is that moms will be served exclusive drinks on the day, right at their table!

What are you waiting for? Plan a weekend of indulgence for mom by booking a room via their website. For reservations, call ahead at 8888-8888 or email [email protected].

Discover more celebratory perks and offers by following Solaire Resort on Facebook, X (Formerly Twitter), and Instagram. 

Ever wondered who’s the mastermind behind the original Dubai Chocolate that’s taken the dessert world by storm? 

Meet Chef Nouel Catis — the Filipino chocolatier making waves in Dubai, who’s bringing his award-winning creations home for the very first time.

From Apr. 11 to June 11, 2025, AF Hospitality welcomes Chef Catis for an exclusive collaboration across a mano, Steak & Frice, and Ramen Ron. 

Each restaurant will showcase a one-of-a-kind creation featuring elements of Dubai Chocolate.

At Italian restaurant a mano, indulge in a decadent Dubai chocolate burrata soft serve swirled with melted dark chocolate and served in a dark chocolate-dipped waffle bowl, and finished with pistachio-kataifi crunch.

For something a bit more filling, Steak & Frice wraps it all up with a Dubai chocolate crêpe, filled with pistachio-kataifi, topped with dark chocolate and pistachio cream, finished with toasted crunch and roasted kataifi. 

Finally, Ramen Ron offers handmade mochi filled with pistachio-milk chocolate namelaka, oozing with pistachio sauce, crispy kataifi, and crushed pistachios.

AF Hospitality is also offering a sweet bonus: the Dessert passport program. If you try the imaginative desserts at each of the three restaurants, you can earn a stamp on your Dessert Passport to score a complimentary SNA’AP chocolate bar.

A portion of proceeds will support the Dumagat Cacao farming community through MAD Travel’s AgroForestry Program, bringing Catis’s journey full circle: from local roots to global acclaim, and back home to give back.

For more information, visit AF Hospitality on their website, Facebook, and Instagram. 

LongHorn, the beloved American steakhouse famous for its bold flavors and its no-nonsense motto “You Can’t Fake Steak,” just opened its very first branch in the Philippines at Shangri-La Plaza Mall’s Streetscape wing. 

This launch is the delicious result of a partnership between LongHorn’s parent company, Darden Franchising, and local dining powerhouse The Bistro Group.

Bringing the spirit of the American West straight to Manila, LongHorn is all about hearty portions and warm hospitality. 

Expect standout cuts like the flame-grilled Outlaw Ribeye—juicy, bone-in, and perfectly marbled—or Flo’s Filet, a center-cut piece so tender it practically melts. 

The New York Strip, known as their thickest cut, brings that classic steakhouse bite, while the T-Bone offers the best of both worlds: the flavor of a strip and the tenderness of a filet. 

Then there’s their signature, The LongHorn, a bold porterhouse that lives up to its name.

But it’s not all steak, guests can also try their LongHorn Salmon, marinated in bourbon and grilled to perfection, or their Redrock Grilled Shrimp, covered in smoky tomato butter. 

Other crowd-pleasers include Parmesan Crusted Chicken, Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders, and LH Burger—the lone burger on the menu, a thick, juicy half-pounder that holds its own. 

Finish off strong with indulgent desserts like the Chocolate Stampede, a chocoholic’s dream, featuring six different types of chocolate served with vanilla ice cream, or go classic with Molten Lava Cake and their different types of cheesecake.

To make a reservation, visit this website. For more information, check out their Instagram and Facebook. 

Location: Ground Floor Unit 4, 9, 10, Shangri-La Plaza, Edsa corner Shaw Blvd, Mandaluyong

Asia is one food-crazy continent! We take great care to pick restaurants based on culinary vibes, rankings in international gourmand guides, mentions in magazines, Instagramability, and added allure. Yes, Chef! features the region’s chefs' stories of love and labor in kitchens, which has made some of our restaurants the next big thing in Asia.

Chef Stephen George Bustamante has dedicated his entire life to bringing people comfort through food. The Pinoy native, who is best known as one of the founders of One World Deli, and also as the former private chef of George Lucas (of “Star Wars” renown) takes on a new challenge amidst the sprawling estate of Pontefino in Batangas. 

Helming the hotel’s headlining restaurant, Pastorelli, Chef Stephen welcomes locals and visitors alike to a table boasting elevated fare. Today, we speak to the man behind innovative dishes such as Binagoongang Lechon Kawali and Lamb Shank Adobo.

What would you say is Pastorelli’s specialty?

Chef Stephen: We made sure our menu is very inclusive and comforting. While we are a restaurant, we are also a hotel, so our guests look for comfort food. That’s why the menu is international with Pinoy flavors – this is to cater to our international patrons.

We do look forward to creating different concepts for the future, but we want to do so when we’ve already garnered the trust of our community. Because we know that people go back to the same restaurant when they trust the cuisine.

To add further context to his words, Chef Stephen also revealed that in Pastorelli, they create in-house recipes, such as bagoong and marmalade. This extra mile, put in by the chef and his team, ensures that every spoonful is guaranteed to be delicious, plus these products become undoubtedly unique to Pontefino Hotel.

