EVERY DAY, A DELICIOUS SURprise awaited us in our room at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza. Sometimes, it was a mango mousse, a bottle of red wine or melba toast and liver pâté in a shot glass. Other times, it was a tray of chocolate truffles or bite-size pieces of native treats like pichi-pichi.

All these aside from the regular supply of sweet oranges and apples artfully arranged in a basket. We never saw the attendant who?d faithfully replenish these treats. And, yet, there they were every evening, without fail. It was as if some invisible hand was magically snapping them into place.

?It?s all part of the way Sofitel treats its valued guests,? says PR manager Shariza Relova.

Rock-star welcome

That, and more. Aside from making its guests feel pampered, Sofitel also knows how to make them feel important.

When international food stylist Delores Custer first arrived to give a seminar, she was given a VIP welcome worthy of a rock star.

As soon as she stepped inside the lobby, resident manager Mo Ihsan was there to welcome her, along with executive chef Marko Rankel, executive pastry chef Arnel Paris, the culinary staff and the public relations and marketing staff.

Indeed, Sofitel is probably one of the best places for holding conferences and seminars because it knows how to ease the stress points of its guests.

Tough as it was for us to put our seminar together, we felt soothed at the end of every hard day?s work.

Apart from the nightly food treats, there were the soft beds and plush pillows, widescreen TV and Hermes bathroom amenities thoughtfully replenished every day.

Breakfasts, too, were a real treat. In the Executive Lounge on the tenth floor, far from the madding crowd, we would savor the cheese like brie and emmenthal, vegetable salads, pancakes and fresh fruits while discussing the tasks to be done for the day. Pure honey from Germany, with the honeycomb still attached, was a novelty we loved spreading on assorted buns.

Ideal retreat

After a morning?s worth of meetings, Spiral, the hotel?s grand restaurant, was the ideal retreat. We could have eaten there every day yet not grow tired of the food, what with seven different cooking theaters.

Kept fresh on a mountain of shaved ice were oysters on the half shell, mussels and king prawns glistening in their shells. Practically all the major cuisines of the world were represented in the various stations surrounding the capacious dining hall.

An Indian station served curries, samosa, breads like papadam and assorted fruit chutneys. The Chinese side had dim sum, Peking duck, steamed fish in light soy sauce garnished with strands of scallions, as well as standard dishes like sweet and sour pork.

At the Italian station were pasta and pizza, while nearby, the salad fixings included fresh leafy greens, olives, mushrooms, grated cheese and choice of dressings. The Japanese station, on the other hand, had a chef who cooked tempura while guests picked from the platter of sushi and sashimi.

Aside from the carvings of prime rib steak and roast turkey, there was a Spanish station that served paella, ham and callos. With a separate crew manning each station, each dish was always freshly cooked, many of them, like the fresh salmon steaks, grilled according to the diner?s specifications.

As for the desserts?it was a good chance for our American guests to try Filipino sweets such as halo-halo, ube ice cream, and hot chocolate with churros, not to mention the chocolate fountain for dipping morsels of cakes and marshmallows. Particularly irresistible were the chocolate chip cookies baked on the premises.

Delicious lunch

At Le Bar, a combination of bistro, music lounge and sweet shop, our meetings with the Inquirer marketing staff were perked up with smoothies or with tall glasses of latte topped with fresh whipped cream.

We were also particularly impressed with the elegant styling of the mango cheesecake and other pastries displayed in a glass case.

The gourmet food and luxury wasn?t ours alone to relish. During the food styling seminar, the 500 participants were served a delicious lunch that included Seared Tuna Nicoise-Style Salad, Stuffed Chicken Breast with Mushroom and Spinach, served with Linguine Pasta Creamy Chicken Jus and for dessert, Pandan Cake with Chocolate Triangle.

The chocolate butterfly that crowned the pandan cake was a particularly elegant touch. Two days before the seminar, while we were visiting the kitchen, we had seen the pastry crew making all 500 chocolate butterflies just for the participants.

When they were finally served to us during the seminar, we almost hesitated to eat them because not only were they so pretty, we also knew the amount of effort that had gone into their creation.

Apparently Sofitel is the hotel of choice for a lot of other people, too. During his recent visit to Manila, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave a well-attended lecture at Sofitel. The hotel was also the venue for the 80th birthday celebration of former First Lady Imelda Marcos.

And during our stay, there was a wedding party, an engagement party as well as several other functions going on, including the celebration of Egypt?s National Day at the Grand Ballroom, attended by government officials and members of the diplomatic corps.