Zen In Luxury: Celebrating A Bountiful First Anniversary

Following an outstanding first year, the Japanese luxury hotel celebrates its anniversary with amazing food in its stunning interior.

This is an excerpt from Lifestyle Asia’s June 2023 Issue.

Across an eventful year, the Japanese luxury hotel succeeded in bringing together the mindfulness of Japanese omotenashi (a Japanese expression that roughly describes Japanese hospitality) with the warmth of Filipino hospitality.

Hotel Okura Manila General Manager Jan Marshall said on its first birthday, “Hotel Okura Manila is performing beyond our expectations. We are so fortunate to be a part of the first Integrated resort in the Philippines.”

The Zen Garden
The Zen Garden. Biscuit sand, chocolate tree, Strawberry Mochi Moss Stones, black sesame and wasabi chocolate Pralines, toasted white chocolate rocks

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The hotel located at Newport World Resorts soft-opened in December 2021 and was officially launched in April 2022. Since then, it has elevated Japanese culture and lifestyle on Filipino soil through a commitment to the spirit of Wa, meaning harmony, and a partnership with the world-renowned hospitality interior design company HBA. 

Japanese Executive Chef Keiichiro 
Fujino, Teppanyaki Specialty Chef Katsuji Kato, Robatayaki Specialty Chef Ryuji Tsuchida
Japanese Executive Chef Keiichiro Fujino, Teppanyaki Specialty Chef Katsuji Kato, Robatayaki Specialty Chef Ryuji Tsuchida

Modern picturesque structures, an exquisite minimalist rock garden, and a breathtaking mountainous landscape paints the picture of zen in luxury across the hotel’s lobby atrium. Marshall adds, “There is no designed hotel like this in all of Southeast Asia.”

An intimate first anniversary dinner was held at Yawaragi with only two tables that served the best of Japanese cuisine. An amuse-bouche of cream cheese, black seaweed and anago or salt water eel with gold flakes set an immediate high bar of expectations of how amazing the dinner would be.

Cream cheese, black seaweed and salt water eel roll with spiced pollock roe, gold leaf and sakura flower
Cream cheese, black seaweed and salt water eel roll with spiced pollock roe, gold leaf and sakura flower

Read more by purchasing a copy of the Lifestyle Asia June 2023 magazine via SariSari.shopping or select newsstands in National Bookstore and Fully Booked. Subscribe to the E-Magazine via Readly, Magzter, and Press Reader.

Photos courtesy of Hotel Okura Manila.

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