We heard you wanted to do a kind of “Filipino tea time” menu at Pastorelli?

Chef Stephen: Yeah, so we were thinking that instead of tea sandwiches or little hors d'oeuvres, what we’d do would is put bibingka on the first tier, then kakanin, then pandesal with fresh kesong puti and marmalade, jams, and chorizo. So a very Pinoy take on classic English tea.

We also want to create a retail area in the hotel where people can take our specialties – like our homemade jam – home.

When did you realize you wanted to become a chef?

Chef Stephen: When I was 13 or 14, my family had people coming to the house, and my tita gave me a recipe for a simple Caesar salad. I followed that to a tee and everyone ate it and loved it. They asked who made it because it was so good. That’s when I kind of had an inkling that I liked to cook. So I started learning to cook with the family because everyone on my dad’s side is great at cooking.

I started eating more and learning more; eating was how I developed my palate. Fast forward to 1998 or 1999, I got laid off in California from the dot com boom (a market crash where many startups failed to become profitable). That’s when I decided to formally pursue cooking.

What cuisine would you say is your specialty?

Chef Stephen: When I graduated from culinary school in Canada, I worked for the Saban family. They were a rich, private family in [Los Angeles], and I started learning different cuisines there. They wanted a lot of different things, including comfort cuisine. I dabbled in Mexican, Spanish, French, etc.  It was definitely tiring, I spent long hours in the kitchen. But when you enjoy what you do, you don’t feel it until you get back home. But the next day, you wake up, and you still enjoy going to work.

You’ve trained in the West but are also familiar with Filipino food. How would you differentiate the Batangas palate from other taste profiles you’ve come across?

Chef Stephen: Batangueños have a sweeter palate. They like their sweets, they like a touch of sugar with everything. In Manila, it’s mostly savory, everything has a touch of acid; people love vinegar. Batangueños are also pretty straightforward. They will criticize the food if they don’t like it, so I try to balance everything as much as possible when it comes to flavors.

Did you ever feel like you needed to connect to your Batangueño roots?

Chef Stephen:  I think I was always connected to my roots, but subliminally.  When I was a kid, my favorite food was my uncle’s Humba (Visayan braised pork dish). I loved how it was both sweet and savory. As I grew up, I kept looking for it, but no one could ever replicate how my uncle made his. When I was in California, I loved cheesecake, but at the end of the day, I always looked for kakanin. I think that’s how I always stayed close to Batangas and Filipino culture cuisine.

What drew you to Pastorelli at Pontefino Hotel?

Chef Stephen: As One World Deli was growing, I felt that I’d already done my job. I wasn’t looking for a job as an executive chef, but I met the owner [of Pontefino], who’s my friend, and he said he wanted to bring up the brand of Pontefino again. And I realized I wanted to take this experience on head-on because it’s a different opportunity to work in a hotel restaurant. Being able to draw a bigger market through food is a big responsibility.

What is your cooking philosophy?

Chef Stephen: I try to bring out the most excellent food. It doesn’t matter if it’s late, as long as it comes out perfect.

I also think that at the end of the day, everyone looks for comfort food. When you go home, you look for your favorite food. If you’re Filipino, that’s probably Sinigang or bread from the panaderya. My favorite food memory is having pandesal with Century Tuna at midnight with my dad. That’s why I enjoy cooking comfort food.

What do you love about your job?

Chef Stephen: Honestly, I love watching people eat. I love seeing how people enjoy food, sometimes without even realizing it. Everyone’s palate is different, and it changes, too. What we enjoy differs and evolves as we age or as we try new things. That’s how we make our palate wiser, or more knowledgeable.

At some point, after eating enough, you might even be able to identify ingredients in the recipe. You might be able to tell what herbs or spices they use or how it was cooked. The science behind cooking is very captivating to me, to think about the depth of food.

What’s an unexpected challenge you’ve encountered during your time at Pastorelli?

Chef Stephen: This space has been here for some 20-odd years. One of the challenges we wanted to tackle was figuring out how to get people to come here again. And how else can we do that but through food and ambiance? Our restaurant is very bright and airy, overlooking the pool, very soothing. During breakfast, you can admire the pool. During merienda, watch the sunset, and at night, there’s a beautiful fountain display. I’m very lucky to be here.

Out of curiosity, what was it like working with George Lucas?

Chef Stephen: It’s funny because his favorite food is Chicken Burrito. He loves Mexican food. I learned how to make fresh tortillas, how to braise pork, how to make pico de gallo, salsa, all that. Through working with him, I met certain people such as Clyde Owen, Seth McFarland. My stint there was a very good experience.

Follow Pastorelli Restaurant on Instagram and check out PonteFino Hotel's website for more updates! For dining reservations, call PonteFino at 0915-964-1026 or 0908-293-9026.

Location: Pastorelli Restaurant, PonteFino Hotel, Gov. Antonio Carpio Road, Batangas

Opening Hours: Breakfast from 6 AM to 10 AM; Lunch from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM; Dinner from 6 PM to 10 PM