Treat Yo' Self to a Multi-Course Spanish Dinner at This Makati Hotel's Jellyfish Bar

(SPOT.ph) Want to treat your loved ones or S.O. to a fancy night out? You might want to skip the usual sit-down dinner at your go-to spots and treat them to a multi-course Spanish fair from I'M Hotel in Makati. This three-course dinner is bound to leave them feeling spoiled and lavished but at the same time comfortable and at ease with nice, hearty, familiar flavors. Starting October 22, diners are welcome to avail of the three-course dinner menu at the I'M Hotel's Antidote Gastropub—the hotel's rooftop jellyfish bar with 360-degree views of the Makati skyline.

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Here's what you can expect from the three-course dinner menu at I'M Hotel:

For just P1,800, this multi-course Spanish-themed affair consists of a complimentary bread service and cocktail, an appetizer, a main course, and dessert. 

Your dinner starts as soon as you sit down, wherein a complimentary baguette and caviar butter will be served. Though free, I'M Hotel didn't cut corners with their complimentary bread service. The baguette is freshly made in-house with their 12- year old sourdough starter, making it light, airy, and slightly sweet. This is perfectly partnered with caviar butter which is just the right balance of salty and creamy. You'll get beads of caviar on every bite, and once spread on a warm baguette, the combination is just a dreamy sweet, buttery, and salty affair.

You'll also get the Vermillion Dream, one of Antidote's signature drinks which is a strawberry-infused vodka drink topped with a candy caramel. A drink for sweet tooths everywhere, it's saccharine and alcoholic enough to give you a light buzz while also complimenting all the dishes yet to come.

Up next comes a small plate consisting of the following bites: Wagyu cubes with Local Uni, ricotta, and truffle cream on a crostini, Iberico Jamon Croquettas with Gouda Cheese, and Buckwheat Blinis with Smoked Quail Eggs, ricotta, and mint mousse. The appetizer course is made with premium ingredients cooked right, highlighting their individual flavors and strengths even more. 

The Wagyu cube with Local Uni, ricotta and truffle cream on a crostini is an interesting take on surf and turf. This tiny bite packs a lot of flavor, from the succulent, savory Wagyu cube to the briny and almost jelly-like uni. Savor each bite you can from this because its fatal flaw is that there's only one of it. Follow that up with the Buckwheat Blini, Smoked Quail Egg, ricotta, and mint mousse appetizer. This bite is the simplest and most bland of the three appetizers. It serves as a good break from the strong and rich flavors of the other two bites keeping you from being too overwhelmed with umami goodness.  And last but certainly not the least, the Iberico Jamon Croquettas with Gouda Cheese is a perfectly deep-fried nibble. There's a synergy between the Cheese and the Jamon making the bite well-balanced in terms of its flavor but also in terms of texture. The Croquetta's crispy-on-the-outside, and soft-and-fluffy-on-the-inside mouthfeel is one for the books.

For the main course, Antidote pays homage to simple everyday ingredients. According to General Manager and Chef Melissa Lim, who developed and curated the recipes for this menu, it takes greater skill to elevate humble ingredients and make them stand out. Lim's plan was to highlight how simple elements, when treated and cooked correctly, can be served side by side with dishes created with more premium ingredients, thereby empowering more Filipino chefs and home cooks to experiment in their kitchens.

For the mains, order yourself the Pollo Patatas 2.0, a confit-style Sakura chicken thigh that is grilled on a plancha. A sight to behold when served, the chicken is perfect grilled, moist, and smokey, cooked just right. Accompanying it is the most velvety and rich potato foam topped with an egg yolk and patatas sauce which when mixed all together and eaten alongside the meat lends a bit of creamy heat making the Pollo Patatas 2.0 somewhat reminiscent of peri-peri chicken.

If chicken doesn't appeal to you then you might want to lean towards the Arros Negre 2.0. What's meant to be a combination of squid-ink paella and risotto, the Arros Negre is made from Koshikari rice, squid ink, seafood bisque, crustacean oil, calamares, and topped with a carrot tuile, which will hit you with tons of briny seafood flavors. 

Of course, no culinary feat is complete without dessert, in this case the Tiramisu. A more deconstructed approach to the dessert, it is made up of sabayon mousse, coffee and Valrhona crumble, whipped ganache, and espresso jelly—all of which help neutralize all the strong flavors of the mains with its bittersweet coffee and chocolate flavors.

The three-course meal can be availed on its own without availing a stay or spa services from I'M Hotel but if you are interested in completely pampering yourself or your loved ones there's also an option to include a spa package with the dinner for P2,400. The offer comes with a 60-minute spa treatment at I'M Onsen Spa, access to wellness facilities (onsen, steam, sauna), and a 3-course meal at the Common Good Express Restaurant.

Antidote Gastropub is at the I'M Hotel Roofdeck. It is open from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays and 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. I'M Hotel is at 7862 Makati Ave, Makati, Metro Manila. For more information, visit I'M Hotel's website.